Diatribe Against The Ungodly Rich (James 5:1-6).
Notice the complete contrast between the rich as described here and those who are being tested and tried in the opening words of the letter, ‘count it all joy when you enter into testing' (James 1:2) compared with ‘weep and howl for your miseries that are coming on you' (James 5:1). In this contrast we come to the heart of James' letter. Those who are looking to God have much to rejoice in, while those who are friends of the world have nothing at all to rejoice in.
James has very much in mind here the unrighteous rich (in contrast with the careless rich in James 4:13) as seen in the light of the Old Testament, and his descriptions should be seen in that light, although he no doubt also drew on his experiences of what was happening in Jerusalem and Judea at that time. Certainly in the period between Jesus' death and the destruction of Jerusalem the rich there had fleeced and ill-treated the people, as Josephus makes clear. And this was especially so in the time of the great famine and its aftermath, when many of the poor would be heavily in debt (Acts 11:28). But most vivid in his mind were the Old Testament pictures. And he points out that just as the Old Testament had declared that they will reap what they have sown, not in a good sense, but in the worst possible sense, so will it be.
He was aware that in synagogues where his words were read (for many Christian Jews still worshipped alongside other Jews) and in churches which had grown substantially among the Gentiles, there were many rich who were ignoring the teaching of Jesus and of the Old Testament. Some of them may even have claimed to be Christians. These words are addressed to all of them, for all are subject to the law written in the heart.
Analysis.
a Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming on you (James 5:1).
b Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten (James 5:2).
c Your gold and your silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be for a testimony against you, and will eat your flesh as fire (James 5:3 a).
d You have laid up your treasure in the last days (James 5:3 b).
c Behold, the hire of the labourers who mowed your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, cries out, and the cries of those who reaped have entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth (James 5:4).
b You have lived delicately on the earth, and taken your pleasure. You have nourished your hearts in a day of slaughter (James 5:5).
a You have condemned, you have killed the righteous one. He does not resist you (James 5:6).
Note that in ‘a' the rich are to have misery heaped on them, and in the parallel this is because they had heaped misery on the righteous. In ‘b' their riches are corrupted and their clothing moth-eaten, (their riches are dying around them) and in the parallel this had occurred while they had lived delicately and taken their pleasure, when others had been dying around them. In ‘c' the corrosion of their riches will be a testimony against them, and in the parallel the hire of their labourers will cry out against them. And centrally they should recognise that they have indeed ‘laid up their treasure' in the last days, a treasure which is rotten and useless (for they have laid it up on earth and not in Heaven).
There is a kind of semi-poetic flavour to his words here which we may depict as follows:
Come now, you rich, weep and howl,
For your miseries that are coming on you,
Your riches are corrupted,
And your garments have become moth-eaten,
Your gold and your silver are corroded,
And their corrosion will be for a testimony against you,
And will eat your flesh as fire,
You have laid up your treasure in the last days.
Behold, the hire of the labourers who mowed your fields,
Which is of you kept back by fraud cries out,
And the cries of those who reaped,
Have entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth,
You have lived delicately on the earth and taken your pleasure.
You have nourished your hearts in a day of slaughter,
You have condemned, you have killed the righteous one.
He does not resist (oppose) you.'