James 5:2 - Exposition

Description of the miseries that are coming upon them. The perfects ( σέσηπε … γέγονεν ) are probably to be explained as "prophetic," in accordance with a common Hebrew idiom. For an instance of the prophetic perfect, used as here after ὀλούζείν , see Isaiah 23:1 , Isaiah 23:14 ," Howl … for your stronghold has been wasted. " The miseries coming upon the rich are thus announced to be the destruction of everything in virtue of which they were styled rich. Their costly garments, in a great store of which the wealth of an Eastern largely consists, should become moth-eaten. Their gold and silver should be rusted. Bengel notes on this passage: "Scripta haec suut paucis annis ante obsidionem Hierosolymorum;" and certainly the best commentary upon it is to be found in the terrible account given by Josephus of the sufferings and miseries which came upon the Jews during the war and siege of Jerusalem. The Jewish historian has become the unconscious witness to the fulfillment of the prophecies of our Lord and his apostle. σέσηπεν : only here in the New Testament; in the LXX ., Job 16:7 . σητόβρωτα is also an ἄπαξ λεγόμενον in the New Testament; in LXX . used also of garments in Job 13:28 .