LESSON 7 • Warning to Rich Oppressors
James 5:1-6

OPEN: There is no merit in being poor, nor sin in being rich. Countless examples exist in the Bible of good men on whom God bestowed wealth. Job, Abraham, Joseph, David, Solomon were each given earthly goods – to use for His purposes. In Jesus’ parable of the talents, “more” was “better” because it increased the Master’s, not the servant’s holdings. Whatever our level of wealth, this section of James challenges us to examine (a) How we obtain our wealth, (b) How we are “enjoying” our wealth, and (c) To what use our wealth is being put. 

James 5:1-6, NIV
1Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming upon you. 2Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. 3Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. 4Look! The wages you failed to pay the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. 5You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter. 6You have condemned and murdered innocent men, who were not opposing you.

– Contextual Overview 
James previously addressed financial matters in 1:9-11 (the transitory nature of and problems resulting from changing financial position), 2:1-7 (the fallacy of exhibiting favoritism based on rank, wealth, social position, worldly attainment or fame), 3:13-18 (the danger of earthly wisdom associated with envy and selfish ambition), and 4:1-5 (the stress, conflict and unanswered prayers caused by lust, covetousness, selfishness and worldliness. Where these earlier sections were provided for “reproof, correction and instruction in righteousness” to Jewish Christians scattered around the world, this section seems to be written to a specific group of wealthy oppressors who, for whatever reason, seemed to be beyond hope, in a manner similar to those in Romans 1 and 2. It serves as a warning and challenge to us today.

– Textual Review of Section

James 5:1 
Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming upon you.
Attention! Oppressive rich folks; you might as well start howlin’ now because your awful fate is near! James’ purpose here is not to condemn wealth or elevate poverty. Rather, he is pronouncing judgment on a class of wealthy who are conspicuous in their consumption and oppressive in their accumulation of wealth. Their sin arises from the manner in which their wealth was acquired; the spirit which maintains a greedy heart and the self-serving manner in which the wealth is used.

These are said to “Burst into weeping, howling with grief.” This would be expressive of very deep distress. The language is intensive, showing that the calamities that were coming upon them were not only such as would produce tears, but tears accompanied with loud lamentations. In the East, it is customary to give expression to deep sorrow by loud outcries.

How bad will it get? The misery will be like enduring a callus (or the severe blisters that ultimately result in the callus)! While some writers suppose that this refers to the approaching destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 by the Romans, others view this as a more universal condemnation of such men who unwittingly (or without caring) expose themselves to the wrath of God. 

James 5:2 
Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes.
These “riches” refer to their hoarded treasures. The idea is that they had accumulated far more than they needed for their own use and that instead of distributing them to do good things for others, or employing them in any useful way, they kept them until they rotted or spoiled.

A considerable part of the treasures that a man in the East would lay up consisted of perishable materials, as garments, grain, oil, etc. As with the example of Joseph in Egypt, such articles of property were often stored up, expecting that they would furnish a supply for many years, in case of the prevalence of famine or wars. Yet some went far beyond reasonable provisions. Remember the attitude of the “certain rich man” in Luke 12:18-19? A suitable provision for the time to come wasn’t forbidden; but the reference here is to cases in which great quantities had been laid up (more, bigger barns), perhaps while the poor (Lazarus) were suffering, and which were kept until they became worthless.

These earthly treasures will become corrupted (or rotted) and moth-eaten. As the fashions in the East did not change as they do with us, wealth consisted much in the garments that were laid up for show or for future use. Of course, such property would be liable to be moth-eaten and the idea here is that they had amassed a great amount of this kind of property that was useless to them and which they kept until it became destroyed.

James 5:3 
Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days.

When was the last time you saw rusted gold or silver – particularly “rusted through, down to the bottom?” Yet, if kept long in a damp place they will contract a dark color resembling rust. This seems to be the idea in the mind of the apostle. He speaks of gold and silver as they appear after having been long laid up without use; and undoubtedly the word that he uses here is one which would to an ancient have expressed that idea.
He goes on to focus on the rust (corrosion) using a different word – one translated “poison" in James 3:8 and Romans 3:13. The word denotes something sent out or emitted and is applied to a missile weapon such as an arrow; to poison, as emitted from the tooth of a serpent; and to rust; as it seems to be emitted from metals.

This rust (corrosion) has a special purpose – to incriminate; to serve as a witness testifying against them! In law, the Latin phrase “res ipsa loquitur” is used which means, “the thing speaks for itself.” Here, the rusty metal testifies that the money is not used as it should be, either in fairly paying those to whom it is due, or in doing good things for others. Among the ancients, the gold and silver that anyone possessed was laid up in some secret and safe place. There were no banks then in which money might be deposited; there were few ways of investing money so as to produce regular interest; there were no corporations to employ money in joint operations; and it was not very common to invest money in the purchase of real estate, and stocks and mortgages were little known. Their “rusty looking” gold spoke for itself to their guilt!

To make matters worse, this rust (corrosion) will eat flesh as if it were fire! While this isn’t literally flesh-eating gold, it must mean that the effect would be as if it should corrode or consume their very flesh; that is, the consequences of their laying up treasures would be followed by extreme judgment and pain. The thought is very striking, and the language with which it is conveyed is singularly bold and energetic. The effect of thus heaping up treasure will be as corroding as fire in the flesh. The reference is to the punishment that God would bring on them for their avarice.

James is telling these oppressors, “You have been heaping up treasure for ostentation or luxury or use in later life; but it will prove to be the wrong kind! Real treasure is a different kind from what they have supposed. It is treasure which will be seen at the judgment day.” Paul speaks of "treasuring up wrath against the day of wrath, and revelation of the righteous judgment of God,"

Romans 2:5.
There are some who suppose they are accumulating property that may be of use to them or that may secure them the reputation of possessing great wealth, which are in fact accumulating a most fearful treasure against the day of final retribution. Every man who is wealthy should examine himself closely to see whether there is anything in the manner in which he has gained his property, or in which he now holds it, that will expose him to the wrath of God in the last day. 

James 5:4 
Look! The wages you failed to pay the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty.

The sin that the apostle specified in the first three verses was that they had selfishly hoarded their property. He now pronounces another sin in that they had withheld what was due from the very laborers who had cultivated their fields and to whose labor they were indebted for what they had. The phrase "who have reaped down your fields," is used to denote labor in general. This particular thing is specified, perhaps, because the reaping of the harvest seems to be more immediately connected with the accumulation of property. What is said here, however, applies to all kinds of labor.

In verse 3, the rust on the gold and silver screamed “You’re a greedy hoarder!” Here the paychecks of the laborers scream “Fraud!” The fraud referred to “in keeping it back” may be anything by which the payment is withheld or the claim evaded; whether it be mere neglect to pay it; some advantage taken in making the bargain; some evasion of the law, mere vexatious delay, such superior power that he to whom it is due cannot enforce the payment, such a system that he to whom it is fairly due is supposed in the laws to have no rights, and to be incapable of suing or being sued. Any one of these things would come under the category of fraud.
These cries to God for punishment arrive in heaven to the ears of the Lord of Hosts! The laborers are oppressed and wronged; they have none to regard their cry on earth and to redress their wrongs, so they go and appeal to that God who will regard their cry and avenge them. The mighty Ruler of all worlds is able to vindicate them. In His own time He will come forth to vindicate the oppressed, and to punish the oppressor.

James 5:5 
You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter.

“To live delicately, luxuriously, at ease!” Sounds more like the promise of a television commercial than a scripture reference. James points out that they lived in ease and affluence on the labors of others; they indulged in what gratified the taste, and pleased the ear and the eye, while those who contributed the means of this were groaning under oppression. A life of mere indolence and ease, of delicacy and luxury, is nowhere countenanced in the Bible; and even where unconnected with oppression and wrong to others, such a mode of living is regarded as inconsistent with the purpose for which God made man, and placed him on the earth.

Similarly, they had “taken their pleasure,” not in the sense of "lewd, lustful, lascivious," but rather "sportive, joyous, gay," (applied to anything that was variable or fickle). There is a close connection between what the apostle says here, and what he refers to in the previous verse – the oppression of others by withholding what is due to them who labor.

What’s the result of this behavior? This misdirected gorging ultimately leads to slaughter. As cattle are carefully fed and are fattened for slaughter, so they seemed to have been fattening themselves for the slaughter that was to come upon them on the day of vengeance.

James 5:6 
You have condemned and murdered innocent men, who were not opposing you.

While this may refer to the condemnation and crucifixion of Christ, the context would focus more on the idea that their conduct towards his people had been similar to the treatment of the Savior himself and was in fact a condemnation and crucifixion of him afresh, or, that by their rejection of him in order to live in sin, they in fact condemned him and his religion. By their harsh treatment of others in withholding what was due to them, they had deprived them of the means of subsistence, and had, as it were, killed the righteous. It was one of their characteristics that they had been guilty of wrong towards good men.

The quote “he doth not resist you,” is probably a reference is to the "just man" whom they condemned and killed. They were so powerful that all attempts to resist them would be vain, and that the injured and oppressed could do nothing but submit patiently to their acts of injustice and violence. The sense may be either that they could not oppose them (the rich men being so powerful), or they who were oppressed so feeble; or that they bore their wrongs with meekness, and did not attempt it.

The sins, therefore, condemned in these verses and for which it is said the divine vengeance would come upon those referred to, are these four:
1) That of hoarding up money when it was unnecessary for their real support and comfort, and when they might do so much good with it.
2) That of keeping back the wages which was due to those who cultivated their fields; that is, keeping back what would be a fair compensation for their toil;
3) That of giving themselves up to a life of ease, luxury, and sensual indulgence; and,
4) That of wronging and oppressing others; men, perhaps in humble life, who were unable to defend their rights, and who had none to protect them; men who were unable to offer successful resistance, or who were restrained by their principles from attempting it.

Discussion

1. How do you determine if you’ve crossed the line of responsibly “accumulating reasonable provisions” over to “excessive hoarding?”
2. What constitutes “conspicuous consumption” and how can you affect others with such behavior?
3. What is currently in your attic, garage, closet or storage that is in jeopardy of becoming rotted or spoiled?
4. In this section “rusty gold” and “moth-eaten garments” were witnesses against the wealthy. What is your “thing that speaks for itself” that raises a red flag about your stewardship?
5. How could your wealth “eat your flesh like fire?”
6. Whether you’re an employer or not, how might your behavior defraud others?
7. How could it become a problem for you to “live delicately, luxuriously, at ease,” even where unconnected with oppression and wrong to others?
8. How might your self-imposed “nourishment” lead to your slaughter? How could we feed ourselves things that could be harmful to our relationship with God?
9. How can your actions or choices cause you to directly or indirectly oppress others who are unable to protect themselves?
References
Robertson's Word Pictures in the New Testament, Electronic Database. Copyright © 1997 by Biblesoft & Robertson's Word Pictures in the New Testament. Copyright © 1985 by Broadman Press
Barnes' Notes, Electronic Database. Copyright © 1997 by Biblesoft
A Commentary on the Epistle of James, Guy N. Woods, Gospel Advocate Company

Rick Adkins, CFP&Mac226; is the CEO of The Arkansas Financial Group, Inc., a fee-only financial planning and investment advisory firm. For the past several years he has been recognized as one of the top financial planners in the country by Medical Economics, Worth and Mutual Funds magazines. He has served Pleasant Valley as a Bible class teacher since 1977 and served as a Deacon from 1983 until 1995.