James Lesson
69, January 9
Review:
5:2-3
Nature of their Judgment
Your riches have rotted
-
All the wealth that the have accumulated - stored up has been destroyed,
decayed become rotten. No longer of value to them.
and your garments have become moth - eaten
5:3
Continuation of the nature of the judgment
Your gold and your silver have rusted
- prep kata intensifies the force of the verb =
thoroughly or completely rusted / corroded, contaminated
and their rust will be a
witness against you and will consume your flesh like fire.
-
What does this sound like its describing?
The poison of radioactive contamination of their
wealth. (Zech 14:12)
It is in the last days that you have stored up your
treasure !
Summary
5:2-3
1. Unprecedented evil results in unprecedented
judgment.
2. The unusual use of the three verbs in the
perfect tense is selected to express something familiar to James's readers but
also to denote something beyond their circumstances prophetically. (prophetic perfects)
#1 - Rot-decay - very
common condition - used here of their wealth
#2 - James also describes the ruination of their expensive and extensive
collection of clothes - (part of the trappings of wealth)
#3 - Gold and silver
which is often used by the rich as a hedge
against inflation - James says that their gold and silver has corroded -
tarnished - become contaminated.
Note: A temporal judgment consisting of nuclear war completely satisfies
the language used here w/o straining the symbology at
all.
5:4 The 2nd
Charge in the indictment
Behold (idou -
pay attention) the pay of the laborers who mowed your fields,
and which has been withheld by you
- not just to delay in paying but a complete default, failed
to pay what was promised; this implies fraud
cries out against you
- it’s
the wages withheld that James is personifying here as crying out for justice
and the outcry of those who did
the harvesting has reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth.
- Ex