James 5:10

Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience. THE PROPHETS - especially persecuted, therefore especially 'blessed.' EXAMPLE OF SUFFERING AFFLICTION, [ kakopatheias (G2552)] - 'of evil treatment.' PATIENCE, [ makrothumias (G3115)] - 'long-suffering.'...

10_Take, my brethren, the prophets_. The comfort which he brings is not that which is according to the common proverb, that the miserable hope for like companions in evils. That they set before them associates, in whose number it was desirable to be classed; and to have the same condition with them, was no misery. For as we must necessarily feel extreme grief, when any evil happens to us which the children of God have never experienced, so it is a singular consolation when we know that we suffer nothing different from them; nay, when we know that we have to sustain the same yoke with them. When Job heard from his friends, “Turn to the saints, can you find any like to thee?” (Job 5:1,) it was the voice of Satan, because he wished to drive him to despair. When, on the other hand, the Spirit by the mouth of James desi

7-11 Consider him that waits for a crop of corn; and will not you wait for a crown of glory? If you should be called to wait longer than the husbandman, is not there something more worth waiting for? In every sense the coming of the Lord drew nigh, and all his people's losses, hardships, and sufferings, would be repaid. Men count time long, because they measure it by their own lives; but all time is as nothing to God; it is as a moment. To short-lived creatures a few years seem an age; but Scripture, measuring all things by the existence of God, reckons thousands of years but so many days. God brought about things in Job's case, so as plainly to prove that he is very pitiful and of tender mercy. This did not appear during his troubles, but was seen in the event, and believers now will find a happy end to their trials. Let us serve our God, and bear our trials, as those who believe that...

Verse 10. _TAKE - THE PROPHETS_] The prophets who had spoken to their forefathers by the authority of God, were persecuted by the very people to whom they delivered the Divine message; but they suffered affliction and persecution with patience, commending their cause to him who judgeth righteously; therefore, imitate their example....

TAKE, MY BRETHREN, THE PROPHETS - That is, in your trials and persecutions. To encourage them to the exercise of patience, he points them to the example of those who had trod the same thorny path before them. The prophets were in general a much persecuted race of men; and the argument on which the apostle relies from their example is this: (1)That if the prophets were persecuted and tried, it may be expected that other good men will be; (2)That they showed such patience in their trials as to be a model for us. AN EXAMPLE OF SUFFERING AFFLICTION - That is, they showed us how evils are to be borne....

EXPOSITION JAMES 5:1 DENUNCIATION OF THE RICH FOR (1) GRINDING DOWN THE POOR AND KEEPING BACK THEIR WAGES; (2) LUXURY; (3) MURDER. The whole section resembles nothing so much as an utterance of one of the old Jewish prophets. It might almost be a leaf torn out of the Old Testament. JAMES 5:1 GO TO NOW (see on James 4

TAKE, MY BRETHREN, THE PROPHETS, WHO HAVE SPOKEN IN THE NAME OF THE LORD,.... Men who have been highly honoured of God, with a gift of prophesying, or foretelling things to come; to whom God revealed his secrets, doing nothing without acquainting them with it; and who were sent forth by him, and prophesied in his name what were made known unto them; and yet, though these were his favourites, they suffered much; as cruel mockings, scourgings, imprisonment, famine, nakedness, and death in various shapes; some being stoned, others sawn asunder, and others killed by the sword; all which they endured with incredible patience. And therefore the apostle proposes them to be taken, FOR AN EXAMPLE SUFFERING AFFLICTION, AND OF PATIENCE; their afflictions were many and great, and yet they were very patient under them; and through faith and patience they went through them, and now inherit the promis...

V. THE COMING OF THE LORD AND THE LIFE OF FAITH CHAPTER 5 _ 1. The oppression by the rich and their coming doom (James 5:1)_ 2. Be patient unto the coming of the Lord (James 5:7) 3. The prayers of faith and the life of faith (James 5:13) James 5:1 The two classes whom James addresses stand out very prominently in this final chapter of his Epistle. The rich oppressors certainly are not believers but the unbelieving rich; they are not addressed as “brethren”; but others are in verse 7 and exhorted to patience. Both classes, the unbelieving rich and the believing remnant are confronted by the coming of the Lord. “Go to

Patience in James 5:7; James 5:10 is different from endurance in n, Hebrews 12:1 f.; it is the opposite of short-temperedness or impatience. The farmer does his work and then can only wait for a harvest which he can do nothing to hurry. The Coming of the Lord is a phrase appropriating to Yahweh and in Christian language to Christ a term almost technical for _royal visits._ (With our new knowledge of the profane use of the word, _mg._ becomes misleading.) The former rain follows the sowing, the latter comes just before the corn ripens. This epistle belongs to the period when all Christians still believed in the imminence of the Advent (contrast 2 Peter 3:4

THE WORTHLESSNESS OF RICHES (James 5:1-3)...