James 5:11

James 5:11. Behold, we count. St. James here speaks of this not as his own judgment but as the judgment of all Christians, it may be of all right-thinking men.

them happy which endure: literally, ‘blessed that endure;' that is not merely who are in a state of suffering, but who exercise patience in their sufferings, who endure unto the end. Such are blessed: God will not leave their patience unrewarded. Here we have another reference to the Sermon on the Mount; as the sufferings to which St. James primarily alludes arose from persecution: ‘Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Rejoice and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you' (Matthew 5:10; Matthew 5:12).

Ye have heard of the patience of Job. Job is here adduced as a special example; because he was the most remarkable instance both of affliction and of patience in the Old Testament. The patience of Job appears to have been a proverbial expression among the Jews; it is alluded to in the apocryphal book of Tobit (Tob 2:12). No doubt Job was frequently guilty of impatient utterances; but this is only a proof that the purest virtue is not free from blemish, and on the whole patience had with him its perfect work. This also teaches us that Job was a real person, and not a mere myth or fictitious character; for if so, an inspired writer could hardly have presented him to his readers as an example of patience. He is also mentioned in the Prophecies of Ezekiel along with Noah and Daniel (Ezekiel 14:14), who were undoubtedly real persons.

and have seen. Some manuscripts read ‘Behold, also.'

the end of the Lord. Some think that by the Lord here is meant Christ; and that by ‘the end of the Lord' is meant His death, or the completion of His work. Christ, it is observed, the highest instance of patience, is here held out for our example. His death, founded on love and borne in patience, is the great fact which can encourage the suffering Christian to patience. But although this meaning is plausible, yet it is inadmissible, and not borne out by the context. The word here rendered ‘end' is never in the New Testament applied to the death of Christ; and besides what St. James says was seen, namely, that ‘the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy,' that is, that He compassionates us in our sufferings, is not the prominent lesson which Christ's death teaches us. The obvious and natural meaning of the passage, and that which is generally adopted, is to consider that by ‘the end of the Lord' is meant the purpose which God had in view in Job's sufferings the happy termination which He put to his afflictions; how the Lord restored him to more than his former prosperity (Job 42:2). The meaning of the passage then is: Consider not merely Job's affliction and patience, but his happy issue out of all his sufferings the design which God had in view in these sufferings, and their result in Job's restoration.

that the Lord is very pitiful and of tender mercy: the lesson to be learned from this example of Job. Let this proof of God's pity and mercy comfort and support you amid all your trials.