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Jerusalem. They control much of the business activity that goes on in the city and have a
stranglehold on a significant portion of the lives of the people.

James does not even appeal to their need for repentance and salvation in this verse, but to the
coming destruction they will face; the miseries that will come upon them will be soon and eternal.
Soon because Jerusalem will be destroyed at the coming of the Roman legions. James has already
begun to see prophecy coming to pass and knows the destruction of the city is imminent (Daniel
9:26; Luke 21: 20‐24). Eternal because they will stand before God’s great white throne in
judgment for their rejection of Jesus as Lord and also for their works in the earth.

“Weep” is used in other verses for sobbing aloud for the dead (Luke 7:13; John 11: 31‐33) and for
shame and remorse (Matthew 26:75; Luke 7:38).

B. Description of the Judgment

Jas 5:2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.

Jesus spoke of this in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 6:19‐20). The analogy was the same
as it is in James. The person who seeks after riches will eventually lose them. Those who seek
first (primarily) the kingdom of God will have all of the necessities of life added to them by the
Lord (Matthew 6:34). God not only wants to take care of our spiritual needs, but also our natural
needs (Philippians 4:19). Those in Jerusalem who had sought after riches (and had oppressed
those in the city) were now about to lose those riches. In God’s sight, they have already become
corrupted and their beautiful clothes were eaten by moths.

Riches in this earth are subject to inflation, recession, and depression. When riches are put into
God’s kingdom, they will not be lost to the money systems of the world but will last forever,
winning souls and bringing eternal rewards!

Jas 5:3 Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you,
and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.

Your gold and silver is cankered (rusted); and the rust of them shall be a witness against you and
shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.

The coming days of judgment will cause the gold and silver of James’s congregation to become
worthless. During the invasion of Rome, their gold and silver will be stolen and taken into the
camp of the soldiers. Looting will be rampant and the whole scale of values which once existed
will be gone. Also, in the day of judgment in heaven, all forms of earthly riches will be gone and
worthless.
The issue again here is not the riches, but the scale of values behind them. The attitude, not the
possessions, is the subject matter of this epistle by James. The rust on the treasures would be a
testimony against them: just as natural forces eat up earthly treasures, so a wrong attitude can
destroy values and eat up a life like fire.