Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of James 5:11
Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.
11. we count them happy which endure ] Better, we call them blessed, the verb being formed from the adjective used in ch. Jas 1:12. Comp. Luk 2:48. The words may contain a reference to Dan 12:12.
Ye have heard of the patience of Job ] Better, endurance, to keep up the connexion with the verb. It is singular that, though the book is once quoted (1Co 3:19, Job 5:13), this is the only reference in the New Testament to the history of Job. Philo, however, quotes from Job 14:4 ( de Mutat. Nom. xxiv.), and he is referred to by Clement of Rome (1.17.26). The book would naturally be studied by one whose attention had been drawn, as St James’s manifestly had been, to the sapiential Books included in the Hagiographa of the Old Testament. It is obvious that he refers to the book as containing an actual history, as obvious that his so referring to it throws no light on the questions which have been raised, but which it would be out of place to discuss here, as to its authorship and date.
and have seen the end of the Lord ] The words have received two very different interpretations. (1) They have been referred to the “end” which the “Lord” wrought out for Job after his endurance had been tried, as in Job 42:12. (2) The “end of the Lord” has been understood as pointing to the death and resurrection of Christ as the Lord who had been named in Jas 5:7, the highest example of patience in the Old Testament being brought into juxtaposition with the Highest of all Examples. On this view the passage becomes parallel with 1Pe 2:19-25. The clause that follows is, however, decisively in favour of (1), nor is there any instance of a New Testament writer using the term “end” of the passion and death of Christ. Mat 26:58, which is the nearest approach to such a use, is scarcely in point.
that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy ] The first of the two adjectives, of which the nearest English equivalent would be large-hearted or perhaps tender-hearted, is not found in any other writer, and may have been a coinage of St James’s. The latter occurs in Sir 2:11 , in close juxtaposition with a passage which we have already found referred to in the Epistle ( Sir 2:11 ), and which may therefore have been present to St James’s thoughts. In this instance “the Lord” is clearly used in the Old Testament sense, and this, as has been said, determines the meaning of the previous clause.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Behold, we count them happy which endure – The word rendered we count them happy ( makarizomen,) occurs only here and in Luk 1:48, where it is rendered shall call me blessed. The word makarios (blessed, or happy,) however, occurs often. See Mat 5:3-11; Mat 11:6; Mat 13:6, et soepe. The sense here is, we speak of their patience with commendation. They have done what they ought to do, and their name is honored and blessed.
Ye have heard of the patience of Job – As one of the most illustrious instances of patient sufferers. See Job 1:21. The book of Job was written, among other reasons, to show that true religion would bear any form of trial to which it could be subjected. See Job 1:9-11; Job 2:5-6.
And have seen the end of the Lord – That is, the end or design which the Lord had in the trials of Job, or the result to which he brought the case at last – to wit, that he showed himself to be very merciful to the poor sufferer; that he met him with the expressions of his approbation for the manner in which he bore his trials; and that he doubled his former possessions, and restored him to more than his former happiness and honor. See Job 13. Augustine, Luther, Wetstein, and others, understand this as referring to the death of the Lord Jesus, and as meaning that they had seen the manner in which he suffered death, as an example for us. But, though this might strike many as the true interpretation, yet the objections to it are insuperable.
(1) It does not accord with the proper meaning of the word end, ( telos). That word is in no instance applied to death, nor does it properly express death. It properly denotes an end, term, termination, completion; and is used in the following senses: –
(a) To denote the end, the termination, or the last of anything, Mar 3:26; 1Co 15:24; Luk 21:9; Heb 7:3;
(b) An event, issue, or result, Mat 26:58; Rom 6:21; 2Co 11:18;
(c) The final purpose, that to which all the parts tend, and in which they terminate, 1Ti 1:5;
(d) Tax, custom, or tribute – what is paid for public ends or purposes, Mat 17:25; Rom 13:7.
(2) This interpretation, referring it to the death of the Saviour, would not accord with the remark of the apostle in the close of the verse, that the Lord is very merciful. That is, what he says was seen, or this was what was particularly illustrated in the ease referred to. Yet this was not particularly seen in the death of the Lord Jesus. He was indeed most patient and submissive in his death, and it is true that he showed mercy to the penitent malefactor; but this was not the particular and most prominent trait which he evinced in his death. Besides, if it had been, that would not have been the thing to which the apostle would have referred here. His object was to recommend patience under trials, not mercy shown to others; and this he does by showing:
(a) That Job was an eminent instance of it, and,
(b) That the result was such as to encourage us to be patient.
The end or the result of the divine dealings in his case was, that the Lord was very pitiful and of tender mercy; and we may hope that it will be so in our case, and should therefore be encouraged to be patient under our trials.
That the Lord is very pitiful – As he showed deep compassion in the case of Job, we have equal reason to suppose that he will in our own.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Jam 5:11
We count them happy which endure
Endurance
Most natural words for an apostle to use.
He lived in the days of persecution. He was the head of that Church in which his namesake James was slain, Peter imprisoned, and Stephen stoned. But when persecution ceases, when times of rest and quiet come, have the words still a meaning to us? Yes; they are as true as ever now. He alone who has endured is truly happy. An easy life brings not out the powers of the soul. It only tries the surface; it does not search what is deeper. This kind of life, doubtless, is good for some. God knows what is best for each. He has given to some few opportunities, slight abilities, regular duties. He has taken the stones of stumbling and the rocks of offence out of their way. Quietly and gently, yet surely, as we hope, do they travel forward to a truer and more perfect rest. This, then, is happiness. And yet not happiness in itself of the highest kind. They that endure are the truly happy. For–
1. Consider we are all sinners. Surely we should be thankful for that which makes us know ourselves; which gives us self-knowledge; which forces us to search ourselves, probe our hearts, and test our conduct; which awakes us from sleep; which calls forth dormant powers, and raises us into activity. Trials are as prophets of old; they are clothed in a sad dress, but they warn us. They tell us what is true happiness–not to enjoy, not to be careless, not to laugh; but to work hard, to labour steadily, to endure what has to be endured.
2. This was the life of Christ. Would you prefer to it the life of any prince, noble, prosperous merchant, merry-hearted youth? Doubtless they are happy in their way. But as gold is better than silver, so is the happiness of Christ a far higher happiness than theirs. And why do we count Christs life blessed? Because He endured.
3. This is that which does most good, and that which does most good is the happiest. He who attacks sin and ignorance, he who seeks out misery to relieve it, does the most direct good. Now, attack evil, ignorance, misery, we cannot, except with a contest. They are deeply seated. Then comes the struggle. With the struggle comes the endurance, the labour, the toil, the disappointment, the renewed struggle, more endurance.
4. Surely the right thing is work now, rest hereafter. Things show best by contrast. Tis the shadow that shows us what light is. It is ungenerous to wish to win heaven lightly. Should we expect, or even desire, ever to sail over an unruffled sea? Should the sea be as calm as the harbour? Should we be satisfied with the merits of Christ? Is there not something to be filled up? What is all that that is said about a great struggle, a race, a wrestling, a combat? Do we need no inward strivings, no hidden battle, no earnest prayers, no sorrowing for sin? We count the dead blessed who have endured; not simply as if so much affliction and sorrow and pain were so much expiation and satisfaction; but we count, as Christians, him happy who has endured after the pattern and model of Christs endurance. Nothing else can give us confidence or inspire us with a well-grounded hope. He who is dead may have had less or more to endure; still, something, be he who he may, he must have had to endure. This is the question: Has he endured it with a Christian patience? That which we would think of others, let us each think of ourselves. Endurance should form and fashion our character, try our powers, call out our activity, test our disposition, regulate our temper, teach us confidence in God, wean our souls from the world, join us nearer to the Divine life through Christ; at the same time make us more human, enable us to feel for others trials; on every side should it strengthen and improve us, so that in all sincerity we may bless God our Father, for that He has not left us without trouble, for that He has not sent us pain, for that He has made us to have not an over-easy life. (James Lonsdale, M. A.)
Suffering
It seems to me a perfectly fair question to ask, Was there ever any fully-developed soul who did not suffer intensely, and in that suffering develop the forces and talents within it, rising almost to the level of genius? Have you never felt in the presence of some mighty spirit, born with unusual powers, capable of accomplishing mighty things, rising in the sublimity of his forces to the transcendent heights of genius, yet never having been burned to the fibres of his soul by the consuming fire of pain and agony–have you not felt in the presence of such a life that, when the supreme moment of Christlike agony shall have come to him, he will burst the bonds binding him by reason of his limitations, and through the fires of his suffering spring into hitherto unknown powers and capabilities? Shall we dare to say that Lincoln could have been a Lincoln without his sufferings? Dante a Dante without his? Luther, Melancthon, Ridley, Cranmer, St. Augustine? Oh, how the pain of sin entered St. Augustines soul; how the biting chisel of violated law cut the fair beauty of holiness, engraved his character! and through his confessions we are enabled to see the process through which the angel of his spirit was let out. Dare we say that St. Augustine would have been what he was without all his sufferings? (S. R. Fuller.)
The goodly discipline
It is the supreme exercise of faith to believe in its goodness; to accept it as a beautiful, a precious, yea, even a blessed part of the heritage of benediction which we enjoy. It is hard to believe in the goodness of toil, and to break forth into praise as the nerves throb, and the flesh quivers under the strain. It is far harder to praise when the fibres of the soul are throbbing with anguish, and the heart reels under a pressure which it can no longer endure. The real question is, What is in the childs heart, not when it is tormented, but when it is in its right mind, and the hidden nature is free to express itself, to make known its secret thought, and to declare its love. If that be right with God, as Jobs was, the plaints and meanings enter into a compassionate ear, and are so many pleas, like the infants cry, for loving glances, tender touches, wooing words, and all the gentle efforts by which the Father strives to draw the moaning child to His bosom, and to hush him to rest in the arms of His love. It is a state of gracious discipline to which we are called in this life; not a home, not a rest, but a school of culture, a wilderness of pilgrimage, in which salvation is not through possession, but through hope. And for this goodly heritage, this scene and school of discipline, I call you this day to praise. For man constituted as he is, or rather as he has made himself by sin, tasks are good, and the sentence of toil is good. It is good to bring him back into that harmony with the Divine law from which he had withdrawn himself; good to remind him that he is living in Gods world, and not in his own, and that he must study and obey humbly the laws of its constitution if he would lift his hand, draw his breath, and eat his bread, The lesson was made hard; the work was to deepen into toil that would strain every fibre, and start every pore, that the lesson might be driven home, and that powers might be drawn forth and cultivated which, when the painful process of their first training was over, would be instruments of power and inlets of joy to the being through all the ages of eternity. Discipline takes up and carries on this ministry of the tasks of life. It carries it up into higher regions–the regions of spiritual experience and power. It is a still stronger and sharper reminder to man that he has placed himself in collision with the whole system of things around him, by the transgression of the Divine commandment; and that submission, believing submission, to the will which is above him, is the one secret of peace and blessedness. It would be very terrible for man, the sinner, in the physical world, if he could command successfully the stones to be made bread–that is, if he could make things obey him instead of God. It would but make for him a fools paradise for a moment, which his own selfish passions would soon convert into a hell. It would be still more terrible, were it possible for man, if he could lie, and cheat, and steal, or be arrogant, self-willed, lustful, tyrannous, or unjust, and live peaceably, free from storm and inward and outward wretchedness. If he could play the tyrant in his home, and find it a house of benediction, or in his state, and find it prosperous and strong; if he could play the hypocrite or the satyr in his own soul, and be honoured and loved of all men, live in peace and die in hope, it would be a training for a miserable and lost eternity. The pain of life throws back mans thought on his sin. He sees, or is meant to see, how his own selfishness, injustice, impurity, are armed with scourges to smite him, and will bury their thongs in his quivering flesh, and stain them with the starting blood, before they leave him to dream, if he can, that the way of the transgressor is peace. But it would be a dark mistake to imagine that the whole meaning of lifes discipline has relation to transgression, and that when it has convinced a man of sin, and set right his relations with the laws of the world around him, its work is done. The end of the Lord in much of our affliction is not so much to convert as to elevate, purify, and conform unto Himself. There is a strange absence of bitterness in this form of suffering; the pain may be terribly sharp, while within there is the perfect peaceful consciousness that the chastisement is the most tender and even yearning manifestation of the Divine love. Those deeply experienced in suffering learn lessons of unselfish thought and activity, of devotion to great ends of human good, of comfort, of healing, of teaching, of ministering, which make them the helpers and saviours of society. And what is true of the greatest, is true in minor measure of minor ministries of blessing. It is those who have learnt much in Gods high-school of discipline who best understand His mind and methods, and are His servants and ministers for the instruction of the world. It is suffering which unveils to us lifes inner mysteries, solves for us its deepest problems, shows us the true treasure-house of the wealth of being, and brings uncertain riches and possessions to their true weight–but a slight one–in the scale of life. The sorrowful find how little gifts and possessions can content them, can lighten their burden or soothe their pangs. They are open to the teaching which bids them lay up treasures in heaven; they know that a souls wealth lies absolutely in fellowship, sympathy, and love, and the fruit of noble, unselfish work. (J. B. Brown, B. A.)
Afflictions are blessings in disguise
A young man, who had long been confined with a diseased limb, and was near dissolution, said to a friend: What a precious treasure this affliction has been to me! It saved me from the folly and vanity of youth; it made me cleave to God as my only portion, and to eternal glory as my only hope; and I think it has now brought me very near my Fathers house.
Benefit of afflictions
A minister was recovering from a dangerous illness, when one of his friends addressed him thus: Sir, though God seems to be bringing you up from the gates of death, yet it will be a long time before you will sufficiently recover your strength and vigour of mind to preach as usual. The good man answered, You are mistaken, my friend; for this six weeks illness has taught me more divinity then all my past studies and all my ten years ministry put together.
Benefit of adversity
We are told of a merchant who lost his all in a storm, and then went to Athens to study philosophy. He soon discovered that it was better to be wise than to be wealthy, and said, I should have lost all unless I had lost much.
The honour of endurance
There lies a ship out in the stream I It is beautiful in all its lines. It has swung out from the pier, and is lying at anchor yonder; and men, as they cross the river on the ferry-boats, stand, and look at it, and admire it; and it deserves admiration. But it has never been out of port: there it stands, green, new, untried; and yet everybody thinks it is beautiful. It is like childhood, which everybody thinks is beautiful, or ought to be. There comes up the bay, and is making towards the navy-yard, another ship. It is an old ship-of-war. It has been in both oceans, and has been round the world many times. It has given and taken thunder-blows under the flag of its country. It is the old Constitution, we will suppose. She anchors at the navy-yard. See how men throng the cars, and go to the navy-yard, to get a sight of her I See how the sailors stand upon the deck, and gaze upon her I Some of them, perchance, have been in her; and to them she is thrice handsomer than any new vessel. This old war-beaten ship, that carries the memory of many memorable campaigns, lies there; and they look at its breached bow, its shattered rigging, its coarse and rude lines, its dingy sides, which seemed long since to have parted company with paint; and every one of them feels, if he is a true patriot, God bless you! old thing; God bless you! (H. W. Beecher.)
Secret of silent endurance
There lived in a village near Burnley a girl who was persecuted in her own home because she was a Christian. She struggled on bravely, seeking strength from God, and rejoicing that she was a partaker of Christs sufferings. The struggle was too much for her, but He willed it so; and at length her sufferings were ended. When they came to take off the clothes from her poor dead body, they found a piece of paper sewn inside her dress, and on it was written, He opened not His mouth. (Baxendales Anecdotes.)
Suffering, the common lot
The Mexicans to their new-born offspring, Child, thou art come into the world to suffer. Endure and hold thy peace. (Longfellow.)
The patience of Job
The pearl patience
We need to be reminded of what we have heard, for we are far too ready to forget. We are also so slow to meditate upon what we have heard that it is profitable to have our memories refreshed. We have, however, I trust, gone beyond mere hearing, for we have also seen in the story of Job that which it was intended to set vividly before our minds eye. I count it no small enrichment of our mind to have heard of the patience of Job, it comforts and strengthens us in our endurance; but it is an infinitely better thing to have seen the end of the Lord, and to have seen the undeviating tenderness and pity which are displayed even in His sorest chastisements. This is indeed a choice vein of silver, and he that hath digged in it is far richer than the more superficial person who has only heard of the patience of Job, and so has only gathered surface-truth. The patience of Job, as we hear of it, is like the shell of some rare nut from the Spice Islands, full of fragrance; but the end of the Lord, when we come to see it, is as the kernel, which is rich beyond expression with a fulness of aromatic essence. Note well the reason why the text reminds us of what we have heard and seen. When we are called to the exercise of any great virtue, we need to call in all the helps which the Holy Spirit has bestowed upon us. All our wealth of hearing and seeing we shall have need to spend in our heavenly warfare. In the present case the virtue we are called to exercise is that of patience, and therefore to help us to do it we are reminded of the things that we have heard and seen, because it is as difficult as it is necessary, and as hard to come at as it is precious when it is gained. The text is preceded by a triple exhortation to patience. We are most of us deficient in this excellent grace, and because of it we have missed many privileges, and have wasted many opportunities in which we might have honoured God, might have commended religion, and might have been exceedingly profited in our souls. Affliction has been the fire which would have removed our dross, but impatience has robbed the mental metal of the flux of submission which would have secured its proper purification. It is unprofitable, dishonourable, weakening; it has never brought us gain, and never will. I suppose we are three times exhorted to patience because we shall need it much in the future. Between here and heaven we have no guarantee that the road will be easy, or that the sea will be glassy. We have no promise that we shall be kept like flowers in a conservatory from the breath of frost, or that, like fair queens, we shall be veiled from the heat of the sun.
I. IT IS NOT AN UNHEARD OF VIRTUE TO BE PATIENT, Ye have heard of the patience of Job.
1. Observe well that the patience of Job was the patience of a marl like ourselves, imperfect and full of infirmity; for, as one has well remarked, we have heard of the impatience of Job as well as of his patience. The traces of imperfection which we see in Job prove all the more powerfully that grace can make grand examples out of common constitutions, and that keen feelings of indignation under injustice need not prevent a man becoming a model of patience.
2. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, that is, the patience of a greatly tried man. That is a very trite yet needful remark: Job could not have exhibited patience if he had not endured trial; and he could not have displayed a patience whose fame rings down the ages, till we have heard of it, if he had not known extraordinary affliction.
(1) Reflect, then, that it was the patience of a man who was tried in his estate. All his wealth was taken!
(2) Job was caused to suffer sharp relative troubles. All his children were snatched away without a warning, dying at a festival, where, without being culpably wrong, men are usually unguarded. He sits among the ashes a childless man. Ye have heard of the patience of Job. Oh, to have patience under bereavements, patience even when the insatiate archer multiplies his arrows!
(3) Ye have heard of the patience of Job under personal affliction. It is well said by one who knew mankind cruelly well, that we bear the afflictions of other people very easily; but when it touches our bone and our flesh trial assumes an earnest form, and we have need of unusual patience. Such bitter pain Job must have suffered.
(4) In addition to all this, Job bore what is perhaps the worst form of trial–namely, mental distress. The conduct of his wife must have muchgrieved him when she tempted him to Curse God, and die. And then those miserable comforters, how they crowned the edifice of his misery! They rubbed salt into his wounds, they cast dust into his eyes, their tender mercies were cruel, though well-intentioned. Woe to the man who in his midnight hour is hooted at by such owls; yet the hero of patience sinned not: Ye have heard of the patience of Job. Jobs was in all respects a most real trouble, he was no mere dyspeptic, no hysterical inventor of imaginary evil; his were no fancied losses nor minor calamities.
3. The patience of Job was the patience of a man who endured up to the very end. No break-down occurred; at every stage he triumphed, and to the utmost point he was victorious. Traces of weakness are manifest, but they are grandly overlaid by evidences of gracious power. The enemy could not triumph over Job, he threw him on a dunghill, and it became his throne, more glorious than the ivory throne of Solomon. The boils and blains with which the adversary covered the patriarch were more honour to him than a warriors gilded corslet. Never was the arch-fiend more thoroughly worsted than by the afflicted patriarch, and instead of pitying the sufferer, my pity curdles into contempt for that fallen spirit who must there have gnawed his own heart as he saw himself foiled at all points by one who had been put into his power, and one too of the feeble race of man.
4. We may once more say that the patience of Job is the virtue of one who thereby has become a great power for good. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, yes, and all the ages have heard of the patience of Job, and hell has heard of it too; and not without results in each of the three worlds. Among men the patience of Job is a great moral and spiritual force. If Job was patient under trial and affliction, why should not I be patient too? He was but a man; what was wrought in one man may be done in another. He had God to help him, and so have I; he could fall back upon the living Redeemer, so can I and why should I not?
II. IT IS NOT AN UNREASONABLE VIRTUE TO BE PATIENT, for according to our text there is great love and tenderness in it, Ye have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.
1. We must have seen in Jobs story, if we have regarded it aright, that the Lord was in all. God was not away while His servant suffered; in fact, if there was any place where the thoughts of God were centred more than anywhere else in providence at that time, it was where the perfect and upright man was bearing the brunt of the storm.
2. The Lord was ruling too. He was not present as a mere spectator but as still master of the situation,
3. Moreover, the Lord was blessing Job by all his tribulation. Untold blessings were coming to the grand old man while he seemed to be losing all. It was not simply that he obtained a double portion at the end, but all along, every part of the testing process wrought out his highest good.
4. And when we come to look all Jobs life through, we see that the Lord in mercy brought him out of it all with unspeakable advantage. He who tested with one hand supported with the other. Such is the case with all afflicted saints. We may well be patient under our trials, for the Lord sends them; He is ruling in all their circumstances, He is blessing us by them, He is waiting to end them, and He is pledged to bring us through. Shall we not gladly submit to the Father of our spirits? (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The patience of Job
His impatience is not once mentioned against him; but he is crowned and chronicled here for his patience. God passeth by infirmities where the heart is upright. (J. Trapp.)
The secret of patience
A Christian friend, visiting a good man under great distress and afflicting dispensations, which he bore with such patient and composed resignation as to make his friend wonder and admire it, inquired how he was enabled so to comfort himself. The good man said, The distress I am under is indeed severe; but I find it lightens the stroke very much to creep near to Him who handles the rod. (W. Denton.)
Christian patience
As Richard Baxter lay dying, in the midst of exquisite pains which arose from the nature of his disease, he said, I have a rational patience and a believing patience, though sense would recoil. Lord, when Thou wilt, what Thou wilt, how Thou wilt.
Learning patience
There is no such thing as preaching patience into people unless the sermon is so long that they have to practise it while they hear. No man can learn patience except by going out into the hurly-burly world, and taking life just as it blows. Patience is but lying-to and riding out the gale. (H. W. Beecher.)
Impatience under affliction
The truth is, when we are under any affliction, we are generally troubled with a malicious kind of melancholy; we only dwell and pore upon the sad and dark occurrences of Providence; but never take notice of the more benign and bright ones. Our way in this world is like a walk under a row of trees, checkered with light and shade: and because we cannot all along walk in the sunshine, we therefore perversely fix only upon the darker passages, and so lose all the comfort of our comforts. We are like froward children who, if you take one of their playthings from them, throw away all the rest in spite. (Bp. Hopkins.)
Trial beneficent
There is a glass containing a liquid. There is a sediment at the bottom of the glass, but it is all perfectly clear above, as clear as the water from the spring. But shake the glass, and the whole liquid becomes muddy. That was there before, but it was not perceived because all was still. Shake it, and it comes up. Do you understand that, Christian? You thought you were all right; you thought you were walking with God, but temptation came and showed you what you were. Job said, Once have I spoken–ah! and wrongly–but now, I will not answer. I have heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye seeth Thee; wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes. Behold, I am vile. Christian I your experience will not have been lost if it has taught you to know yourself. (S. H. Langston, M. A.)
Give God time
Suppose a man takes a great contract to build some large edifice in three or five years, and you go in three or five months, and criticise his work, and find fault with this and that. Would it not be unjust? Would he not say, Please to wait until the work is completed before you pass your judgment upon it: then I will hear what you have to say about it. God has a time in which to complete His work; and you are not to judge before the time. He that believeth shall not make haste. And when you see the end, you will be brought not only to submit to it but to approve it, and to see it is right. (S. H. Langston, M. A.)
The gladness of the gardener
It was said that a garden once became jealous of a park which adjoined it, because of a certain wonderfully beautiful bed of flowers with which the border between them was graced. The garden prayed the husbandman that she might have a bed of flowers too. Oh, but you cannot water it if you have it. You have no fountain; it would die. But the garden persisted: Why could I not have a fountain put in? The request was immediately granted. Axemen came in and hewed down trees; the sward was torn up with terribly large ploughshares; the garden groaned with pain, and hardly held still. Then the subsoil was probed for wandering and perilous roots, and the garden felt as if all its nerves were to quiver with unendurable agony. Then came men with spades, and channels of stone for drainage were laid; and by and by rocks were blasted with an awful roar of thunderbolts; and the garden screamed that it was aching with intolerable torments and lacerations. But nobody listened; there were nights that succeeded, concerning whose dreadful experiences that garden could never be made to speak in the after years. But one morning the surprise came; there was a rush of crystal spray in the air overhead, and the sunshine kindled it into rainbows. There was never a fountain like that fountain in any paradise of a prince. And the cool streams fell like gentle rain down on the bedof tulips and roses, the blossoming branches and the flowering shrubs. There was never a glory of hue and perfume, of nodding plumes and beading coronals, never such a bed of flowers in any parterre of a princess, as that. The garden, in deep quiet had nothing to say; it was very tired. But things would not need to be done over again. You see it requires courage to bear these agonies of tearing; but when the fountain plays, and the plants flourish, and the gardener comes in for a visit, the garden forgets the anguish in the discovery that the gardener is glad–glad for her sake. (C. S. Robinson, D. D.)
Affliction profitable
Thomas Fuller wrote in reference to his own sufferings in the Civil War, I have observed that towns which have been casually burnt, have been built again, more beautifully than before; mud walls afterwards made of stone; and roofs, formerly but thatched, after advanced to be tiled. The apostle tells me that I must not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to happen unto me. May I likewise prove improved by it. Let my renewed soul, which grows out of the ashes of the old man, be a more pious fabric and stronger structure: so shall affliction be my advantage. (Tinlings Illustrations.)
The inward glory of affliction
The outside of a stained window looks dingy and unsightly, it has no beauty or attraction; and so the coloured windows of pain, sickness, or bereavement may, to the children of this world, appear gloomy and uninviting; but from within what a grand and radiant sight is disclosed!–the common, familiar sights of this world are hidden, but what tiring light and glory is revealed within. (H. Macmillan.)
Gods purpose in troubles
Troubles are often the tools by which God fashions us for better things. Far up the mountainside lies a block of granite, and says to itself, How happy am I in my serenity–above the winds, above the tree, almost above the flight of the birds! Here I rest age after age, and nothing disturbs me! Yet what is it? It is only a bare block of granite, jutting out of the cliff, and its happiness is the happiness of death. By and by comes the miner, and with strong and repeated strokes he drills a hole in its top, and the rock says, What does this mean? Then the black powder is poured in, and with a blast that makes the mountain echo the block is blown asunder, and goes crashing down into the valley. Ah! it exclaims, as it falls, why this rending? Then some one saws to cut and fashion it; and humbled now, and willing to be nothing, it is borne away from the mountain and conveyed to the city. Now it is chiselled and polished, till, at length, finished in beauty, by block and tackle it is raised with mighty hoistings, high in the air, to be the top-stone on some monument of the countrys glory. (H. W. Beecher.)
Wisdom of trials
Unthinking people would like a world where corn should grow spontaneously and plenty ever lie ready to hand. They would have their path beautified by flowers fairer than those of Eden, and refreshed by zephyrs balmier than those of the sunny south. They would banish care, and make work obsolete, How would all this issue? Doubtless in the degeneracy of our race into a crowd of soft and slothful Sybarites. God is too wise for this. He knows comfort to be of far less importance than character, and acts on that knowledge. (S. Coley.)
The Lord is very pitiful
The pitifulness of the Lord the comfort of the afflicted
We are far too apt to entertain hard thoughts of God. The horrible atheism of our depraved nature continually quarrels with the Most High; and when we are under His afflicting hand, and things go cross to our will, the evil of our nature becomes sadly evident. Let us never forget that our hard speeches and our suspicions of our God have always been libels upon Him. On taking a survey of our whole life, we see that the kindness of God has run all through it like a silver thread. Goodness and mercy have followed us all our days, even pursuing us when we have wickedly fled from them. Even our apparent ills have been real blessings. Let each restored man say, He healeth all my diseases. Let each tried one now say, Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the Lord delivereth him out of them all. Let the aged man bring the Spoils of his experience and lay them down at the feet of the Lord who hitherto hath helped him. Our desire will be to help one another to avoid future mumurings.
I. Notice that when James is exhorting us to full confidence in God in the hour of trial, He gives us AN INSTRUCTIVE INSTANCE. He quotes the story of Job. Observe that when this apostle introduces Job it is with the view of pointing out the tender mercy of God in his case; and he begins by saying, Behold, we count them happy which endure.
1. The pitifulness and tender mercy of God are to be seen in the happiness of those who are called to suffer. We count them happy which endure.
This arithmetic is only known to faith, and must be learned of the Lord Jesus We–that is, the Church of God–count them happy who are counted worthy to suffer for Christs sake. I may venture to say that the more sensible part of mankind in some measure concur with the people of God in this accounting. We count that man happy who has passed through trial and hardship with a brave endurance. Such life is of an interesting and manly kind; but life without struggle and difficulty is thin and tasteless. How can a noble life be constructed if there be no difficulty to overcome, no suffering to bear? When we see what poor, paltry things those are who are nursed in the lap of luxury, and consequently never come to a real manhood, we count them happy that endure. This counting is not mere fancy, but it is a correct estimate: there is a happiness in affliction which none will doubt who have tasted it. When we look to the end of affliction, when we see all its comfortable fruit, when we mark what it corrects, and observe what it produces, we judge that it is no mean blessing. Happy is the man who has been enabled to endure; he rises from the deeps of woe like a pearl-finder from the sea, rich beyond comparison. The people of God find themselves more buoyant in the saltest seas of sorrow than in other waters. The Cross does in very deed raise us nearer to Christ when it is fully sanctified. Rare gems glisten in the mines of adversity. We never get so near to the source of all heavenly consolation as when earthly comfort is removed far away. God seemeth never so much a Husband to any as to the widow; and never so much a Father as to the fatherless. Endurance also works in the child of God a close clinging to God, which produces near and dear communion with Him. Sorrows reveal to us the Man of Sorrows. Griefs waft us to the bosom of our God. Beside, the Lord has a choice way of manifesting Himself unto His servants in their times of weakness. He draws the curtain about the bed of His chosen sufferer, and at the same time He withdraws another curtain which aforetime concealed His glory, He takes away the delights of health and vigour, and then He implants energy of another and a higher order, so that the inner man waxeth mighty while the outer man decayeth. So wondrously doth grace work beyond nature that it transfigures bodily sickness into spiritual health.
2. Now notice here the notability–I had almost said the nobility–of endurance. As one truly says, Jobs bones had lain to this day in the common charnel-house of oblivion if it had not been for his sufferings and his patience. Ye have heard of the patience of Job. But you would never have heard of Job if he had always been prosperous. Even in worldly histories it is by enduring hardness that men build their memorials. Who that has read the classics has not heard of Mutius Scaevola? and why? He was a valiant man, but he did not win his name by a common deed in battle. His fights are unrecorded; but you have heard of his laying his right hand upon the burning coals of an altar, to let Porsenna see how a Roman could endure pain without shrinking. When he suffered his right hand to burn he was writing his name in his countrys annals. A thousand instances prove that only by endurance can names be graven in the brass of history. To make a man a man, to bring his manhood forward, and to make other men see it, there must be endurance.
3. Once again, in order to see the pitifulness of God in sorrow, we must see the Lords end in it; for, saith the apostle, Ye have seen the end of the Lord. Gods end in affliction is that which proves that He is very pitiful, and of tender mercy. We see not so much how grace works as what it works. The design of the Lord is more to be noted than the method He pursues.
(1) First, remember that the Lords end in sending affliction to His people is corrective. Sanctified sorrow is a sharp frost which kills the germs of spiritual disease.
(2) Moreover, affliction is sent for the display of grace. Our graces lie asleep within us, like slumbering soldiers, until affliction strikes its terrible drum and awakens them. You know not what spirit you are of till you have been under tribulation. You count yourself rich, but in the fire your gold is tested. You reckon that your house is well built, but the flames find out the wood, and hay, and stubble. Self-knowledge is never sure if it come not of tests and temptations. Therefore we count them happy that endure, because they are less likely to be deceived. God is to be praised for the discovery of our graces, for thus affliction becomes a blessing without disguise.
(3) Further, our trials are an education for the future. I do not think that Job was fit to have any more substance until his heart had been enlarged by trouble; then he could bear twice as much as before. Prosperity softens and renders us unfit for more of itself; but adversity braces the soul and hardens it to patience. Beloved, I would not have you forget that the end of the Lord is always with His tried people to give them greater happiness as the result of it. Mark, in Job 31:40 it is written, The words of Job are ended, ended amid thistles and cockle; but the end of the Lord was very different, for He loaded His servant with pieces of money and earrings of gold, and blessed his latter end more than his beginning. Thine end, O thou that art tossed with tempest and not comforted, shall come forth from thy God when He shall lay thy stones with fair colours and thy foundations with sapphires. He will restore thy soul even in this life, and give thee joy and rest out of thy sorrow. As for the life to come, how little do we take it into our estimate! It is as the main ocean, and this life is no better than the village brook. The sorrows of time are a mere pins prick at the most, if we contrast them with the joy eternal. What shall we think of these temporary inconveniences when we reach eternal felicity?
II. OUR APOSTLE MAKES CONSOLING STATEMENT: The Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.
1. Observe that this is the teaching of Gods holy Word; and therefore if we have at this moment no evidence of it perceptible to sight or sense, we are bound to believe it all the same. Do not be persuaded by man or devil to think ill of thy God. He has a fathers heart even when He makes thee feel the strokes of His hand. Thy God cannot be unkind to thee. He cannot forsake thee.
2. But further, the text tells us that this truth may be seen; and while it is a matter of faith, yet it may be also a matter of sight. Beloved, it is true the Lord has burdened thee; is it not also true that He has sustained thee? Above is the billow, but underneath are the everlasting arms. See the pitifulness of God in this! How often the mercy of God is seen in sickness and suffering by His mitigating the pain and loss! Those who are washed in the blood of Jesus shall never be drowned in the sea of sorrow. Observe also the tender pity of God in forgiving the sin of His suffering people. When your child has a fever, it may be he is fretful, and begins to talk foolishly. Maybe he talks unkind things against those very persians whom in his heart he loves best. Do you ever say to the child afterwards, John, I am very grieved that you said such shocking things about me and about your mother? Far from it; you say, Poor dear, he does not know what he is talking about; he is wandering ill his mind. So does God deal with our naughtiness when we are under His hand; when He sees that it is rather weakness than wilfulness, He is very pitiful and full of compassion, and blots out the transgressions of His people.
3. See how the tenderness and pitifulness of God are also seen in the revelations lie makes to His saints. So also in the overrulings of our sorrows His love is conspicuous. He often sends a great sorrow that we may not be compelled to bear a greater one. Thank God for the preventive operations of His providence! Bless Him, above all, for the sweet rewards that come to His tried people when afterwards they bear the comfortable fruits of His righteousness, and especially when He comes to them in the riches of His grace, and turns their midnight into everlasting day. In closing the second head i should like to say I wish we could all read the original Greek; for this word, The Lord is very pitiful, is a specially remarkable one. It means literally that the Lord hath many bowels, or a great heart, and so it indicates great tenderness. The other word is the complement of the first–and of tender mercy. There is then, you see, in these two words, pity for misery and mercy for sin: there is inward pity in the heart of God, and outward action in the mercy of God; there is sympathy for suffering, and grace for guilt. These two things make up what we want.
III. THE LESSONS TO BE LEARNED out of the whole subject.
1. The first is, be patient. The Lord never grieves us because lie likes to grieve us. He doth not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men. There is a needs be for every sorrow. Lie still, brother; let the Good Shepherd clip as lie pleases; though He may cut very close to the skin, He is very pitiful, and would only rid thee of that which would harm thee.
2. The next lesson is, be penitent. Seek the Lord while lie may be found, call upon Him while He is near. He welcomes all who repent; He is eager to forgive; delay no longer.
3. The last lesson is, be pitiful. If God be pitiful and of tender mercy, children of God, you are to imitate Him and to be pitiful too. (C. H.Spurgeon.)
And of tender mercy
The mercy of God
Probably no one who believes that God is, disbelieves that He is merciful. But wherein the action of His mercy takes effect is not so clear but that minds may differ about it. Sometimes we figure the mercy of God acting like the mercy of man in granting exemption from responsibilities and liabilities. Mercy is said to be shown to a convict when the penalty imposed by law is in part or altogether remitted.
There are difficulties in the way of thus construing the action of Gods mercy. One is its contrariety to what we see of God in nature, in whose phenomena we can nowhere see any cut-off interposed between causes and effects, but a stringently maintained law of consequences. That this law of nature is also a law of moral nature seems to be attested by the spiritual maxim: Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. Another difficulty in the way of supposing that the mercy of God works by remission of consequences, like the mercy of man, is in the doubtful utility of such a method. It is hardly to be doubted that the moral tone of society would be far more healthful than it is were there less interference, in the name of mercy, with the consequences of violated law. For a man to imagine he may lie or steal, and escape the evil consequence, is most immoral and dangerous. It fosters this illusion, whenever a weak, good nature averts from a guilty back the scourge of just consequence, Mercy does not seek first to make men comfortable, but to make them morally sound and strong in conformity to right. For this, a strict subjection to the consequences of conduct, whether in the State or in the family, is indispensable. It is not in the way of release from any part of our just responsibilities that we must think of the mercy of God. Every man shall bear his own burden. Quite congruous with this is a saying in Psa 62:1-12, where we shall find the mercy of God if we are thus strictly subjected to the law of consequences: To Thee, O Lord, belongeth mercy; for Thou renderest to everyman according to his work. While this affirms the benevolence of strictly holding us to accountability for whatever is our work, it also permits us to think of a procedure which–at least, in comparison with human judgments–deserves to be called merciful. When we discriminate in a mans work that which is strictly his from that which is the work of his parents, or teachers, or of disease, or of the spirit of his time, even a wicked man appears less culpable. Many a man shows the work of his father, or of his surroundings, mixed with his own. If childhood has been subjected to a training which stunts virtue or piety, the resulting vice or scepticism of the man is not all his work. To unravel the tangled skein of responsibility, to crown each man with the pearls or thorns which are due to the work that is strictly his, is the perogative of that Divine judgment which the sinner, thus dealt with, may well deem merciful. In what appears to us the most execrable life, Omniscient may discriminate in the wreck the contributing agency of more than one wrongdoer. Where human judgments are unmerciful in loading one with the guilt of many, the mercy of God appears in apportioning to each no more than is strictly his own. To this we have to add the work of mercy in the forgiveness of sins–the blotting out of offences by the kiss that makes the prodigal again atone with the father–the inspirations of filial trust in the grace of God, by which the forgiven one is empowered to retrieve and repair the past, till the tear of repentance is dry in the joy of a complete remission of his sins. (J. M.Whiton, Ph. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 11. We count them happy which endure.] According to that saying of our blessed Lord, Blessed are ye when men shall persecute and revile you-for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. Mat 5:11; Mat 5:12, c.
Ye have heard of the patience of Job] Stripped of all his worldly possessions, deprived at a stroke of all his children, tortured in body with sore disease, tempted by the devil, harassed by his wife, and calumniated by his friends, he nevertheless held fast his integrity, resigned himself to the Divine dispensations, and charged not God foolishly.
And have seen the end of the Lord] The issue to which God brought all his afflictions and trials, giving him children, increasing his property, lengthening out his life, and multiplying to him every kind of spiritual and secular good. This was God’s end with respect to him but the devil’s end was to drive him to despair, and to cause him to blaspheme his Maker. This mention of Job shows him to have been a real person; for a fictitious person would not have been produced as an example of any virtue so highly important as that of patience and perseverance. The end of the Lord is a Hebraism for the issue to which God brings any thing or business.
The Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.] Instead of , which we translate very pitiful, and which might be rendered of much sympathy, from , much, and , a bowel, (because any thing that affects us with commiseration causes us to feel an indescribable emotion of the bowels,) several MSS. have , from , much, , easily, and , a bowel, a word not easy to be translated; but it signifies one whose commiseration is easily excited, and whose commiseration is great or abundant.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
We count them happy which endure; we ourselves count them happy that endure, and therefore should be patient, and not count ourselves miserable if we endure too.
Which endure; viz. patiently and constantly, Mat 5:10,11.
Ye have heard of the patience of Job; for which he was as eminent as for his sufferings; and though some signs of impatience be showed, yet his patience and submission to God being prevalent, and most remarkable to him, that only is taken notice of, and his failings overlooked.
And have seen the end of the Lord: Jobs patience is heard of, but Gods end seen: seeing being a clearer way of perception than hearing, is put in this latter clause, because Gods bounty and recompence was more evident than Jobs patience.
The end of the Lord; the good issue God gave to all Jobs sufferings, in restoring him to his former state, and doubling his prosperity.
That the Lord is very pitiful; full of bowels, Greek; the bowels being the seat of compassion, (in which we feel a stirring when strong affections are working in us), are frequently put to signify the most tender and movable affections, such as mothers have toward their children, Gen 43:30; 1Ki 3:26; Isa 43:15; Col 3:12; this seems to note the affection itself, or Gods readiness to show mercy, Luk 1:78.
And of tender mercy: this may imply acts of mercy suitable to a merciful nature, the former mercy within, and this mercy breaking out.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
11. count them happy (Mt5:10).
which endureThe oldestauthorities read, “which have endured,” which suits thesense better than English Version: “Those who in pastdays, like the prophets and Job, have endured trials.” Such, notthose who “have lived in pleasure and been wanton on the earth”(Jas 5:5), are “happy.”
patiencerather,”endurance,” answering to “endure”: the Greekwords similarly corresponding. Distinct from the Greek wordfor “patience” Jas 5:10.The same word ought to be translated, “endurance,” Jas1:3. He here reverts to the subject which he began with.
JobThis passage showsthe history of him is concerning a real, not an imaginary person;otherwise his case could not be quoted as an example at all. Thoughhe showed much of impatience, yet he always returned to this, that hecommitted himself wholly to God, and at last showed a perfect spiritof enduring submission.
and have seen(with theeyes of your mind). ALFORDtranslates from the old and genuine reading, “see also,” c.The old reading is, however, capable of being translated as EnglishVersion.
the end of the Lordtheend which the Lord gave. If Job had much to “endure,”remember also Job’s happy “end.” Hence, learn, though muchtried, to “endure to the end.”
thatALFORDand others translate, “inasmuch as,” “for.”
pitiful . . . of tendermercyThe former refers to the “feeling” the latter,to the act. His pity is shown in not laying on thepatient endurer more trials than he is able to bear; Hismercy, in His giving a happy “end” to the trials[BENGEL].
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Behold, we count them happy which endure,…. Affliction, with courage, constancy, and patience, and hold out to the end; for such shall be saved; theirs is the kingdom of heaven; they are happy now, and will be so hereafter: the Spirit of God, and of glory, now rests upon them; and it is an honour done them that they are counted worthy to suffer for Christ; and they will be glorified with him to all eternity; the consideration of which may serve to encourage and increase patience.
Ye have heard of the patience of Job; from the account which is given of him, and his patience, in the book that bears his name; how he behaved under every trial, which came one upon the back of another; as the plundering of his substance, the loss of his children, and of the health of his body; and yet in all this Job sinned not, nor murmured against God, nor charged him foolishly, and was a mirror of patience; and though he afterwards let fall some expressions of impatience, yet he was humbled for them, and brought to repentance: this shows, that as the Apostle James, so the Jews, to whom he writes, believed that there had been really such a man as Job; and that the book which bears his name is an authentic piece of holy Scripture, and contains a narrative of matters of fact; or otherwise this reference to him would have been impertinent. How long Job endured the chastenings of the Lord cannot be said. The Jews y say they continued on him twelve months, which they gather from Job 7:3.
And have seen the end of the Lord; that is, the happy end, or exodus, out of all his troubles; which the Lord gave “to him”, as the Oriental versions add; for he gave him twice as much as he had before, and blessed his latter end more than his beginning, Job 42:10. Some understand this of the Lord Jesus Christ, both of his great patience in sufferings, in which he is an example to his people, and they would do well to look to, and consider him; and of the end of his sufferings, his glorious resurrection from the dead, and session at the right hand of God, where he is crowned with glory and honour; but the former sense is best:
that the Lord is very pitiful and of tender mercy; as to Job, so to all his people; his paternal relation to them engages his pity towards them; nor does he willingly afflict them; and when he does, he sympathizes with them; he is afflicted with them, and in his pity redeems them; his heart moves towards them, and he earnestly remembers them, and works deliverance for them in his own time and way; and therefore it becomes them to be patient.
y Seder Olam Rabba, c. 3. p. 9.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
We call blessed (). Old word (present active indicative of ), from (happy), in N.T. only here and Lu 1:48. “We felicitate.” As in Jas 1:3; Jas 1:12; Dan 12:12.
Ye have heard (). First aorist (constative) active indicative of . As in Matt 5:21; Matt 5:27; Matt 5:33; Matt 5:38; Matt 5:43. Ropes suggests in the synagogues.
Of Job (). Job did complain, but he refused to renounce God (Job 1:21; Job 2:10; Job 13:15; Job 16:19; Job 19:25). He had become a stock illustration of loyal endurance.
Ye have seen (). Second aorist (constative) active indicative of . In Job’s case.
The end of the Lord ( ). The conclusion wrought by the Lord in Job’s case (Job 42:12).
Full of pity (). Late and rare compound (, ), only here in N.T. It occurs also in Hermas (Sim. v. 7. 4; Mand. iv, 3). “Very kind.”
Merciful (). Late and rare adjective (from to pity), in N.T. only here and Lu 6:36.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Endure [] . Present participle. But the later texts read uJpomeinantav, the aorist participle, which endured; referring to the prophets in the past ages. So Rev. On endured and patience, see on ver. 7. The end of the Lord [ ] . A peculiar expression. The happy conclusion to which God brought Job’s trials.
Very pitiful and of tender mercy [ ] . The former adjective only here in New Testament; the latter here and Luk 6:36. Rev., full of pity and merciful. Polusplagcnov, is from poluv much, and splagcna the nobler entrails, used like our heart, as the seat of the emotions. Hence the term bowels in the A. V. (Phi 1:8; Col 3:12, etc.). Compare eusplagcnoi, tender – hearted, Eph 4:32. The distinction between this and oijktirmwn, merciful, seems to be that the former denotes the general quality of compassion, while the latter emphasizes the sympathy called out by special cases, being the feeling which is moved to pain at another’s suffering.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) Those who endure wrong are counted happy, Mat 5:10-11; Psa 94:12.
2) The patience of Job produced Divine blessings in the end; the patience of our Lord sustained Him to pray while dying, even for His enemies, and His God and ours brought Him forth alive and carried Him to glory, Job 1:21; Job 42:10; Heb 4:14-16.
3) That same God through Christ is full of pity and tender in mercy to us, who implore His daily help and trust Him to meet our needs, Heb 13:5.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
11 The patience of Job. Having spoken generally of the prophets, he now refers to an example remarkable above others; for no one, as far as we can learn from histories, has ever been overwhelmed with troubles so hard and so various as Job; and yet he emerged from so deep a gulf. Whosoever, then, will imitate his patience, will no doubt find God’s hand, which at length delivered him, to be the same. We see for what end his history has been written. God suffered not his servant Job to sink, because he patiently endured his afflictions. Then he will disappoint the patience of no one.
If, however, it be asked, Why does the Apostle so much commend the patience of Job, as he had displayed many signs of impatience, being carried away by a hasty spirit? To this I reply, that though he sometimes failed through the infirmity of the flesh, or murmured within himself, yet he ever surrendered himself to God, and was ever willing to be restrained and ruled by him. Though, then, his patience was somewhat deficient, it is yet deservedly commended.
The end of the Lord. By these words he intimates that afflictions ought ever to be estimated by their end. For at first God seems to be far away, and Satan in the meantime revels in the confusion; the flesh suggests to us that we are forsaken of God and lost. We ought, then, to extend our view farther, for near and around us there appears no light. Moreover, he has called it the end of the Lord, because it is his work to give a prosperous issue to adversities. If we do our duty in bearing evils obediently, he will by no means be wanting in performing his part. Hope directs us only to the end; God will then shew himself very merciful, how ever rigid and severe he may seem to be while afflicting us. (140)
(140) “The end of the Lord” seems a singular expression; but τέλος, properly the end, means also the issue, the upshot, the termination, the conclusion. It is genitive of the efficient cause, “the end (or issue) given by the Lord.” See Job 42:12. According to Griesbach there are three MSS which have ἒλεος, “mercy;” which would be very suitable, — “and ye have seen the mercy of the Lord, that the Lord is very full of pity, and compassionate.” But the authority is not sufficient.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(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 Mat. 5:11, and 1Pe. 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 (Ecc. 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 (Mat. 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 (Ecc. 7:15; Ecc. 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 (Ecc. 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 fellThink ye that they were sinners above all? (Luk. 13:4-5). Jobs 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 Gods justice. (See Job 4-22) They are shocked at Jobs 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 havenay, thou hast taken a pledge from thy brother for nought, and stripped the naked of their clothing; thou couldst notnay, 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. Theytypes of a censorious pietyhad 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 miseryas 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 (Luk. 21:19).
And have seen the end of the Lord.Better thus, Ye have heard . . . see also the end of the Lord. The reference is at once past and future: consider, i.e., what God wrought in the end of trial, on the faithful of old time, like Job; learn from it how great a deliverance He will also work for you. But if ye will not believe, surely ye shall not be established (Isa. 7:9). It is a mistake to understand here any allusion to the death of Christ, as if the Apostle spoke to those who witnessed it.
That the Lord is very pitiful.St. James, in the fulness of his gratitude, seems to have coined a word for this single place. Great-hearted would be close to its meaning; but originally the bowels were thought to be the seat of the affections, and hence such terms of expression: as also in Gen. 43:30; 1Ki. 3:26; Isa. 63:15; Lam. 1:20; Php. 1:8; 1Jn. 3:17, et al.
The Lord here is Jehovah: under which name the Lord spake and wrought before He was made man. See Bishop Pearson On the Creed, in Article 2, proving the significance of , or Lord, as the right translation of the Hebrew El, Elohim, Shaddai, Adonai, and Jehovah. And compare Isa. 40:3 with Mat. 3:1; Mal. 3:1 with Mat. 11:10 and Jer. 23:6.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
11. Count them happy which endure The noble saints of old are eulogized. We esteem them happy in having left such a record. Be thou like them, and you will be finally happy, too.
End of the Lord The end which Jehovah has for the truly patient. “The Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning.” Job 42:12.
Lord mercy Job’s example does not prove that you will have, like him, a prosperous latter end; but it does prove the character of our Lord; and that it is his nature to append a happy consequent to our patient antecedents.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘Behold, we call them blessed who endured.’
See Dan 12:12. Indeed those who suffered like this in the past and patiently endured were not to be commiserated with, they were to be called blessed, for great would be their reward. Godly men did not look back and say, ‘How sad’. Rather they rejoiced and hoped that they would receive the same blessing as the prophets and the righteous. Jesus Himself enjoined rejoicing in the face of persecution and tribulation. (Mat 5:10-12; Luk 6:22-23; Joh 16:20). And the writer to the Hebrews tells us of the long line of those who so suffered and triumphed, advising us that we must expect the same and must thus look off to Jesus, the One Who also suffered in order to triumph (see Heb 11:1 to Heb 12:2).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
‘You have heard of the patient endurance of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord, how that the Lord is full of pity, and merciful.’
James then calls on the one who was to the Jews the supreme example of patient endurance. ‘You have heard of the patient endurance of Job.’ Not even his greatest friend could have called Job ‘patient’. He endured with gritted teeth and loud protests (see the Book of Job). But the end was that the Lord was full of pity towards him, and was merciful, because he bore all that came on him and retained his full confidence in God. He had the kind of spirit which faced up to doubt, sorrow and disaster and emerged with a faith stronger than it was before, and in the midst of his trials cried out, ‘Though He may slay me, yet will I trust Him (Job 13:15).’. And the Lord understood and had compassion on him, just as He will have compassion on all His people who endure, even though they may in their weakness occasionally despair. We should note that the Jews traditionally saw Job as a prophet (see Eze 14:14; Eze 14:20).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Jam 5:11. Behold, we count them happy which endure. “Do we look upon them as forsaken of God, because they were persecuted for righteousness’ sake? Or will any wise person say, that their sufferings were any token of the divine displeasure?On the contrary, Behold we applaud such martyrs and confessors, and pronounce those happy, who have bravely endured the greatest injuries which tyrants and persecutors could inflict, rather than part with their integrity.” The apostle speaks of this not only as his own judgment, but that of all Christians who judged aright, and understood the nature of things. And it is indeed a judgment in which all Christians should be agreed. The word signifies to pronounce or account others blessed; but the Papists, to countenance their practice of beatifying, or making saints in the church, have translated this text,Behold, we beatify those who have suffered with constancy.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Jas 5:11 assigns a new reason for the exhortation: Behold, we count happy them who endure; the of them is founded on the consciousness that God does not leave them unrewarded (Mat 5:12 ), which is clearly manifested in the life of Job, on which account James, in conclusion, refers to him. By the reading the idea is to be taken quite generally; whereas by the better attested reading it is to be limited to sufferers of the past time; the latter is more in conformity with the context (Wiesinger). The “restricted reference” to (Grotius, Baumgarten, Pott, Hottinger, Theile) is not to be justified.
] is not = perpessio (Storr), but the patience which Job displayed both in his afflictions and in his replies to the contradictions of his friends; Tob 2:12-14 (Vulg.; the text in the Greek ed. Tisch. reads differently) refers to the same example; also in Eze 14:14 ; Eze 14:20 , Job is mentioned as a righteous man along with Noah and Daniel.
] may refer specially to the reading in the synagogue, but may be understood generally.
] is, according to the connection given above, to be referred to and explained of the issue in which the sufferings of Job terminated: finem, quern a Domino habuit; so that is the genit. subj. or causae (2Co 11:26 ); thus most expositors explain it. Others, as Augustin, Bede, Lyra, Estius, Thomas, Pareus, Wetstein, Lange, assume that by the death of Christ is to be understood. Against this is not only the concluding clause, but also the context, which points to the end to which the pious sufferer is brought by the mercy of God, and on account of which he is accounted happy; apart altogether from the improbability that James should connect the example of Christ immediately with that of Job. [234]
With the reading this can only be understood of “indirect seeing, namely, of clear perception by hearing” (de Wette). The better attested reading, however, is , and it can only be regarded as an oversight that Wiesinger translates this by “audiendo cognovistis,” as it is not the indicative, but the imperative. The imperative is here certainly surprising, and was on that account changed into the indicative. Tischendorf has connected with what goes before, and then it is to be explained: Ye have heard of the patience of Job, look also at the end which the Lord gave. The connection with what follows would, however, be more suitable: Ye have heard of the patience of Job and the end which the Lord gave; see ( i.e. recognise from this) that the Lord is and . Such an imperative, introduced , is not foreign to the style of James; comp. chap. Jas 1:16 ; Jas 1:19 . With the Receptus , and also with the union of with , is not a particle of proof = for (de Wette, Wiesinger, Lange), since in the preceding words no thought is expressed which would be confirmed by this clause; [235] but an objective particle that; a twofold object is joined to the verb, the second definitely bringing forward the point indicated in the first; arbitrarily Theile translates it and certainly.
The subject to is at all events , which, according to the most important authorities, is to be retained as genuine.
] is a complete . . “coined after the Hebrew ” (Wiesinger), which the LXX. translate , see Exo 34:6 , etc.; in Eph 4:32 , 1Pe 3:8 , is the related expression .
] in the N. T. only here and in Luk 6:36 (comp. Col 3:12 : ), frequently in O. T.; comp. with this passage, particularly Exo 34:6 ; Psa 103:8 ; and Sir 2:7 ff.
The reference to the mercy of God was to impress the readers, in their sufferings, with the hope that the reward of their patience would not fail them, and to encourage them to stedfast endurance.
[234] In a most unsatisfactory manner Lange seeks to justify this, by observing that James “did thus connect the example of Abraham with that of Rahab.” It is evidently inappropriate to place together Job as “the great sufferer of the Old Testament,” with Christ as “the great sufferer of the New Testament.”
[235] In a peculiar but highly arbitrary manner, Lange refers to what directly precedes, uniting it with in the sense that it is thereby specified what Christ was able to effect in entering upon His sufferings.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
DISCOURSE: 2376
THE PATIENCE OF JOB
Jam 5:11. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.
ONE of the most singular ideas that can be suggested to a carnal mind, is that which occurs in the words immediately preceding the text; We count them happy that endure. An ungodly man sees, that it is better to bear afflictions patiently than to sink under them; but he can scarcely conceive how afflictions, under any circumstances, can become a ground of congratulation. This difficulty, however, is solved by taking into the account the end of those afflictions: and it admits of easy illustration from the case of Job.
In prosecuting the Apostles view of this subject, we shall consider,
I.
The patience of Job under his afflictions
Great and unparalleled were the afflictions of Job
[The destruction of all his property, and all his servants, by bands of robbers, and by lightning, announced to him as it was in three different accounts, by different messengers in speedy succession, would of itself have been sufficient to overwhelm his mind, if he had not been endued with uncommon fortitude; since by this he was reduced in a moment from the height of opulence and grandeur to the lowest indigence and want [Note: Job 1:13-17.].
But, distressing as these events were, what an inconceivable aggravation must they have received from the tidings delivered by a fourth messenger, the sudden death of all his children! Had he heard of only one child dying, and that by any natural disorder, it would, to such a parent, have been a fearful addition to all his other burdens: but to hear of seven sons, and three daughters, all crushed in a moment by the falling of his house [Note: Job 1:18-19.], if it did not bereave him of his senses, we might well expect, that it should, at least, draw forth some murmuring, and unadvised expressions.
To all these calamities were added yet others, that affected more immediately his own person; and which, in such a conjuncture, must be beyond measure afflictive. Satan, having permission to try him to the uttermost, smote him from head to foot with the most lothesome ulcers, insomuch that he was constrained to sit down among the ashes, and to scrape himself with a potsherd [Note: Job 2:7-8.].
In the midst of all this trouble one might hope that he would have some comfort in the kind offices of neighbours, the compassion of friends, and the tender assiduities of his wife. But, alas! his servants turned their backs upon him [Note: Job 19:15-16.]: the children in the streets despised and mocked him [Note: Job 19:18.]: the very friends who came to comfort him, loaded him with the most unfounded accusations, and asserted, that his sufferings were indications of peculiar wickedness, which God was now disclosing and punishing [Note: Passim.]. His wife also derided his affiance in God, and counselled him to renounce it utterly, yea, to curse God, and die [Note: Job 2:9.].
Take any one of these trials separately, and it was great: but view them collectively, and they exceeded all that ever were endured by mortal man.]
They served however to call forth his most unrivalled patience
[Mark his conduct when informed of all his accumulated misfortunes, and especially the loss of all his children: Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped; and said, Naked came I out of my mothers womb, and naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord [Note: Job 1:20-21.].
Behold him yet again after his body was so smitten, and when his wife gave him that desperate, that atheistical, advice: all was meekness still: his very reproof was mild, though firm: He said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?
Thus in all this he never once charged God foolishly, or sinned in the least respect [Note: Job 1:22; Job 2:10.].
It is true that, after this, we find him cursing the day of his birth, and uttering some unwarranted expressions against God: nor would it become us either to conceal, or to extenuate, his guilt in these respects. Our blessed Lord alone was absolutely without sin. But though Job betrayed his infirmity in some hasty words, yet, on the whole, his argument was right in opposition to that of his friends: and God himself, as the arbiter of the dispute, declared, that they had not spoken the thing that was right as his servant Job had [Note: Job 42:7.]. Moreover, the deep humility with which he acknowledged his offence, proved his title to the character which God had given him in the beginning, that he was the most perfect and upright of the sons of men [Note: Job 1:8; Job 2:3.].]
Having taken this view of Jobs afflictions, and of his patience under them, let us consider,
II.
The design which God had in them
We, who behold every part of this mysterious dispensation in one view, are enabled, from its catastrophe, to mark the design of God in every intermediate step of the plot: we see what God intended, by what he actually effected.
1.
He confounded Satan
[Satan had accused Job as a hypocrite, who, if he were brought into trying circumstances, would even curse God to his face: and he undertook to prove him such a character, if God would only suffer him to make the trial. God gave him this permission [Note: Job 1:9-12; Job 2:4-6.], and thereby afforded Satan an occasion to prove himself a liar, and to demonstrate that integrity, the existence of which he was so forward to deny.
Nor is this a small consolation to the people of God, whom Satan is ever ready to accuse and harass. When he would persuade them that they are hypocrites, they may recollect, that he was a liar from the beginning. When he, through Divine permission, assaults them either in body or mind, they may look back to this history, and see, that he can in no respect exceed his commission, or overthrow those who trust in God. He may toss them vehemently as in a sieve; but shall never destroy the smallest grain of solid wheat [Note: Luk 22:31. with Amo 9:9.].]
2.
He exercised and improved the graces of Job
[If men do not light a candle, in order to put it under a bushel, but that it may give light to those who are in the house [Note: Mat 5:15.], we may be sure that God does not implant his grace in the heart, but with a view to call it into exercise. Now he had endued Job with such eminent patience, that the common events of life were not sufficient to call it forth: he therefore suffered Satan to exert all his power against him, in order that Jobs piety might be displayed, augmented, and confirmed. Behold the sufferer when coming out of his trial; how bright does he shine, when abasing himself in dust and ashes! How eminent does he appear, when God himself not only takes his part, but refuses forgiveness to his uncharitable friends, except as an answer to his intercession for them [Note: Job 42:8.]! Truly he lost nothing in the furnace but his dross; and he came out of it purified as gold [Note: Job 23:10.].]
3.
He increased Jobs happiness both in this and in the eternal world
[Doubtless the afflictions of Job were inexpressibly severe: yet was he no stranger to consolation even in his most distressing hours. If all his earthly comforts were dead, and he had lost all hope of happiness on this side the grave, still he saw that he had a Redeemer living; and he knew that the day was fast approaching, when he should enjoy an intimate and everlasting communion with him [Note: Job 19:25-27.].
But beyond all expectation he was raised from his low estate; his family was again increased to the very number he had before lost; his possessions were doubled; and his life, which probably at that time was somewhat advanced, was prolonged a hundred and forty years, that he might see his posterity even to the fourth generation [Note: Job 42:10; Job 42:13; Job 42:16.]. We must confess, therefore, that even in this life he was abundantly recompensed for the months of trouble that he had endured.
How much his eternal happiness was affected by it, it is impossible for us to say: but sure we are that his affliction was the means of greatly augmenting it. In this view, affliction was better to him than heaven itself would have been: for, if he had been removed to heaven at once, his state, though glorious, would have been for ever fixed: whereas his affliction was working for him as long as it continued: it was every moment increasing that weight of glory which he was to possess for ever [Note: 2Co 4:17.]. Who does not see that it would be better for a man to be cut off and be cast into hell immediately, than to live only to treasure up wrath against the day of wrath [Note: Rom 2:5.]? for though his torments would come upon him a little sooner, yet the respite of a few months, or years, would bear no proportion to the increased weight of misery that he must eternally endure. And exactly thus the additional weight of glory which Job will eternally possess, will far overbalance the trials he suffered, or the short period of bliss, which, by an earlier removal, he might have enjoyed.]
To make the just improvement of this history, we must notice,
III.
The general character of God, as it is exhibited in this particular dispensation
This seems to be the more immediate object, to which St. James would direct our attention. Persons in the midst of their trouble are apt to entertain hard thoughts of God: but we who, in this instance, have seen the end of the Lord, may rest assured that he is very pitiful, and of tender mercy, however dark or painful his dispensations towards us may be. It is by love alone he is actuated,
1.
In sending afflictions
[He does not willingly afflict his people [Note: Lam 3:33.]. He knows what we stand in need of; and he sends it for our good. He chastises us, not as earthly parents too often do, to indulge their own evil tempers, but purely for our profit, that we may be partakers of his holiness [Note: Heb 12:10.]. And as he knows what we want, so he knows what we can bear; and will take care either to apportion our burden to our strength [Note: 1Co 10:13.], or to give us strength sufficient for our trials [Note: Deu 33:25.]. Besides, in all our afflictions he sympathizes with us [Note: Isa 63:9.]; he watches over us with the care of a refiner [Note: Mal 3:3.], and the solicitude of a parent [Note: Psa 103:13.]: and when he sees that his rod has produced its desired effect, he is glad to return to us in the endearments of love, and to confirm our confidence in him by the sweetest tokens of reconciliation and acceptance [Note: Jer 31:20.].]
2.
In multiplying afflictions
[When our troubles, like those of Job, are many and various, we are ready to conclude that they are sent in wrath. But it is not for us to prescribe how many, or of what continuance, our afflictions shall be. We must consider God as a physician, who prescribes with unerring wisdom, and consults the benefit, rather than the inclination, of his patients. We must walk by faith, and not by sight: it will be time enough hereafter to see the reasons of Gods procedure [Note: Joh 13:7.]. Job was induced at last to account God his enemy: and they who beheld the afflictions of Christ, were ready to say, that he was judicially stricken, and smitten of God as the most abandoned of mankind [Note: Isa 53:4.]. But we know that, as Job was, so was Christ, beloved of the Father; and never more beloved than when crying in the depths of his dereliction, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
Let not any then write bitter things against themselves on account of the greatness of their afflictions, but rather accept their trials as tokens of his love; for, whom he loveth he chasteneth; and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth [Note: Heb 12:6.].]
Advice
1.
Let none be secure, as though affliction were far off from them
[We may be to-day in affluence; to-morrow in want: to-day in health; to-morrow languishing on a bed of sickness: to-day enjoying the society of wife, or children; to-morrow lamenting their loss. Let us remember, that whatever we have is Gods; it is only lent us for a little while, to be recalled at any hour he shall see fit. Let us learn to hold every thing as by this tenure, that we may be ready at any moment to give up whatever he shall be pleased to require of us. Since we know not what a day may bring forth, we should stand girt for the service of our God, ever ready to do or suffer his righteous will.]
2.
Let none be hasty in their judgments, when called to suffer
[Jacob thought all his trials were against him; when, in fact, they were designed for the good of himself and of all his family [Note: Gen 42:36. with 45:5, 7 and 50:20.]. And we know not but that the events we so deeply bewail, are indispensably necessary to our salvation. We have reason to think that, if we saw the end as God does, we, instead of regarding our losses or bereavements as afflictions, should adore God for them as much as for the most pleasing of his dispensations. Let us then wait till he shall have discovered to us the whole of his designs; and be content to form our judgment of him when all the grounds of judging are laid before us.]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
11 Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.
Ver. 11. We count them happy ] If they suffer as they should do, not else. Mithridates showed long patience, such as it was, forced and feigned. He was in a kind of fever called epialis, wherein men be cold without, but hot as fire within. This fever he quenched with his vital blood, shed with his own hand.
Ye have heard of the patience of Job ] His impatience is not once mentioned against him; but he is crowned and chronicled here for his patience. God passeth by infirmities, where the heart is upright.
And have seen the end of the Lord ] That is, how well it was with Job at the last. Or (as others will have it) what a sweet end the Lord Christ made; whereunto you were some of you eyewitnesses, and should be herein his followers.
And of tender mercy ] Having for his motto that of the Emperor Rupert, Miseria res digna misericordia, Misery calleth for mercy.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
11 .] Another example , in which a further point is gained. Behold, we count happy them that have endured (see Mat 5:10 . may be a correction to suit the sense, and below, but it must be adopted as the most ancient reading, and it is connected with Matt. L. c., , they who have been persecuted): ye (have) heard of the endurance of Job; see also (not ‘and have seen,’ which Wiesinger renders even with the reading . The imperative is not as Huther auffallend, but natural enough, see ch. Jam 1:6-7 ) the end of the Lord (‘the termination which the Lord (in O. T. sense) gave:’ do not limit your attention to Job’s sufferings, but look on to the end and see the mercy shewn him by God); for (better than “that,” as Huther, al.: the sense being, ‘Job’s patience is known to you all: do not rest there, but look on to the end which God gave him: and it is well worth your while so to do, for you will find that He is’ &c. And this has apparently occasioned the repetition by the Apostle of the word , which has been left out by those who imagined that introduced merely the result of the inspection, and that therefore no new subject was needed) the Lord is very pitiful ( , a word no where else found: coined after the Heb. (Wiesinger), which the LXX render , Exo 34:6 al., always joined with : see in Trommius. We have , Eph 4:32 ; 1Pe 3:8 ) and merciful (reff. This remembrance of God’s pity and mercy would encourage them also to hope that whatever their sufferings, the might prove similar in their own case).
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Jas 5:11 . : Cf. 4Ma 18:13 , used in reference to Daniel. : Job occupies a high place of honour in post-biblical Jewish literature, cf. the pseudepigraphic work “The Testament of Job”. : the final purpose of Jehovah with regard to Job; it could not refer to Christ, for the whole passage is dealing with O.T. examples. : . . in N.T. : only elsewhere in N.T. in Luk 6:36 ; cf. Sir 2:11 and often in the Septuagint.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
count . . . happy. Greek. makarizo. Only here and Luk 1:48 (call blessed).
have. Omit.
patience. As in Tit 2:2.
seen = saw. App-133.
end. Compare Job 42:6.
very pitiful. Gr polusplanchnos. Only here.
of tender mercy. Greek. oiktirmon.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
11.] Another example, in which a further point is gained. Behold, we count happy them that have endured (see Mat 5:10. may be a correction to suit the sense, and below, but it must be adopted as the most ancient reading, and it is connected with Matt. L. c., , they who have been persecuted): ye (have) heard of the endurance of Job; see also (not and have seen, which Wiesinger renders even with the reading . The imperative is not as Huther auffallend, but natural enough, see ch. Jam 1:6-7) the end of the Lord (the termination which the Lord (in O. T. sense) gave: do not limit your attention to Jobs sufferings, but look on to the end and see the mercy shewn him by God); for (better than that, as Huther, al.: the sense being, Jobs patience is known to you all: do not rest there, but look on to the end which God gave him: and it is well worth your while so to do, for you will find that He is &c. And this has apparently occasioned the repetition by the Apostle of the word , which has been left out by those who imagined that introduced merely the result of the inspection, and that therefore no new subject was needed) the Lord is very pitiful (, a word no where else found: coined after the Heb. (Wiesinger), which the LXX render , Exo 34:6 al., always joined with : see in Trommius. We have , Eph 4:32; 1Pe 3:8) and merciful (reff. This remembrance of Gods pity and mercy would encourage them also to hope that whatever their sufferings, the might prove similar in their own case).
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Jam 5:11. ) See App. Crit. on the passage.- , those who have endured) in preference to those who have lived luxuriously. The Alexandrian Codex and Euthalius give weight to those which read .[73]-, endurance, patience) James returns to the subject with which he began: comp. ch. Jam 1:3, note. , Septuagint, , in Job 14:19. It here marks constancy attaining to the desired object.- ) the end, which the Lord gave to Job.-, ye have seen) There is the same use of the word, with respect to a transaction long ago past, Heb 3:19. Patience and its end are in consonance, ch. Jam 1:4; Mat 24:13. James is not silent respecting the end of the patience of Job.-, [that] since) This depends upon the words immediately preceding. It is a continued sentence. Patience is twice mentioned, and the Lord is twice mentioned. Sir 2:11, , , full of compassion and mercy, long-suffering and very pitiful.-, very pitiful) He does not lay upon the patient more than he is able to bear.-) He mercifully gives a happy issue. The figure Chiasmus: , from , to yield, denotes a tender affection even without respect to calamity or misery, as David says to the Lord, , Psa 18:2.
[73] AB Vulg. and both Syr. Versions read . So Lachm. rightly Rec. Text, with Memph. and Theb. Versions and inferior Uncial MSS., reads : so Tisch. But this does not suit the connection so well, which plainly refers to those who had in former times endured.-E.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
we count: Jam 1:12, Psa 94:12, Mat 5:10, Mat 5:11, Mat 10:22, Heb 3:6, Heb 3:14, Heb 10:39
Ye: Job 1:21, 22-2:9, Job 2:10, Job 13:15, Job 13:16, Job 23:10
and have: Job 42:10-17, Psa 37:37, Ecc 7:8, 1Pe 1:6, 1Pe 1:7, 1Pe 1:13, 2Pe 2:9
the Lord is: Exo 34:6, Num 14:18, 1Ch 21:13, 2Ch 30:9, Neh 9:17, Neh 9:31, Psa 25:6, Psa 25:7, Psa 51:1, Psa 78:38, Psa 86:5, Psa 86:15, Psa 103:8, Psa 103:13, Psa 116:5, Psa 119:132, Psa 136:1-26, Psa 145:8, Isa 55:6, Isa 55:7, Isa 63:7, Isa 63:9, Lam 3:22, Dan 9:9, Dan 9:18, Dan 9:19, Joe 2:13, Jon 4:2, Mic 7:18, Luk 1:50, Luk 6:36, Rom 2:4, Eph 1:6, Eph 2:4
Reciprocal: Exo 15:26 – for I am Job 1:1 – Job Job 5:17 – happy Job 34:36 – My desire is that Job may be tried Job 42:12 – So Psa 25:10 – mercy Psa 31:24 – Be of Psa 34:19 – Many Psa 57:1 – until Psa 66:12 – but thou Psa 107:41 – setteth Psa 142:7 – thou shalt Isa 30:18 – blessed Joe 2:18 – and pity Mar 10:30 – with persecutions Luk 11:10 – General Act 7:10 – delivered Rom 12:12 – patient 1Co 10:13 – hath Eph 4:32 – tenderhearted 2Th 1:4 – your persecutions Heb 6:12 – but Heb 11:17 – when Heb 11:27 – endured Heb 11:37 – being destitute Heb 12:6 – whom 1Pe 3:8 – pitiful 1Pe 4:14 – happy
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
HUMAN SUFFERING AND DIVINE PITY
Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.
Jam 5:11
Human suffering and Divine pity; how may these be reconciled? This is the question to which Jobs story gives an answer.
I. An apparent contradiction.The sufferings of the man seem to contradict the mercy of God. As we consider the patience of Job, how hard to see that the Lord is very pitiful and of tender mercy. Two things make the difficulty very great.
(a) The extent of the suffering. Distresses come upon him from all quarters. As we remember that this awful transformation has been accomplished by the direct permission of the Most High, it seems the bitterest irony to write beneath that sad spectacle of human woe, that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.
(b) The character of the sufferer. There is none like my servant Job in all the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil. Jobs friends imagined that because he was a great sufferer he must therefore be a great sinner, and this belief coloured all their speech. When a mans prosperity is attended with hurtful result to him in his character and life, we can recognise its downfall as a necessary chastisement. But having Gods own testimony to this good mans excellence we find it hard to say as we look upon him, The Lord is very pitiful.
II. The reconciliation.Ye have seen the end of the Lord. We cannot see the end of the Lord in our distresses. This is our trial. In Jobs case the end is visible, and as we see it, we learn to acquiesce in the Divine action, and can understand and believe that the end of the Lord in all subsequent cases will reveal the Divine mercy. The expression is capable of two meanings. It may mean
(a) The design of sufferings: the object towards which suffering is directed. One end of Jobs distresses wasthe overthrow of evil. This man was Gods chosen champion, not a sinner found out in his sin, but the best and bravest of Gods warriors, called to go where the fight between good and evil was hottest, that he might baffle and defeat the evil one himself. The instruction and consolation of mankind. The good accomplished by him in the days of health and prosperity is little and limited beside that conferred upon the world by him through his sorrows. Sorrowing humanity throughout many generations has come to his side to hear his words, and to find in them light and comfort. His story is the mirror into which the desolate and distressed gaze, that they may trace their own features and find relief. The higher knowledge of God. The deep longing of the afflicted soul is to see God, to hear Gods voice. And God did appear to him, filling him with humility, with an overwhelming consciousness of his own impurity, but at the same time removing all his dark misapprehensions and filling his soul with light and peace. As we consider these objects realised by suffering we can declare, The Lord is very pitiful.
(b) The end of the Lord, simply in the sense of termination. There is a Divine limit to suffering. The end with Job was not simply deliverance from all his sorrows, but also abundant compensation. The Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than the beginning.
III. The human condition.The patience of Job. In order that suffering and pity may be reconciled and the Divine end realised, there must be patience. We must bear without murmuring, without resentment and rebellion, the sufferings that come, and wait the end of the Lord. It may not come soon. It may not come here. But it will come. We must, taught and inspired by this example, calmly, humbly, hopefully wait until it is seen.
Illustration
The book of Job has made a very profound and lasting impression upon mankind. Not due to its dramatic power, its high antiquity, its surpassing literary merit, but to the solution it furnishes of the darkest problem of human life; the light it throws upon the purposes and ways of God; its depth of human feeling. There is a Divine voice that speaks to us in it, and there is a great human heart beating beneath its pages. Men will never cease to hear of the patience of Job, so long as sorrow, and loss, and pain have to be borne; so long as death is here, and we have to stand beside open graves.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
Jas 5:11. Those who endure afflictions are to be counted happy because of what it indicates for them. (See chapter 1:2, 3.) Just after using the word endure James makes mention of the patience of Job which verfles the definition often given of the word patience, namely, that it means en durance. End of the Lord means the outcome of the case under the blessing of the Lord. It shows that He is merciful even though he suffers a righteous man to be afflicted for a good purpose (Job 42:12-17).
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Jas 5:11. Behold, we count. St. James here speaks of this not as his own judgment but as the judgment of all Christians, it may be of all right-thinking men.
them happy which endure: literally, blessed that endure; that is not merely who are in a state of suffering, but who exercise patience in their sufferings, who endure unto the end. Such are blessed: God will not leave their patience unrewarded. Here we have another reference to the Sermon on the Mount; as the sufferings to which St. James primarily alludes arose from persecution: Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Rejoice and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you (Mat 5:10; Mat 5:12).
Ye have heard of the patience of Job. Job is here adduced as a special example; because he was the most remarkable instance both of affliction and of patience in the Old Testament. The patience of Job appears to have been a proverbial expression among the Jews; it is alluded to in the apocryphal book of Tobit (Tob 2:12). No doubt Job was frequently guilty of impatient utterances; but this is only a proof that the purest virtue is not free from blemish, and on the whole patience had with him its perfect work. This also teaches us that Job was a real person, and not a mere myth or fictitious character; for if so, an inspired writer could hardly have presented him to his readers as an example of patience. He is also mentioned in the Prophecies of Ezekiel along with Noah and Daniel (Eze 14:14), who were undoubtedly real persons.
and have seen. Some manuscripts read Behold, also.
the end of the Lord. Some think that by the Lord here is meant Christ; and that by the end of the Lord is meant His death, or the completion of His work. Christ, it is observed, the highest instance of patience, is here held out for our example. His death, founded on love and borne in patience, is the great fact which can encourage the suffering Christian to patience. But although this meaning is plausible, yet it is inadmissible, and not borne out by the context. The word here rendered end is never in the New Testament applied to the death of Christ; and besides what St. James says was seen, namely, that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy, that is, that He compassionates us in our sufferings, is not the prominent lesson which Christs death teaches us. The obvious and natural meaning of the passage, and that which is generally adopted, is to consider that by the end of the Lord is meant the purpose which God had in view in Jobs sufferingsthe happy termination which He put to his afflictions; how the Lord restored him to more than his former prosperity (Job 42:2). The meaning of the passage then is: Consider not merely Jobs affliction and patience, but his happy issue out of all his sufferingsthe design which God had in view in these sufferings, and their result in Jobs restoration.
that the Lord is very pitiful and of tender mercy: the lesson to be learned from this example of Job. Let this proof of Gods pity and mercy comfort and support you amid all your trials.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
That is, all persons do judge and pronounce those that have suffered death, for righteousness sake, to be in a very happy condition; though they live persecuted, yet they die sainted. Living saints are an eye sore; by the strictness of their lives, and the severity of their reproofs, they torment a wicked world; but dead saints do not stand in the way of their lusts, they will therefore have a good word for the dead saints, whilst they hate and persecute the living; Behold, we count them happy which endure.
That is, “Ye have heard how eminent Job was, both for his sufferings and his patience, and you have seen (it is set before your eyes in his story) what an end the Lord made with him, giving him double in this world for what he lost; therefore, though you may be losers for God, yet fear not that you shall be losers by him.”
Learn hence, 1. That it is good and useful in our afflictions, to propound Job’s pattern and example to our own imitation. He was famous for his suffering, and as famous for his patience: do you suffer various kinds of affliction? Do you suffer in your body, in your spirit, in your nearest relations, in your dearest earthly comforts? And under all these do you suffer the heaviest censures for hypocrisy?
It is but Job’s portion, and if you compare notes, not half of his condition neither: so for his patience, let us propound that for our pattern too, and take this encouragement to do it, namely, that though Job discovered much impatience, cursing the day of his birth, &c. yet that is not here mentioned, but mercifully pitied, and pardoned, and graciously overlooked. Where the heart is upright with God, infirmities are not mentioned by him.
Learn, 2. That our afflictions ought not so much to be considered in their nature and beginning, as in their issue and end. You have seen the end of the Lord. God gives always a gracious end, and a glorious end, to the afflictions of his people, and sometimes a temporal end also. Job had all these: let us, under the rod, wait upon God with Job’s patience, and he will give us Job’s end.
Learn, 3. What an affectionate regard God bears to his children in and under all their heavy sufferings; he is full of bowels, as the word signifies, truly compassionate, very pitful and of tender mercy. As he has pardon for their sins, so he has pity for their afflictions; he is pitiful as well as merciful, yea, very pitiful, and of tender mercy.
Observe, lastly, that the book of Job is a real history, not a parable. There was such a man as Job, how else could his patience be propounded as a pattern? And whence is it that we find him numbered with Noah and Daniel? Eze 14:14. As they were real persons, and truly prevalent in prayer, so was he, Job 42:10.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Verse 11
The end of the Lord; meaning, probably, the end or result to which the Lord brings the sufferings of his people.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.
Now, there goes James, meddling again. It’s bad enough we are to suffer with patience, but now he wants us to be happy about it! You could read it that James and others could be happy of their suffering, but I think the thought of the text is that the sufferer was to be happy.
Happy in knowing they are living their best for God and doing all they can to stand for Him, might be the line of thought.
With the introduction of Job to the context we know how much suffering we might look for and still be patient and happy. Job lost family members and all the riches and possessions he had, and yet he was faithful. Maybe not right on in his life, but he followed God the best He could and waited for the Lord’s will for his life.
The end of Job pictures God as one that has pity for what His children suffer, and that He extends mercy to Job in the end.
Job 42:10 “And the LORD turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: also the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before. 11 Then came there unto him all his brethren, and all his sisters, and all they that had been of his acquaintance before, and did eat bread with him in his house: and they bemoaned him, and comforted him over all the evil that the LORD had brought upon him: every man also gave him a piece of money, and every one an earring of gold. 12 So the LORD blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning: for he had fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she asses. 13 He had also seven sons and three daughters. 14 And he called the name of the first, Jemima; and the name of the second, Kezia; and the name of the third, Kerenhappuch. 15 And in all the land were no women found [so] fair as the daughters of Job: and their father gave them inheritance among their brethren. 16 After this lived Job an hundred and forty years, and saw his sons, and his sons’ sons, [even] four generations.”
This may be why James encourages them to suffer with patience and happiness. They can know that God will bring it to an end and that happiness will be the result. This is not a guarantee that the end might not be through death, but the end surely will be an end to suffering and continuation of happiness.
Fuente: Mr. D’s Notes on Selected New Testament Books by Stanley Derickson
5:11 Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the {e} end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.
(e) What end the Lord gave.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Job was not always patient, but he did determine to endure whatever might befall him as he waited for God to clear up the mystery of his suffering (cf. Job 13:10; Job 13:15; Job 16:19-21; Job 19:25). In Jas 5:7-10 James pleaded for patience (makrothymia) that restrains itself and does not retaliate. Here he advocated perseverance (hypomone) through difficult circumstances (cf. Jas 1:3; Heb 11:25).
Job reaped a great reward at the end of his trial. We see God’s compassion and mercy especially at the end of Job’s experience, though God manifested these characteristics earlier as well. Job determined to continue to live by faith when he experienced temptation to depart from the will of God (cf. Jas 1:2-4).
"James has been concerned to help believers to overcome the tendency to react like the world to the injustices heaped on them by the world. The world, by its very nature antagonistic to God and His kingdom, will continue to oppose God’s people. But if these truths grip the hearts of His people, it will enable them to overcome the spirit of worldliness by refraining from a worldly reaction to the world’s injustices." [Note: Hiebert, James, p. 278.]