James 5:4

Verse 4 Behold, the hire of the laborer.

To accomplish your unjust and wicked desire to hoard your gold and silver, you disregarded the law of God, and have kept back the hard-earned wages of the laborer who reaped your fields and garnered your grain. These wages you withheld in fraud of the laborer's right. God had said in his law, "The wages of him that is hired shall not abide with thee all night until the morning" (Leviticus 19:13), and the blessed Master said: "So when the even has come, the lord of the vineyard saith unto the steward, Call the laborers and give them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first" (Matthew 20:8). This law, based upon infinite justice, you, by your covetous course, have flagrantly violated, and the cries of the wronged have been heard by the Lord of Sabaoth.

The Lord of Sabaoth.

Sabaoth. What idea or ideas are we to gather from this word? It is used in our Common Version but once elsewhere in the New Testament, namely, in Romans 9:29. The use of this word in the text I regard as significant, and shall therefore give it more than a passing notice.

Dr. Smith, in his Bible Dictionary, informs us that the word "Sabaoth" is from a Hebrew term signifying "hosts" or "armies." James Comper Gray, in "Biblical Museum," says: "Hebrew word left untranslated twice in the New Testament. Lord of Sabaoth Lord of hosts; 1: e., of the armies of heaven." Dr. James Macknight says: "In the original it is Lord of Sabaoth. But the Hebrew word `Sabaoth' signifies hosts and is sometimes used to denote the sun, moon and stars, and also the angels. The Lord of Sabaoth, therefore, as one of the titles of Deity, marks his supreme dominion over the universe, and particularly over the different orders of angels, who, on account of their multitude and of their serving under the command of God, are named. (1 Kings 22:19.) The LXX. in the passages where this Hebrew word occurs commonly express it in Greek letters, in which Paul has followed them. So, also, James 5:4, supposing that it would be agreeable to Jewish ears. Ainsworth, on Exodus 3:13, tells us that the Rabbins teach when God judgeth his creatures he is called Elohim; when he showeth them mercy he is called Jehovah, and when he warreth against the wicked he is called Sabaoth."

Bro. M. E. Lard, in his commentary on Romans, passes the expression with these words: "The Lord of hosts, the Lord that rears them up and preserves them. The phase is used with admirable propriety here." H. A. W. Meyer, the renowned German exegete, passes the phrase with even slighter notice, and our lamented Bro. B. W. Johnson fails to notice it at all. From the research I have made, this is the best that I can do. The unlearned sometimes exhibit an inquiring mind upon these matters which ought to be gratified as far as possible. Hence the search I have made.