The doom of misused wealth.
We have in these opening words an echo of James 4:9; but with a difference. There, a call to repentance; here, a denunciation. The very word "howl" recalls old prophecies of doom (Isaiah 13:6; Isaiah 14:31; Isaiah 15:3). So here, the coming doom. The destruction of Jerusalem? Yes; but this only the "beginning of sorrows." The culminating judgments, and the second advent These rich, these delicate-living and pleasure-taking ones? Yes, let them weep and howl; for their miseries are coining upon them!
I. THE SIN OF THE RICH. Professedly religions or not, they were great sinners, and as sinners alone does he regard them. And as sinners he denounces them.
1. Indulgence. "Ye have lived delicately on the earth, and taken your pleasure." What is the law of the true life? A thankful acceptance of such joys as God gives, and increased service in the consecration of such joys. But they? Their pleasure was their all. They were pampering their lusts. Instead of making self a center from which, under God, all blessing should radiate, they made it a center to which all pleasure must converge.
2. Luxury. "Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten.' What is the law of property? A thankful use of such things as God gives, that we and the world may be the better for them. But they? They were guilty of a wanton accumulation of wealth, and so their very plenty was corrupting in its idleness. Like corn in a famine, heaped up and moldering.
3. Selfish oppression. "The hire of the laborers," etc. What is the law of work? A mutual ministry of employers and employed, involving a recognition of the rights of labor. How spoke their Law on this matter, and the prophets (see Le 19:13; Deuteronomy 24:14, Deuteronomy 24:15; Jeremiah 22:13; Malachi 3:5)? But they? The words suggest sufficient. So their indulgence and luxury were not merely selfish in themselves, but at others' expense. They, forsooth, were all in all, and others must work for them, and yet starve and be naked, while they heaped up their riches! Verily, they were thieves and robbers.
4. Ruthless persecution. "Ye have condemned, ye have killed," etc. The historical fact; probably judicial tyranny, these rich men refusing justice to the poor, when pleading against the fraud perpetrated towards them by their rich employers. But what was the essential fact? Him, the Just One, they had virtually condemned and killed! Yes, for so they were filling up the measure of their fathers (see Matthew 23:32; Matthew 27:25). For the spirit which actuated them was the selfsame spirit of unjust cruelty which had actuated those to whom Stephen spoke of the Just One—"of whom," he said, "ye have been the betrayers and murderers." So also James "the Just" was afterwards their victim.
II. THE DOOM OF THE RICH. Sin and judgment, in the ways of God, are ever closely joined. For
"Though the mills of God grind slowly, yet they grind exceeding small;
Though with patience he stands waiting, with exactness grinds he all."
1. Thus their selfish indulgence was but indulgence for the slaughter; they were fattening themselves for the shambles. We are reminded of the time of' the slaughter that came, when "the temple floors ran with blood, and the roofs raged in fire till all was utter desolation (see Punchard, Ellicotts Commentary ).
2. The canker of their wealth was premonitory of the judgment of remorse, that should eat their flesh as fire (Luke 16:24).
3. Their oppression and fraud, likewise, were marked by one eye, and the cries of the oppressed had entered the ears of the Lord of hosts. The Lord of hosts? Yes, power belonged unto him, and it had been written, "He shall deliver the needy when he crieth; the pool also, and him that hath no helper" (Psalms 72:12, etc).
4. And their murder of the Just One, as it really was? "Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him" (Revelation 1:7). Yes, judgment should come, swift and sure; "for as the lightning," etc. (Matthew 24:27). The great lesson is one of stewardship; let rich and poor alike learn this. And to all there is one Lord, and he cometh! yes, "to judge the earth: with righteousness shall he judge the world, and the people with equity" (Psalms 98:9).—T.F.L.