James Uses the Old Testament
James refers to a number of Old Testament personalities,
including Job, Elijah, Rahab and Abraham. The writer also uses Isaiah
and Amos, along with four of the five books of Torah: Genesis,
Exodus, Leviticus and Deuteronomy. His message
is that the Law is essential to living a Christian life. The people
mentioned and the prophets quoted all are calling us back to righteous
living, and are promising that endurance in the face of suffering
will be rewarded.
James 5:11 offers blessing for Job's endurance in the face of suffering.
The Greek is hupomone, most commonly translated perseverance
rather than endurance. Before presuming that James is calling on
the oppressed to accept their suffering without resistance, look
again at the story of Job. He is resistant, argumentative, and demanding
of justice. He perseveres in his arguments, and, importantly, remains
righteous and faithful in the face of suffering.
Ezekiel and Sirach also use Job as examples. In Ezekiel
14:14 and 14:20 Job is listed along with Noah as an example of extreme
righteousness. In Sirach 49:9 Job holds fast to all the ways of
justice. Perseverance and endurance, then, are not calls to passive
acceptance, but rather to radical justice and righteous living in
the face of oppression. James 2:5 echoes the cry of Job in Job 30:25
Was not my soul grieved for the poor?
God is a refuge for the poor in Isaiah 25:4, who will gain a kingdom
of plenty by verses 6-8. James 2:5 is likely a reference to this.
The rich will be destroyed in James 5:1 and also in Amos 8:4-6.
Isaiah 40:6-7 proclaims that the people, like grass, will fade away;
James 1:10-11 limits the destruction to the rich.
Another prophet James mentions is Elijah. In James 5:17 Elijah
is an example of praying for no rain (see 1 Kings 17:1 and
18:1, 45). In the story Elijah isn't praying until 1 Kings 17:20-22,
where he cries out against God: O LORD my God, have you brought
calamity even upon the widow with whom I am staying, by killing
her son? James calls us to prayer, but the prayer is not one
of acceptance, but of calling out for justice.
Abraham is mentioned in James 2:21 as an example of how actions,
not only faith, are important to God. Abraham's faith in God guides
him in his actions in Genesis 22:1-19. James 2:23 quotes Genesis
15:6 Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness,and
he was called the friend of God. We see righteousness as critical
again, and that right faith leads to right action.
Rahab, mentioned in James 2:25, is also an example of faith leading
to action. In Joshua 2:11 Rahab has heard of God's actions and proclaims
the LORD your God is indeed God in heaven above and on earth
below. It is her faith that calls her to her righteous action,
hiding the scouts for the Hebrews. See the entire story in Joshua
2:1-21. James offers her as an example her actions justifying her
with God. (Note that Rahab also appears as an ancestor of Jesus
in Matthew 1:5.)
James' focus on actions and the law is also shown in his use of
Torah. James 2:8 refers to the royal law, found in Leviticus 19:18.
The ten commandments, specifically Exodus 20:13, 14, is quoted in
James 2:11. We are not to speak evil against one another in James
4:11-12; this is from Leviticus 19:16. And Leviticus 19:13 contains
the law against keeping a laborer's wages that James mentions in
5:4.
|