James 4:13

ἄγε νῦν οἱ λέγοντες. ἄγε like φέρε, ἴθι, ἰδού and in Modern Greek ἄς for ἄφες, is used with singular and plural subject alike, often to strengthen the imperative: ἀλλʼ ἄγε δή τινα μάντιν ἐρείομεν, Hom. Il. I. 62: ἀλλʼ ἴθι, ταῦτα δʼ ὅπισθεν�ʼ, Il. IV. 362. Monro, Hom. Gram. § 327. See also Goodwin § 84. Age is used in the same way in Latin: age nunc, comparate, Cic. pro Mil. 21: ergo age, care pater, cervici imponere nostrae, Virg. Aen. II. 707.

The picture of commercial activity which follows illustrates “the Semite’s born instinct for trading” (G. A. Smith, Isaiah I. 289). “The Semite was always a trader” (Budge, Babylonian Life and History, p. 150). But though the carrying trade of the ancient world was in the hands of the Semite race, the Jew did not at first take to trading. The spirit of commercial enterprise flourished for a time under Phoenician influence in the reign of Solomon. But the attempt to revive it in the joint reigns of Jehoshaphat and Ahaziah ended disastrously (2 Chronicles 20:37). The Hebrew genius for trade was first developed during the Captivity. Recent discoveries in the neighbourhood of Babylon have brought to light documents which testify to very extensive commercial transactions in which the Hebrew settlers in Babylonia would probably take part. Indeed the name of Egibi, the title of a leading firm in the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, has been identified with the name of Jacob. But this conclusion “is not certain at present,” Budge, Babylonian Life and History, p. 117. In the gospels banking and trade transactions are referred to in the parables of the talents, of the minae, and of the merchant seeking goodly pearls. The case of the son who took his portion and went off to seek his fortune in a far country was probably a not unusual incident in Jewish life. In Revelation 18:10-14 there is a striking description of the trade of Babylon. In early days trade was provided for: “Thou shalt lend unto many nations and shalt not borrow,” Deuteronomy 28:12. “They strike hands with the children of strangers” (make contracts with the sons of aliens, Cheyne), Isaiah 2:6, alluding to commercial activity in the reigns of Jotham and Uzziah. The prophets were opposed to foreign trade: “He is a trafficker … he loveth to oppress,” Hosea 12:1; Hosea 12:7-8. In Ezekiel 16:26 trade is called harlotry from its venal and merely mercenary spirit. See Nahum 3:4 f., Isaiah 23:17, and Isaiah 57:17, “For the iniquity of his covetousness I smote him.”

The language which the Jew spoke, Aramaic, was the language of trade, and the number of scattered Jewish settlements in all the principal cities of the world greatly favoured commercial intercourse. “There is abundant evidence in the Mishnah that the Jews travelled far by sea and land.” Media, Italy, Spain, Alexandria, Naharden and Greece are mentioned as countries which they visited. Regulations are given in the Mishnah for use on board ship and on journeys. In the Mishnah also trades are mentioned in which the Jews engaged, among them traffic in silk, satin, vases of gold and other metals, mirrors, &c., and even in slaves. There are a few restrictions—fir cones, figs, incense, myrtles, sacred to Venus, and other things could not be sold because connected with idolatrous rites. See Art. by Major Conder, Palestine Expl. F. Statement, Jan. 1894. It is hardly necessary to add that the trading instinct is still eminently characteristic of the race, and the jealousy to which it gives rise is at the root of the Juden-hetze of the present day.

τήνδε τὴν πόλιν, this city, of which the speaker is then thinking. See Green, Gram. p. 125, and Winer p. 201 n. 3.

ποιήσομεν. Comp. Acts 18:23 ποιήσας χρόνον τινά, 2 Corinthians 11:25 νυχθήμερον ἐν τῷ βυθῷ πεποίηκα. So also Acts 15:33; Acts 20:3. So also facere in Latin: Apameae quinque dies morati … Ionii decem fecimus, Cic. ad Atticum v. 20, and Hebr. עָשָׂה, see Ecclesiastes 6:12.

ἐμπορευσόμεθα. ἐμπορεύεσθαι is first used of travel simply: ξένην ἐπὶ γαῖαν ἐμπορεύσεται, Soph. Oed. Tyr. 456; of soldiers marching: Polybius, see Schweigh. Lex. Polyb. sub voc.; then very commonly with the added notion of travelling for business, like the Hebr. סָחַר, here only in that sense in N.T. Then from the frequency of tricks and deception in trade, to cheat, deceive: καὶ ἐν πλεονεξίᾳ πλαστοῖς λόγοις ὑμᾶς ἐμπορεύσονται, 2 Peter 2:3. Comp. πολλά τινα πρὸς ταύτην τὴν ὑπόθεσιν ἐμπορεύων καὶ μεθοδευόμενος, Polyb. XXXVIII. 4. 10.

κερδήσομεν. For this rare form of the future see references in Veitch, sub voc.