James 5:7-11

Comfort and Counsel for the Poor

7. Be patient therefore More literally, Be long-suffering. The logical sequence implied in "therefore" is that the "brethren" whom St James addresses should follow the example of the ideal "just man" of whom the previous verse had spoken. There is a terminus ad quemfor that long-suffering, and it is found in "the coming of the Lord." Here, with scarcely the shadow of a doubt, it is the Lord Jesus who is meant. St James had learned from the discourse recorded in Matthew 24:3; Matthew 24:37; Matthew 24:39, to think of that Advent as redressing the evils of the world, and he shared the belief, natural in that age of the Church, that it was not far off. It had already drawn nigh (James 5:8). The patient expectation of the sufferers would not be frustrated. We see that the hope was not fulfilled as men expected, but we may believe that even for those who cherished it, it was not in vain. There was a judgment at hand, in which evil-doers received their just reward, and which made glad the hearts of the righteous.

hath long patience for it The verb is the same as that just translated "be patient." Better, perhaps, is long-suffering over it, as implying a kind of watchful expectancy. The prevalence of a long-continued drought in Palestine when St James wrote (see note on James 5:16) gave, we can scarcely doubt, a very special emphasis to his words of counsel.

until he receive the early and latter rain The MSS. present a singular variety of readings, some giving "rain," some "fruit," and some no substantive at all. "Rain" gives the best meaning. The "early rain" fell in the months from October to February; the latter, from March to the end of April. Comp. Deuteronomy 11:14; Jeremiah 3:3; Jeremiah 5:24; Joel 2:23. An ingenious allegorising interpretation finds in the "early" rain the tears of youthful repentance; in the "latter," those of age.