(11) We count them happy which endure.--Rather read it, we count them blessed which endure; or, as some critics would have it, endured. (See Matthew 5:11, and 1Peter 2:19.) The heathen philosopher Solon called no one "happy" upon earth; but, with the mystery of pain around him, cried sadly, "Look to the end." And the sated and weary soul of Solomon had no better thought than to praise "the dead which are already dead, more than the living" (Ecclesiastes 4:2). How different the teaching of St. James, himself taught by the example of the suffering Christ: verily, "he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than" the greatest and the wisest who know not of its light and peace (Matthew 11:11).

The patience of Job.--The earliest notions current in the world were, doubtless, that on the whole prosperity came to those who lived morally and physically well, while adversity in body or mind followed closely on the wicked and improvident. It is easy to see how these opinions, even among the happier races who had not wandered far from God, gradually hardened into stern rules of judgment, by which each man saw in the chances and calamities of life an immediate effort of an avenging Deity. This was ages before a pious Asaph (Psalms 73) could reflect on the contradiction of experience in this matter, and be troubled at the "prosperity" of the wicked; or before the wise king could notice (Ecclesiastes 7:15; Ecclesiastes 8:14) the just man perishing "in his righteousness," and the unjust prolonging "his days in wickedness"; "the fishes taken in an evil net," and "the birds caught in the snare" (Ecclesiastes 9:12). It was ages earlier still than the presence of that Wiser than Solomon, who spoke of the hapless "eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell"--"Think ye that they were sinners above all?" (Luke 13:4-5). Job's friends were so certain of his misdeeds, that they would not hear his self-defence; if God tried his endurance, man surely afflicted his patience. We can hear the three in council against him, becoming more zealous as they believe themselves the defenders of God's justice. (See Job 4-22) They are shocked at Job's obstinacy, and annoyed into vehement accusation against him, because he will "hold fast" to his "integrity." It is a damning proof to them of his guilt. Not only had he been wicked, but now actually he is impious and rebellious; such conduct is not to be borne. "Is not thy wickedness great?" says Eliphaz (Job 22:5). Thou must have--nay, "thou hast taken a pledge from thy brother for nought, and stripped the naked of their clothing;" thou couldst not--nay, "thou hast not given water to the weary, and thou hast withholden bread from the hungry:" truly thine iniquities are infinite." Now, we know Job was innocent; God Himself bears witness to it (Job 1:8). And finally the suffering, patient, righteous man was declared to have spoken wisely: as Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar the contrary. They--types of a censorious piety--had conceived of God by their own faulty notions of religion, and fondly deemed they could enter into the motives of the Most High. Job for awhile had seemed to cloud his own belief with baser attributes, as (Job 16 et seq.) to a God who causelessly dealt in cruelty and pain; but through such fleeting mistakes he rose at last to the full conviction of His perfect truth and justice. It might be that He gave happiness to those who sought Him; it might be He allowed them misery--as the world would call it; but this nor that had part in the matter at issue. Earthly blessings "He gives to whom He wills, or leaves to the powers of nature to distribute among those who fulfil the laws" thereof; but "to serve him and love Him is higher and better than any mundane welfare, though it be with wounded feet and bleeding forehead, or an ash-heap and filthy sores" (Froude). This was the faith to which Job attained: higher, "clearer, purer, there is not possible to man." In such like "patience" it were well for us that we should "possess our souls" (Luke 21:19).

And have seen the end of the Lord.--Better thus, Ye have heard . . . see also the end of the Lord. The reference is at once past and future: consider, i.e., what God wrought in the end of trial, on the faithful of old time, like Job; learn from it how great a deliverance He will also work for you. But "if ye will not believe, surely ye shall not be established" (Isaiah 7:9). It is a mistake to understand here any allusion to the death of Christ, as if the Apostle spoke to those who witnessed it.

That the Lord is very pitiful.--St. James, in the fulness of his gratitude, seems to have coined a word for this single place. "Great-hearted" would be close to its meaning; but originally the bowels were thought to be the seat of the affections, and hence such terms of expression: as also in Genesis 43:30; 1Kings 3:26; Isaiah 63:15; Lamentations 1:20; Philippians 1:8; 1John 3:17, et al.

"The Lord" here is Jehovah: under which name the Lord spake and wrought before He was made man. See Bishop Pearson On the Creed, in Article 2, proving the significance of ??????, or Lord, as the right translation of the Hebrew El, Elohim, Shaddai, Adonai, and Jehovah. And compare Isaiah 40:3 with Matthew 3:1; Malachi 3:1 with Matthew 11:10 and Jeremiah 23:6.

Verse 11. - Behold, we count them happy. Μακαρίζειν: only here and Luke 1:48 (comp. James 1:12, "Blessed is the man that endureth temptation;" Daniel 12:12, "Blessed is he that waiteth"). Which endure; rather, which endured, reading ὑπομείναντας, with א, A, B, Syriac, Latt. (quisustinuerunt). Ye have heard of the patience of Job. A book very rarely referred to in the New Testament; only here and in 1 Corinthians 3:19, where Job 5:13 is quoted. And have seen the end of the Lord. Ἴδετε ("see") is found in A, B, L, but εἴδετε of the Received Text has the support of א, B, K, Vulgate (ridistis), and is now generally adopted. The "end of the Lord (τὸ τέλος Κυρίου)" cannot possibly be interpreted of the death and resurrection of our Savior. The whole context is against this, and Κυρίου would certainly require the article. The Syriac Version rightly interprets the clause, "the end which the Lord wrought for him." It dearly refers to the end which God brought about in the case of Job, whose "latter end the Lord blessed more than his beginning" (Job 42:12; cf. Winer, 'Grammar of New Testament Greek,' p. 309). That the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy, Πολύσπλαχνος: here only; never in the LXX, but equivalent to Hebrew רַב חֶסֶד; cf. Psalm 103. (102.), 8; 111. (110.), 4, which may have suggested the phrase to St. James. Οἰκτίρμων: only here and Luke 6:36; several times in the LXX. Ὁ Κύριος is omitted entirely in K, L, and some manuscripts of the Vulgate; the article is also wanting in B.

5:7-11 Consider him that waits for a crop of corn; and will not you wait for a crown of glory? If you should be called to wait longer than the husbandman, is not there something more worth waiting for? In every sense the coming of the Lord drew nigh, and all his people's losses, hardships, and sufferings, would be repaid. Men count time long, because they measure it by their own lives; but all time is as nothing to God; it is as a moment. To short-lived creatures a few years seem an age; but Scripture, measuring all things by the existence of God, reckons thousands of years but so many days. God brought about things in Job's case, so as plainly to prove that he is very pitiful and of tender mercy. This did not appear during his troubles, but was seen in the event, and believers now will find a happy end to their trials. Let us serve our God, and bear our trials, as those who believe that the end will crown all. Our eternal happiness is safe if we trust to him: all else is mere vanity, which soon will be done with for ever.Behold, we count them happy which endure,.... Affliction, with courage, constancy, and patience, and hold out to the end; for such shall be saved; theirs is the kingdom of heaven; they are happy now, and will be so hereafter: the Spirit of God, and of glory, now rests upon them; and it is an honour done them that they are counted worthy to suffer for Christ; and they will be glorified with him to all eternity; the consideration of which may serve to encourage and increase patience.

Ye have heard of the patience of Job; from the account which is given of him, and his patience, in the book that bears his name; how he behaved under every trial, which came one upon the back of another; as the plundering of his substance, the loss of his children, and of the health of his body; and yet in all this Job sinned not, nor murmured against God, nor charged him foolishly, and was a mirror of patience; and though he afterwards let fall some expressions of impatience, yet he was humbled for them, and brought to repentance: this shows, that as the Apostle James, so the Jews, to whom he writes, believed that there had been really such a man as Job; and that the book which bears his name is an authentic piece of holy Scripture, and contains a narrative of matters of fact; or otherwise this reference to him would have been impertinent. How long Job endured the chastenings of the Lord cannot be said. The Jews (y) say they continued on him twelve months, which they gather from Job 7:3.

And have seen the end of the Lord; that is, the happy end, or exodus, out of all his troubles; which the Lord gave "to him", as the Oriental versions add; for he gave him twice as much as he had before, and blessed his latter end more than his beginning, Job 42:10. Some understand this of the Lord Jesus Christ, both of his great patience in sufferings, in which he is an example to his people, and they would do well to look to, and consider him; and of the end of his sufferings, his glorious resurrection from the dead, and session at the right hand of God, where he is crowned with glory and honour; but the former sense is best:

that the Lord is very pitiful and of tender mercy; as to Job, so to all his people; his paternal relation to them engages his pity towards them; nor does he willingly afflict them; and when he does, he sympathizes with them; he is afflicted with them, and in his pity redeems them; his heart moves towards them, and he earnestly remembers them, and works deliverance for them in his own time and way; and therefore it becomes them to be patient.

(y) Seder Olam Rabba, c. 3. p. 9.