James, like a practical preacher, loves to illustrate his points. He has
a fitting one at hand in “the prophets who spake in the name of the
Lord.” They spoke in the name, with the authority and with the power of
the Lord. The idiom is common enough in the Septuagint and, indeed, in
the papyri.[93] They spoke as the representatives of Jehovah. Mayor
seems a bit perplexed over the failure of James to mention Jesus as the
supreme example of suffering, as is done by Peter (1 Peter 2:21), who
spoke of Christ’s leaving us an example, by Paul (Phil. 2:5-11), and by
the author of Hebrews (12:1-5).
Perhaps James may have thought it was particularly pertinent for these
Jewish Christians to be reminded of the prophets as an “example of
suffering and of patience.” Certainly they endured evil in abundance and
had great need of long-suffering. It was common enough to appeal to them
for this purpose. Jesus did it with keenest irony at the mock heroic
monuments built later to the memory of the martyred prophets (Matt.
5:12; 23:34, 37). Stephen did it with so sharp a tongue that the
Sanhedrin stoned him to death for his courage and proved the truth of
his words by their own acts (Acts 7:52). Elijah says to Jehovah, “The
children of Israel have ... slain thy prophets with the sword” (1 Kings
19:10, 14). Jeremiah says also, “Your own sword hath devoured your
prophets, like a destroying lion” (2:30). As patterns of patience take
Noah, Abraham, Jacob, Moses, Isaiah, and Jeremiah. These illustrate in
various ways the patience of which the readers of the Epistle of James
stand in sore need.
“Behold, we call them blessed that endured.” He had already done that in
James 1:12. Jesus had promised salvation to the one who endured to the
end (Matt. 24:13). Men usually felicitate the survivors of a
catastrophe. Often they become popular heroes.
In particular, “ye have heard of the patience of Job.” Job was the most
frequently quoted instance in Old Testament times and is a perfectly
obvious one for James. And yet Job did have passionate outbursts of
indignation at the gibes and superfluous advice of his tormenting
friends, and even of his wife, when God seemed to have deserted him. But
it must be remembered that Job did not curse God and die. He waited for
God to speak and make it all plain. Job hardly exhibited long-suffering,
but he clearly did show patience. He was not exactly meek, but he
revealed the endurance of a sensitive man. Although Job is the most
famous instance of patience in the Old Testament, yet he is nowhere else
cited as such in the New Testament. We need not discuss the question
whether Job is parable or fact, as the point is here precisely the same.
Ye “have seen the end of the Lord, how that the Lord is full of pity,
and merciful.” The outcome in the case of Job proves the point. It
turned out all right with Job. So he illustrates the pity and mercy of
the Lord; “the end of the Lord” is seen in the conclusion, like a novel
that turns out happily at last. In the midst of the stress and storm of
Job’s life and his violent outbursts of emotion and exalted feeling God
is sympathetic and compassionate. God has understood Job and watched his
endurance all the while. The story is so well known that James does not
have to tell it but can depend upon his readers to see the point of the
illustration.