The Pulpit Commentary — James — Section 75

patim1ce, drau:n from an ezampla 1,efore the Ver. 10. -The injunction is furl.her cyeB of all. Until he reoeive; better, taking strengthened by an appeal to the cxarnplo rt, as the subject of the verb, wntil it receive. of the prophets of the old covenant, fin The early e.nd the latter re.in. 'Terov of the "example of suffering and of patience." Received Text has the authority of A, K, L, Read Iv -rlii &voµ.an, with N, B, and observe and the Byriao Versions; N (with which tho anarthrous Kvpiov (cf. on ob. iv. 10). Suf- agree the Coptic l\nd Old Latin, :ff), 1<0.p1r&v. ering affliction. Tr,r 1<a1<01ra9,las: here only: B ancl the Vulgate omit the substantive in the LXX., Mai. i. 13; 2 Maco. ii. 26. altogether. In this they are followed by Ver. 11.-Behold, we count them happy. most critical editors (e.g. Lacbm1mn, Ti- Mcz1<apl(«v: only here and Lukei.48 (comp. sohendorf, Tregelles, Westcott and Hort), but oh. i. 12, "Blessed is the man that endureth not by the Revisers; and as the expression, temptation:" Dan. xii. 12, "Blessed is he wpef.,µov teal 6,j11p.ov, without the substantive, that waiteth "). Which endure; rather, which is never found in the LXX., it is safer to endured, reading ~,rou,fvav-rczs, with ~. A, B, follow A and the Syriac in retaining 6,r&v Syriac, Latt.(quisustinuerunt). Ye have heard here. (For "the early and the latter rain," of the patience of J'ob. A book very rarely comp. Deut. xi. 14; Jer. v. 24; Joel ii. 23; referred to in the New Trstament; only here, Zech. x. 1.) "The first showers of autumn and in 1 Cor. iii. 19, where Job v. 13 is which revived the parched and thirsty soil quoted. And have seen the end of the Lord. and prepared it for the seed; and the later "lo.-r. ("see") is found in A, B', L, but ,r:;,,., showers of spring which continued to refresh of the Received Text has the su•iport of and forward both the ripening crops and N, B', K, Vul~ate (vidistis), and is now the vernal products of the field" (Robinson, generally adopted. The "end of the Lord quoted in 'Dictionary of the Bible,' ii. 994). (-rb ,.,>..os Kupiov)" cannot possibly be in- Ver. 8.-..4.pplication of illustration, re- terpreted of the death and resurrection of peo.ting the exhortation of ver. 7, and sup- our Saviour. The whole context is against porting it by the assurance that" the coming this, and Kvplov would certainly require the of the Lord," till which they are to endure, article. The Syriac Version rightly inter- "is at hand." Stablish your hearts (comp. prets the clanse, "the end which the Lord I These. iii. 13, "To the end he may stablish wrought for him." It clearly refers to the your hearts unblameable in holiness before . end which God brought about in the case of our God and Father at the coming of our Job, whose "latter end the Lord blessed Lord Jesus with all his saints"). The coming more than his beginning" (Job xlii. 12; of the Lord draweth nigh. So Isaiah had ef. Winer, 'Grammar of New Testament announced (xiii. 6), "The day of tho Lord is Greek,' p. 309). That the Lord is very pitifnl, near Urr~• 11p.lpa Kvplov )." e.nd of tender meroy. Ilo'A.v<T'1'Aaxvos: here Ver. 9.-Grudge not, brethren; better, only; never in the LXX, bnt equivalent to with R.V., murmur not-a meaning which Hebrew ,c,ri :r:i: cf. Ps. ciii.(cii.),8; cxi. "grudge" bad in the seventeenth century: (ox.),4, which may have suggested the phrase of. Ps. lix. 15 (Pmyer-book version), "They to St. James. Ol1<-r{pp.wv: only here and will run here and there for meat, and grudge Luke vi. 36; several times in the LXX. 'O if they be not satisfied." What is the con- Kvpwr is omitted entirely in K, L, and some nection of this verse with the preceding? manuscripts of the Vulgate; the article is "Murmuring" implies sitting in judgmeut also wanting in B. upon others, which has been expressly for- Ver. 12.-Exhortation against swearing, bidden by the Lord himself. It is also the founded on our Lord's teaching in the ser- opposite to that p.a1<po8vp.(a to which St. mon on the mouu t, Matt. v. 33-37-a passage James has been exhorting his renders. Lest which was evidently present to St. James's ye be condemned; rather, that ye be not thoughts. He, like his Master, "lays down judged. "lva p.'/1 1<p18'i;T<, as in Matt. vii. 1. rules l\Dd maxims and principles without Karcz1<p16ijT< of the Received Text has abso- specifying the limitations and exceptions."' lutely no authority, nor has the omission of The sermon on the mount, as interprnted by the Bl'ticle before 1<p,,.~r in the following our Lord's own actions, is a clear witness clause. Behold, the J'udge, eto. The near- that this formed his method of teacliing. ness of the j udgment is expressed by saying If, then, his words do not touch the case of that the Judge is actually standing "before oaths solemnly tendered to men in a court the doors ('rrp~ ,.;;,v Bupiiw)." So also our of justice (and his own acceptance of an Lord, in his great discourse on the judg- adjurntion on his trial shows that they do ment, says (Mutt. xxiv. 33), "When ye sea not), no more do St. Jamcs's. Both our Loru a.II these things, know that he is ni){h, even and his apostle had probably in view "only nt the doors (,-y-yvs ,unv ,!,rl Bvpa.«);" llllu those profane ll,ljurations with which meu comp. Rev. iii. ~O, where he says, "Behold, who have no deep-seated fear of God garnish I st.cnd at the door (foTTJ1<11 ,1,rl T¾v 8vp:1v), tl.ieir common tnlk" (seu S,u\ler's 'Cl)Ju- anu knook.'' meut,uy ou St. i\fotthew,' p, 66). The 'j0 'l'HE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JA.MES. [CH. V, 1-20.