Theme: COMMENTARY ON JAMES CHAPTERS 3 - 5
Text: “Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten. Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.” – James 5:1-3.
Comment: The text for today is a denunciation of those who became rich through corruption, deceit and oppression. Such rich unbelievers feel secure and are very proud, being impervious to the judgments of God. They “have their portion in this life”. (Psalm 17:14) Apostle James adds, “Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth …Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you.” (James 5:4-6) The words of James the apostle echo what had been stated earlier by the servant of God, Jeremiah, thus, “Woe unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness, and his chambers by wrong; that useth his neighbour’s service without wages, and giveth him not for his work; …But thine eyes and thine heart are not but for thy covetousness, and for to shed innocent blood, and for oppression, and for violence, to do it.” – Jeremiah 22:13,14,17.
We pray God to help us to avoid the spirit of covetousness and oppression. The command of God is, “Thou shalt not defraud thy neighbour, neither rob him: the wages of him that is hired shall not abide with thee all night until the morning.” – Leviticus 19:13.