Elias was a man subject to like passions, &c.— 'Ομοιοπαθης, A man of a like frail and mortal composition; liable to the evils and afflictions of life, and subject to death, as well as other men: and his saying in this place, that Elijah wasfrail and mortal like other men, seems to have been in order to anticipate an inquiry like that recorded, Sir 48:3-4. "Elijah (they might have said) was an extraordinary prophet; and at last translated without dying; whereas we are only frail men; Why therefore should we expect such favours as were granted to him?" To obviate such a plea, the apostle takes notice, that Elijah was a man only, and not an angel; liable to many calamities, and naturally mortal, like other men; though by the extraordinary favour of God, he was actually translated: and as he was only a weak mortal man, it was not to be thought that he worked his miracles of himself. They proceeded from a divine power, and were effected in answer to his prayer to God. Upon the earth, would more properly be rendered, Upon the land; that is, of Judea. See on Luke 4:25.
Related Commentaries of James 5:17
James 5:17
17 Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestlyb that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months.