another, and with their neighbours, must have arisen from some vicious principle. 1.* Lusts, or unreasonable desires, are very properly said. to be in a state of war within a man; being inconsistent with one another, and therefore making a man at variance with himself. 2. You indulge immoderate desires, but do not get what you desire. You even scruple not to commit murder, in order to obtain your ends, but are no nearer to the accomplishment of them. You proceed to open war, especially for the liberty you so much covet, a freedom from your subjection to the Romans, but you do not gain even this desir able advantage, because you do not look up to God for it, though you pretend that you cannot lawfully submit to any other master.† 3. If you do pray for this blessing, you do not receive it; because you would not make a proper use of it if you were possessed of it. You would only abuse your liberty to your own hurt and that of others. 4. You, whose unrestrained passions carry you to the greatest crimes, even that of adultery, as well as murder; and thereby shew that you have no views beyond this world; are you not sensible that, being thus the friends of the world, and the lusts of it, you are in a state of enmity with God? For you cannot love God, as you pretend to do, and indulge in these lusts at the same time. 5. As this verse is here rendered, we are led to expect a quotation from the Scriptures, but no such passage is found in the Old Testament. But by making the second clause an interrogation, which we are fully at liberty to do, since the pointing of the Scriptures is arbitrary, we remove the difficulty. It will then read thus, Do you think that the Scriptures speak in vain, that is, when they condemn the vices above-mentioned? Does the spirit that dwells within us, that is, the spirit of God, or the Holy Spirit, lead to this envy and contention ?‡ 6. On the contrary, the greatest favour is in the Scriptures promised to those who are of a meek and humble disposition. We frequently read, that God resisteth the proud, but grants his favour to the humble. *« Ex cupiditatibus, odia, dissidia, discordiæ, seditiones bella.' Cicero de Fin. 1. See Josephus, L. xx.;” N. T. 1729. See Blackwall (S. C.), I. p. 212; Doddridge. + See Whitby in Doddridge. "Alluding to Wisd. i. 4—6; vi. 11; vii. 22, 23." Oecumenius in Bowyer. See Le Clerc; Doddridge on vers. 5, 6; Wakefield. 7. Put on, therefore, that meek and humble spirit, espe cially with respect to God. If you will resist, let it be every temptation to sin; and in this, your opposition will be successful, but not against God. 10. All these exhortations are designed to recommend that submissive spirit, and that patient trust in God, in which the Jews were much deficient. 11.* You Jews, from a spirit of pride, are apt to abuse and revile one another; but in doing this you really judge and condemn the law itself, which forbids those practices. How, then, can you hope to be rewarded, as observers of the law, on which your pretensions are so high? 12. In judging the law, you set yourselves above the lawgiver, that is God, who is omnipotent, and who will not suffer such conduct to go unpunished. 13. The apostle now proceeds to animadvert upon other things that were deserving of censure in those to whom he wrote; and in the first place, a want of a due sense of the uncertainty of life, and consequently a too eager pursuit of worldly gain.† 15, 16. So far are you from having a due sense of the uncertainty of life, and of your dependence on God, that you indulge yourselves immoderately in this arrogant dis course. 17. As you boast of your knowledge of the law, which evidently condemns the vices that I have been cautioning you against, you are the more inexcusable. V. The greatest part of this epistle is, no doubt, addressed to the believing Jews; but the part that is immediately before us, respects the unbelievers among them, and especially the rich, the luxurious, and the oppressive. The leading Jews of this time, if they saw this epistle, could not but perceive that it was aimed at them; and being stung by these severe reproaches, they might naturally think of taking their revenge by the death of this apostle, which soon followed. 1. This was delivered with a prophetic spirit. No doubt that not only James, but the Christians in general, were led by our Saviour's prophecies concerning the destruction of Jerusalem, to attend to the signs of the times, so distinctly pointed out by him; and foreseeing the storm that was ap Vers. 11, 12. "But there is one judge, the law-giver." Bentley in Bowyer. + See Gregory, pp. 101-104. "If the Lord will, and we shall live, we will do this, or that. This is the true reading, as appears from the Latin, Syriac, Arabic, and Ethiopic versions." Hal let, III. p. 44. See 1 Cor. iv. 19. proaching, they fled, as he advised them to do. For we are informed by ecclesiastical historians, that when Jerusalem was besieged by the Romans, there were no Christians in it. They had all taken refuge in a neighbouring part of Syria, where they had peace, and where they continued many years, equally distinct from the unbelieving Jews and the converted Gentiles. 2. The treasures of the ancients consisted chiefly of two articles, gold, silver, or precious stones, and rich apparel.* For the person who made an entertainment, furnished his guests with decent garments, such as they could not have conveniently walked in. When they arrived, the first thing that was done, was to wash their feet, and then they were presented with these garments; and as their dress was loose, there was no danger of their not fitting them. Now both these kinds of treasure were liable to suffer for want of use. The garments would be liable to be moth-eaten, and the metals to rust, which of itself would be a proof that no use was made of them. This rust would therefore be a witness against them. And as, besides, the rust of some metals is of a very corrosive nature, here is perhaps an allusion to that property by which it would, as it were, eat into their very flesh, and destroy it, as fire does; being alike caustic. 3. By the latter days, the apostle probably meant the latter days of the Jewish state, those foretold by our Saviour, which were to be days of great tribulation, so that treasures heaped up against such a time, were treasures collected not to be enjoyed, but to be plundered and dispersed. 4. Here is another symptom of the great abuse of wealth and power, for which they would be severely punished by God, who is called the Lord of Sabaoth, or hosts, the hosts of heaven, and also of armies on earth, the God who is possessed of supreme power both in heaven and earth. This was an appellation given to the true God, perhaps as superior to the sun, moon and stars, called the host of heaven, which were the principal objects of the Heathen worship. 5. As in a day of public feasting, as after a sacrifice.‡ See Le Clerc. "In the detail of a great man's wealth, the numerous and superb suits of apparel he possessed, never fail to be recorded. Garments are generally mentioned by the Greek and Roman writers, along with gold and silver : being then esteemed to be as essential in the display and in the idea of opulence, as we now deem a splendid equipage and costly furniture." Harwood, II. p. 245, 246-248. +"Your gold, &c. shall eat your flesh. Ye have treasured it up, as fire, until the last days." Bowyer. Poli Synops. in Blackwall (S. C.), II. p. 184. See Le Clere; Doddridge. 6. By the just one, is probably meant Jesus Christ,† who was so called by Peter, who used the same language in his discourse to the Jews, after curing the lame man at the gate of the Temple; saying, [Acts iii. 14, 15,] "Ye denied the holy and the just one, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you, and killed the prince of life." Some copies read," he did not resist you," alluding to the meekness with which Jesus bore his sufferings. 7. The word rain is not in many MSS. and therefore the last clause should be rendered, till he receive the early and latter fruit.§ 8. From the patience of Jesus, who did not resist his murderers, the apostle exhorts all the Christians among the Jews, to whom he now addresses himself, to bear their sufferings with the like patience; and we may observe that he calls the term of this patience the coming of the Lord, plainly supposing that they would have no reward of their patience till that time, which is agreeable to the whole tenor of Scripture; which, of course, is inconsistent with the idea of an intermediate state of happiness between death and the resurrection. The apostle here says, the coming of the Lord draweth nigh; and it is very possible that he, and the other apostles, might imagine that it was much nearer than it really was, though it is evident, from the epistle of Paul to the Thessalonians, that they did not expect it in their life-time. 9. In the state of persecution, in which you now are, be careful to entertain no degree of ill-will to one another, but rather love and support one another.|| 12. These exhortations are very nearly the same which Jesus addressed to his disciples, in his discourse from the Mount, [Matt. v. 34,] and this repetition of them shews, that an addictedness to profane swearing must have been very common among the Jews, and that they did not immediately lay it aside on becoming Christians, though nothing is more inconsistent with that reverence for God which all Jews professed to have. "Is he not now drawing up his armies in array against you?" Harwood, N.T. The Greek words are "military terms, and signify to arrange, marshal, and dispose an army." Ibid. See his Note. + See Le Clerc; Dodson's Isaiah (iii, 10), pp. 168, 169; Belsham's Inquiry, p. 189. § Wakefield. (P.) See Wakefield's Note. Junius in ibid. Sce 13. The apostle prescribes proper duties to different classes of persons, as to the rich and the poor, in several respects. He now addresses himself to those who were in circumstances either of affliction or joy. To the former he recommends prayer and humiliation, and to the latter, singing of psalms, by way of thanksgiving to that God from whom all happiness proceeds. 14. Among the spiritual gifts, enumerated by the apostle Paul, one was the gift of healing. As this was known to be in the church, though not always exerted, (for Paul speaks of some of his friends being sick, when, no doubt, he would have restored them to health, if it had been in his power,) it could not be improper in any person to endeavour to get relief in this way; and for this purpose they were to send for the elders of the church, whose duty it was to visit the sick and afflicted. Among other applications, in hot climates, oil was very common, being used both for pleasure and health; though why it should have been applied to all the sick indiscriminately, does not appear. This application, however, was made by the twelve on their mission; for when they returned, Mark says, (Ch. vi. 13,) “And they anointed with oil many that were sick, and healed them;" when the other evangelists only say, they healed the sick. 15. The prayer of faith must have been suggested by a supernatural impulse on the mind, which ensured the effect; and as all sickness was usually ascribed to sin, the cure of it was naturally considered as an intimation of the forgiveness of the sin. Thus Jesus [Luke v. 23] used the phrases, rise up and walk, or, thy sins be forgiven thee, as equivalent expressions. 16. If the sick person was conscious of any particular sin, which he supposed to be the cause of his sickness, he was very properly advised to unburden his mind, by a frank confession of it, encouraged by the consideration of the efficacy of prayer, such as the pious elders of the church would put up for him. 17, 18. This example, [1 Kings, xvii. 1; xviii. 42, 45,] it is evident, is that of a real miracle, and therefore, though it suited the age of the apostles, does not suit ours. "That is, according to Christ's direction, which the twelve received. Mark vi. 13." Haynes (Pt. ii. Ch. xxiii.), p. 298. See Harwood, II. pp. 127, 128. t Whiston and several of his friends were believers in the perpetuity of this gift of miraculous healing. See Whiston's Memoirs, Ed. 2, 1753, pp. 296-298, $14, 372-877. |