James 5:8

Verse 7–11. Be patient, and so forth He now in these five following verses turns his discourse from the rich to the poor, exhorting them to patience till the coming of the Lord to judgment, which draweth near; his coming to judge every one is at his death. Imitate the patience of the husbandman, waiting for fruit after that the earth hath received the timely and early [1] rain soon after the corn is sown, and again more rain, that comes later to fill the grain before it comes to be ripe. This seems to be the sense by the Greek: others expound it, till he receive the early and latter fruits. Witham.—Behold the judge standeth before the door. This expression is synonymous with that in the foregoing verse. “The coming of the Lord is at hand.” This way of speaking is not uncommon in Scripture. Thus God said to Cain: “If thou hast done evil, shall not sin forthwith be present at the door?” Saint James is here speaking of the approaching ruin of Jerusalem, the destruction of the temple, and the dispersion of the Jews by the Romans. Calmet.—Call to mind for your encouragement the trials and constancy [2] of the prophets: the patience of Job, after which God rewarded him with great blessings and property, and you have seen the end of the Lord; that is, what end the Lord was pleased to give to Job’s sufferings. But Saint Augustine Ven. Bede, and so forth would have these words, the end of the Lord, to be understood of the death of our Lord Jesus Christ, on the cross, for which God exalted him, and so forth Witham.