"Go to now, ye rich men..." Josephus interprets James 5:1-6
Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2019 2:47 pm
I pulled up Steve's lecture on this section and listened to it. For the most part, he correctly placed the context of James 5 in the pre-AD 70 state of affairs for James' readers. However, there are a few more details needed to fill in the particular events that James wrote about in this passage condemning the actions of these "rich men" who were oppressing and "killing the just". Josephus gives us those details. So precisely, in fact, that it's almost as if James was doing a commentary on Josephus' writings, instead of the other way around.
James, the brother of the Lord, was one of the "pillars" of the church in Jerusalem, so it's safe to say that this diatribe against the "rich men" was speaking of something occurring in Jerusalem's vicinity where James was witnessing these things happen. These oppressive "rich men" in James 5 were HIGH PRIESTS, just as they were presented in Christ's Luke 16 parable of the "rich man" (Caiaphas) with his "5 brothers" (the 5 high priest sons of Annas) of his "Father's house" (the Jerusalem temple where Annas had been a high priest) who "fared sumptuously every day" (on temple sacrifices), and "wore purple and fine linen" (the priestly vestments). After his death, the "rich man" (high priest Caiaphas) in that parable ended up in Jerusalem's AD 70 Lake of Fire, being "tormented in this flame". This was exactly like the "rich men" in James 5 who would end up "weeping and howling" over the torments that would be inflicted on them in Jerusalem by the Zealots and their armies stealing and confiscating all the "heaped treasure" those high priests had laid up for themselves "in the last days" of the Judaic age. Eventually, these "rich men" became a target themselves for assassination by the Zealot forces.
The particular sin these "rich men" / high priests were guilty of in James 5:4 was to commit "fraud" by holding back the "hire of the laborers" who were reaping the fields. As a result of this agricultural "fraud", the "rich men" / high priests had "killed the just". This is exactly the order of events as described by Josephus in Ant. 20.9.2 as follows:
"Now as soon as Albinus was come to the city of Jerusalem, he used all his endeavors and care that the country might be kept in peace, and this by destroying many of the sicarii; but as for the high priest Ananias, (Ananias ben Nebedeus, whose term as high priest ran from about AD 47-59), "he increased in glory every day, and this to a great degree, and had obtained the favor and esteem of the citizens in a signal manner; for HE WAS A GREAT HOARDER UP OF MONEY; he therefore cultivated the friendship of Albinus, and of the high priest [Jesus], by making them presents; he also had servants who were very wicked, who joined themselves to the bolder of the people, and WENT TO THE THRASHING FLOORS, AND TOOK AWAY THE TITHES THAT BELONGED TO THE PRIESTS BY VIOLENCE, and did not refrain from beating such as would not give these tithes to them. SO THE OTHER PRIESTS ACTED IN THE LIKE MANNER, as did those his servants" (Ananias' servants), "WITHOUT ANY ONE BEING ABLE TO PROHIBIT THEM; so that [some of the] priests, that of old were wont to be supported by those tithes, DIED FOR WANT OF FOOD."
James as a leader in the Jerusalem church would have been an eye-witness of this fraud being committed by the high priests Ananias and others like him stealing the tithe portion of harvested grain from the priests, who depended on those tithes of grain for their very survival. Ananias' example led other high priests as well as members of the royal family to do the same. Ant. 20:9.4 says that a certain Costobarus and Saulus of the royal family "used violence with the people and were very ready to plunder those that were weaker than themselves. And from that time" (in the "last days" according to James 5:3), "it principally came to pass, that our city was greatly disordered, and that all things grew worse and worse among us." We know that these events had to occur before "James the Just" was executed by the high priest Ananus son of Annas (during his 3-month term as high priest in AD 62). This dates the book of James to that approximate era leading up to James' AD 62 martyrdom, when Ananias was fraudulently withholding the tithe of harvested grain from the priests who perished of starvation.
Actually, it appears that James, called "The Just" may have inadvertently prophesied his own martyrdom in James 5:6 at the hands of these "rich men" / high priests. James the Just also "did not resist" his murderers when they threw him off the parapet of the temple, according to Eusebius' account. The fall did not quite kill him, and as James prayed, "I implore you, O Lord, God and Father, forgive them: they do not know what they are doing", they stoned him and clubbed him to death at the base of the temple walls; a true fulfillment of "Ye have condemned and killed the just, and he doth not resist you."
What had angered the Jews (and the high priest Ananus) so much was James' testimony as he stood on the temple's parapet. In front of all the people assembled there, he testified, "Why do you ask me about the Son of Man? He is sitting in heaven at the right hand of the Great Power, and he will come on the clouds of heaven." James knew very well that Jesus, the "judge" was truly "standing before the door", and that "the coming of the Lord has drawn near" in those last days. That was literally the second physical coming of Christ in AD 70. James was more than willing to "lose his life", because he knew he would "find it" in the AD 70 "resurrection of the just", which was a mere eight years away from then.
With Christ's second coming already accomplished back then, (at the time of the "latter rain" harvest on Pentecost day in AD 70), we are now waiting on the Lord's third coming in our future, when the Lord as the "husbandman" will return again in the 7th month for the harvest before the "early rain" - at the time the Feast of Tabernacles would ordinarily have been celebrated. James knew about these two more "comings" of Christ in advance, and wrote James 5:7-9 to reflect this truth. The Lord has "long patience" until both these harvests of the bodies of His children out of the earth have occurred. He waited over four thousand years for the "latter rain" harvest on Pentecost day in AD 70, for the Old Covenant saints to be "received unto Himself". He now waits with equally "long patience" until the last "early rain" harvest takes place to fulfill a symbolic "Feast of Tabernacles", when the bodies of the saints from the New Covenant Age will also be raised out of the earth.
I will also be waiting.
James, the brother of the Lord, was one of the "pillars" of the church in Jerusalem, so it's safe to say that this diatribe against the "rich men" was speaking of something occurring in Jerusalem's vicinity where James was witnessing these things happen. These oppressive "rich men" in James 5 were HIGH PRIESTS, just as they were presented in Christ's Luke 16 parable of the "rich man" (Caiaphas) with his "5 brothers" (the 5 high priest sons of Annas) of his "Father's house" (the Jerusalem temple where Annas had been a high priest) who "fared sumptuously every day" (on temple sacrifices), and "wore purple and fine linen" (the priestly vestments). After his death, the "rich man" (high priest Caiaphas) in that parable ended up in Jerusalem's AD 70 Lake of Fire, being "tormented in this flame". This was exactly like the "rich men" in James 5 who would end up "weeping and howling" over the torments that would be inflicted on them in Jerusalem by the Zealots and their armies stealing and confiscating all the "heaped treasure" those high priests had laid up for themselves "in the last days" of the Judaic age. Eventually, these "rich men" became a target themselves for assassination by the Zealot forces.
The particular sin these "rich men" / high priests were guilty of in James 5:4 was to commit "fraud" by holding back the "hire of the laborers" who were reaping the fields. As a result of this agricultural "fraud", the "rich men" / high priests had "killed the just". This is exactly the order of events as described by Josephus in Ant. 20.9.2 as follows:
"Now as soon as Albinus was come to the city of Jerusalem, he used all his endeavors and care that the country might be kept in peace, and this by destroying many of the sicarii; but as for the high priest Ananias, (Ananias ben Nebedeus, whose term as high priest ran from about AD 47-59), "he increased in glory every day, and this to a great degree, and had obtained the favor and esteem of the citizens in a signal manner; for HE WAS A GREAT HOARDER UP OF MONEY; he therefore cultivated the friendship of Albinus, and of the high priest [Jesus], by making them presents; he also had servants who were very wicked, who joined themselves to the bolder of the people, and WENT TO THE THRASHING FLOORS, AND TOOK AWAY THE TITHES THAT BELONGED TO THE PRIESTS BY VIOLENCE, and did not refrain from beating such as would not give these tithes to them. SO THE OTHER PRIESTS ACTED IN THE LIKE MANNER, as did those his servants" (Ananias' servants), "WITHOUT ANY ONE BEING ABLE TO PROHIBIT THEM; so that [some of the] priests, that of old were wont to be supported by those tithes, DIED FOR WANT OF FOOD."
James as a leader in the Jerusalem church would have been an eye-witness of this fraud being committed by the high priests Ananias and others like him stealing the tithe portion of harvested grain from the priests, who depended on those tithes of grain for their very survival. Ananias' example led other high priests as well as members of the royal family to do the same. Ant. 20:9.4 says that a certain Costobarus and Saulus of the royal family "used violence with the people and were very ready to plunder those that were weaker than themselves. And from that time" (in the "last days" according to James 5:3), "it principally came to pass, that our city was greatly disordered, and that all things grew worse and worse among us." We know that these events had to occur before "James the Just" was executed by the high priest Ananus son of Annas (during his 3-month term as high priest in AD 62). This dates the book of James to that approximate era leading up to James' AD 62 martyrdom, when Ananias was fraudulently withholding the tithe of harvested grain from the priests who perished of starvation.
Actually, it appears that James, called "The Just" may have inadvertently prophesied his own martyrdom in James 5:6 at the hands of these "rich men" / high priests. James the Just also "did not resist" his murderers when they threw him off the parapet of the temple, according to Eusebius' account. The fall did not quite kill him, and as James prayed, "I implore you, O Lord, God and Father, forgive them: they do not know what they are doing", they stoned him and clubbed him to death at the base of the temple walls; a true fulfillment of "Ye have condemned and killed the just, and he doth not resist you."
What had angered the Jews (and the high priest Ananus) so much was James' testimony as he stood on the temple's parapet. In front of all the people assembled there, he testified, "Why do you ask me about the Son of Man? He is sitting in heaven at the right hand of the Great Power, and he will come on the clouds of heaven." James knew very well that Jesus, the "judge" was truly "standing before the door", and that "the coming of the Lord has drawn near" in those last days. That was literally the second physical coming of Christ in AD 70. James was more than willing to "lose his life", because he knew he would "find it" in the AD 70 "resurrection of the just", which was a mere eight years away from then.
With Christ's second coming already accomplished back then, (at the time of the "latter rain" harvest on Pentecost day in AD 70), we are now waiting on the Lord's third coming in our future, when the Lord as the "husbandman" will return again in the 7th month for the harvest before the "early rain" - at the time the Feast of Tabernacles would ordinarily have been celebrated. James knew about these two more "comings" of Christ in advance, and wrote James 5:7-9 to reflect this truth. The Lord has "long patience" until both these harvests of the bodies of His children out of the earth have occurred. He waited over four thousand years for the "latter rain" harvest on Pentecost day in AD 70, for the Old Covenant saints to be "received unto Himself". He now waits with equally "long patience" until the last "early rain" harvest takes place to fulfill a symbolic "Feast of Tabernacles", when the bodies of the saints from the New Covenant Age will also be raised out of the earth.
I will also be waiting.