James 5:3

Ye have heaped treasure together, &c.— The literal and most exact translation of the words is, Ye have heaped up treasure in the last days; which rendering leads us to the true interpretation of them. By the last days, we understand here the end of the Jewish state; when the temple, city, and polity, were to be all destroyedtogether,andtheRomanswouldspoilthemof all their possessions. Daniel's four monarchies are, according to Mede, the grand calendar in holy scripture, to which the mention of times and seasons in the New Testament ought in general to be referred. These four monarchies were to succeed each other: that was the long line of time; and under the last, (that is, the Roman monarchy,) the kingdom of God was to be erected: the seventy weeks prophesied of, Daniel 9:24 were to be a shorter line of time; cut out of the longer line. And the last days mentioned here, and in the parallel passages of the New Testament, were the conclusion of the seventy weeks, or shorter line of time; when the city and sanctuary, or temple, were to be destroyed with an utter desolation. See 1 Timothy 4:1. Heaping up treasures when that desolation was approaching, could turn to no account, because they had very little or no time to enjoythem; for the rich Jews in their dispersions did many of them share the same fate with those in Judea and Jerusalem.