James Chapter 5 verse 11 Holy Bible

Pulpit Commentary

Pulpit CommentaryVerse 11. - Behold, we count them happy. Μακαρίζειν: only here and Luke 1:48 (comp. James 1:12, "Blessed is the man that endureth temptation;" Daniel 12:12, "Blessed is he that waiteth"). Which endure; rather, which endured, reading ὑπομείναντας, with א, A, B, Syriac, Latt. (quisustinuerunt). Ye have heard of the patience of Job. A book very rarely referred to in the New Testament; only here and in 1 Corinthians 3:19, where Job 5:13 is quoted. And have seen the end of the Lord. Ἴδετε ("see") is found in A, B, L, but εἴδετε of the Received Text has the support of א, B, K, Vulgate (ridistis), and is now generally adopted. The "end of the Lord (τὸ τέλος Κυρίου)" cannot possibly be interpreted of the death and resurrection of our Savior. The whole context is against this, and Κυρίου would certainly require the article. The Syriac Version rightly interprets the clause, "the end which the Lord wrought for him." It dearly refers to the end which God brought about in the case of Job, whose "latter end the Lord blessed more than his beginning" (Job 42:12; cf. Winer, 'Grammar of New Testament Greek,' p. 309). That the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy, Πολύσπλαχνος: here only; never in the LXX, but equivalent to Hebrew רַב חֶסֶד; cf. Psalm 103. (102.), 8; 111. (110.), 4, which may have suggested the phrase to St. James. Οἰκτίρμων: only here and Luke 6:36; several times in the LXX. Ὁ Κύριος is omitted entirely in K, L, and some manuscripts of the Vulgate; the article is also wanting in B.

Ellicott's Commentary

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(11) We count them happy which endure.--Rather read it, we count them blessed which endure; or, as some critics would have it, endured. (See Matthew 5:11, and 1Peter 2:19.) The heathen philosopher Solon called no one "happy" upon earth; but, with the mystery of pain around him, cried sadly, "Look to the end." And the sated and weary soul of Solomon had no better thought than to praise "the dead which are already dead, more than the living" (Ecclesiastes 4:2). How different the teaching of St. James, himself taught by the example of the suffering Christ: verily, "he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than" the greatest and the wisest who know not of its light and peace (Matthew 11:11).The patience of Job.--The earliest notions current in the world were, doubtless, that on the whole prosperity came to those who lived morally and physically well, while adversity in body or mind followed closely on the wicked and improvident. It is easy to see how these opinions, even among the happier races who had not wandered far from God, gradually hardened into stern rules of judgment, by which each man saw in the chances and calamities of life an immediate effort of an avenging Deity. This was ages before a pious Asaph (Psalms 73) could reflect on the contradiction of experience in this matter, and be troubled at the "prosperity" of the wicked; or before the wise king could notice (Ecclesiastes 7:15; Ecclesiastes 8:14) the just man perishing "in his righteousness," and the unjust prolonging "his days in wickedness"; "the fishes taken in an evil net," and "the birds caught in the snare" (Ecclesiastes 9:12). It was ages earlier still than the presence of that Wiser than Solomon, who spoke of the hapless "eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell"--"Think ye that they were sinners above all?" (Luke 13:4-5). Job's friends were so certain of his misdeeds, that they would not hear his self-defence; if God tried his endurance, man surely afflicted his patience. We can hear the three in council against him, becoming more zealous as they believe themselves the defenders of God's justice. (See Job 4-22) They are shocked at Job's obstinacy, and annoyed into vehement accusation against him, because he will "hold fast" to his "integrity." It is a damning proof to them of his guilt. Not only had he been wicked, but now actually he is impious and rebellious; such conduct is not to be borne. "Is not thy wickedness great?" says Eliphaz (Job 22:5). Thou must have--nay, "thou hast taken a pledge from thy brother for nought, and stripped the naked of their clothing;" thou couldst not--nay, "thou hast not given water to the weary, and thou hast withholden bread from the hungry:" truly thine iniquities are infinite." Now, we know Job was innocent; God Himself bears witness to it (Job 1:8). And finally the suffering, patient, righteous man was declared to have spoken wisely: as Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar the contrary. They--types of a censorious piety--had conceived of God by their own faulty notions of religion, and fondly deemed they could enter into the motives of the Most High. Job for awhile had seemed to cloud his own belief with baser attributes, as (Job 16 et seq.) to a God who causelessly dealt in cruelty and pain; but through such fleeting mistakes he rose at last to the full conviction of His perfect truth and justice. It might be that He gave happiness to those who sought Him; it might be He allowed them misery--as the world would call it; but this nor that had part in the matter at issue. Earthly blessings "He gives to whom He wills, or leaves to the powers of nature to distribute among those who fulfil the laws" thereof; but "to serve him and love Him is higher and better than any mundane welfare, though it be with wounded feet and bleeding forehead, or an ash-heap and filthy sores" (Froude). This was the faith to which Job attained: higher, "clearer, purer, there is not possible to man." In such like "patience" it were well for us that we should "possess our souls" (Luke 21:19). . . .