Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary James 5

That this verse begins a new section is indicated by the repeated call for attention, “Now listen” (cf. 4:13). The rich are to “weep [GK 3081] and wail [GK 3909].” While the first word may describe audible weeping, the second term most certainly does. It is an onomatopoeic word that sounds like howling. In 4:9 James’s readers are commanded to make themselves miserable in all-out repentance. But here in 5:1 the rich are told that God will send the miseries of judgment upon them.

The first crime charged against the wicked rich is that of hoarding various forms of wealth. They have so much wealth stored up that it “has rotted”; their clothes also are moth eaten. Wealth in those days consisted of both money and such commodities as grain, oil, and costly garments. Evidence that costly garments were stored as wealth and used as payment for services rendered occurs in such passages as 2 Kings 5:5, 22; Matthew 6:19. Thus what rotted were the commodities and what had been invaded by moths were the stored garments. There is no reason to take these happenings as figurative or as predictive of the future. The tragic fact was that the rich had hoarded so much food and clothing that it was going to waste. Their crime was uncontrolled greed that resulted in oppression of the poor (v.4).

An obvious form of wealth was “gold and silver,” and this is said to have become “corroded.” Since gold and silver do not rust or even corrode, James must refer to tarnished metal, the tarnish indicating how long the hoarded wealth had lain idle. He warns the rich, “Their corrosion will testify against you.” It witnessed to the greed and selfishness of these wicked men, who had far more than they could ever use, while their workers were deprived of their wages. The idea that the corrosion will eat the flesh of the rich “like fire” is a graphic way of declaring that their greed will result in their own destruction, as if the corrosion that ate their riches actually will eat their very flesh.

James’s statement that the rich had “hoarded wealth in the last days” shows that he had the future judgment in mind. The NT regards the whole period between Christ’s first and second comings as the last time or “last days” (cf. Hebrews 1:1–2). In comparison with the preparatory days of the OT, this is the last period before Christ comes to set up his kingdom and to judge all people. It was even in the last hour, as it were, before Christ comes to judge, that the rich “hoarded wealth.”

The second crime the rich are charged with is that they “failed to pay the workmen” who harvested their crops. Here James vividly pictures the unpaid wages, still in the possession of the unscrupulous rich farmers, as continually accusing them of their dishonesty. It was as though the very coins cried out the guilt. The harvesters complained about their treatment, and their complaints “reached the ears of the Lord Almighty.” God heard their cries, as he always hears the voice of his suffering people (cf. Exodus 3:7). The designation “the Lord Almighty” represents a Hebrew expression that means “Lord of hosts [GK 7372 & 4877]” or “Lord of the armies.” In 1 Samuel 17:45 this word refers to the armies of Israel, but in 2 Chronicles 18:18 it refers to God’s angels and in Dt 4:19 to all the stars. God is Lord of the armies of earth, of the angelic armies, and of all the starry host. He is almighty, and he will vindicate his suffering people in due time.

The third charge against the rich is that they have lived “in luxury [GK 5587] and self-indulgence [GK 5059].” These two words are synonyms, though there is a shade of difference between them. The first refers to a soft, enervating luxury that tends to demoralize; the second word describes extravagant and wasteful self-indulgence. Both have immoral associations. In their unrestrained indulgence, the rich had “fattened” themselves for “the day of slaughter”—a designation of the day of judgment (Jeremiah 12:3). James uses graphic imagery to indicate that the rich are on the brink of judgment. They were like cattle completely unaware of their impending destruction.