James Chapter 5 — Commentary on Verse 4

    Look!Thewagesyoufailedtopaytheworkmenwhomowedyourfieldsarecryingoutagainstyou. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty.

    Here another argument of conviction is produced—namely, the oppression of their servants and laborers when they defrauded them of their reward. This sin is so harmful and heinous that it cries to God for vengeance. I will explain the phrases in the notes.

    Notes on Verse 4

    Note1. Note from the context that there is no sin so heinous and base that covetousness may not be a mother or nurse to it. What could be more sordid than for a rich person to keep back the laborer’s wages? It was base to hoard up their own treasures until they were corrupted with moth or rust; but it was a most accursed practice, after they had sucked out the strength and sweat of the laborer, to deprive him of his reward. Yet it is usually like this: people who do not part with their own right will not scruple to invade someone else’s. First people are sparing and then harmful. Detest this sin with all the more aversion, for you do not know how far it will carry you; the apostle says it is “a root of all kinds of evil” (1 Timothy 6:10).

    Note2. Cryingout. Some sins are crying and more especially require vengeance at the hands of God. This crying is applied to blood: “Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground” (Genesis 4:10)—not his soul, but his blood. It is also applied to the wickedness of Sodom: “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous…” (Genesis 18:20). It is also applied to the oppression of God’s servants; they are dear to him: “God heard their groaning”; “the cry of the Israelites has reached me” (Exodus 2:24 and 3:9). It is also applied to the oppression of the widows and orphans: “Do not take advantage of a widow or an orphan. If you do and they cry out to me, I will certainly hear their cry” (Exodus 22:22-23). Similarly in verse 27 we have, “When he cries out to me, I will hear, for I am compassionate,” concerning taking the neighbor’s essential garment as a pledge. In short, all sins that disturb human society provoke divine justice to take notice of them. Besides, this crying in some cases shows the unwillingness of God to punish until he is solicited and urged to do so by the importunity and provocation of our own sins.

    Note3. As all oppression cries to God, so especially the oppression of poor servants and those who live by manual labor. This is twice repeated in the text—whomowedyourfields and then again, thecriesoftheharvesters. And the reason is, this is their life, and so failing to pay them fairly is an act of the greatest unmercifulness; and besides, you cheat them of the solace of their labors. See Deuteronomy 24:15, “He is poor and is counting on it”; that is, he is relying on his wages at the end of the day.

    But you will say, “How many ways may we oppress the poor laborer?” I answer:

    (1)      When through greatness you accept their labors without reward, as the gentry do with the peasants in many countries: “Woe to him … making his countrymen work for nothing” (Jeremiah 22:13), meaning Jehoiakim, who in his magnificent buildings used his subjects’ labor without payment.

    (2)      When you do not give them a proportionate wage, taking advantage of their necessity, for then a great part of their labor is without reward. It is sheer covetousness to “exploit all your workers” (Isaiah 58:3), when your wages are scanty and short. (3) When you defraud them of their reward by cunning, either through bad payment or crafty excuses. The Lord says, “I will be quick to testify against … those who defraud laborers of their wages” (Malachi 3:5). It is the same in James: Youfailedtopay. God knows what is oppression, even if it is veiled under clever pretense.

    (4)      When you reduce or change their wages. It is said of Laban that he changed Jacob’s wages ten times (Genesis 31:41).

    (5)      When you delay payment. God commanded the Jews to do this before sunset: see Deuteronomy 24:14-15. It is a maxim of the law that not paying at the time is paying less, because of the advantage of interest; and in this text it says, failedtopay [keptbackbyfraud, KJV]. Though not wholly taken away, yet kept backwas enough to be called sin. In contrast, the Lord rewards his servants before they have done their work; we have much of our wages beforehand.

    Note4. TheLordAlmighty. That is, the Lord of hosts, a name often used in the prophetic books, but most commonly in Isaiah and Zechariah. It is not usual in the New Testament, God’s titles there being more full of sweetness and grace. The reason it was used so much then was because the people of God were in great misery, needed much defense and protection, and were in danger of letting their hopes fall because of fear of men. It was a name of God so commonly known and used that the Septuagint retained the Hebrew term by which it was expressed: “the Lord of Sabaoth.” And so also it is kept in the New Testament in Romans 9:29 and by James in this passage—not religiously, out of any mystery in the syllables, as Jerome supposes, but because this name for God was so familiar among the Jews and so familiar to the nations who had contact with them. The Lord is called the Lord Almighty, or Lord of hosts, because all his creatures are ranked in such order that they are always ready to serve and accomplish his will.

    Note that the Lord is a Lord of hosts, commander-in-chief of all the creatures—angels, men, thunders, lightnings, storms, showers, lions, fevers, etc. They are all at his call, waiting for his Word: “Do you send the lightning bolts on their way? Do they report to you, ‘Here we are’?” (Job 38:35); that is, “Lord, where shall we go? Here we are, ready to fulfill your Word.” God’s command reaches from the highest angel to the lowest creatures. The angels are principally called God’s host: see 1 Kings 22:19 and Luke 2:13. And what power they have! One angel destroyed a hundred and eighty-five thousand people in one night (2 Kings 19:35).

    This term can also mean the heavens: “all the stars of the heavens will be dissolved … all the starry host will fall” (Isaiah 34:4). What Peter calls the elements (2 Peter 3:10), the prophet calls the hosts. Judges 5:20 says, “From the heavens the stars fought, from their courses they fought against Sisera”—that is, by their influence and effect on the clouds and meteors. Do not argue with someone who can command legions and attack you with omnipotence: “Woe … to him who is but a potsherd among the potsherds on the ground” (Isaiah 45:9). How sad it is that while all the creatures serve God your heart should war against him and the Lord of hosts is not Lord of your soul!

    Note5. Thecries…havereachedtheearsoftheLordAlmighty. That is, he has noticed the wrongs done against them and will take care to avenge their quarrel. Note that the Lord of hosts is the avenger of the poor; the God of angels and thunders is the God who comforts the downcast. You may be high and rich in the world, able to take on poor creatures and crush them; but can you take on the Almighty? Take heed of wronging the poorest servants of God! Christ speaks of offending his little ones (Matthew 18:10); as little as they are, they have a great champion. The worm Jacob is looked after by the Lord Almighty. So the poor, the servant, the widow, the orphan—they are called his people, as belonging chiefly to his care; they “devour my people as men eat bread” (Psalm 14:4).

    Take heed what you do; your poor servants have a Master in heaven who will call you to account. Jerusalem is threatened with captivity for her breach of covenant and unkindness to her slaves (Jeremiah 34:11-22); therefore do not defraud them, do not leave them without help. God will visit this sin upon many gentlemen who dismiss their old servants without help and care more about their dogs than about them. See what an avenger they have, one who is powerful enough! A good man should care for his beast (Proverbs 12:10); much more should he care for his servants.