Wages That Cry Out

Observe. James addresses rich people directly and tells them to weep and wail over the misery coming on them. Their wealth has rotted, their clothes are moth-eaten, their gold and silver are corroded, and the corrosion will testify against them. They have hoarded wealth in the last days. The wages they failed to pay the workers who mowed their fields are crying out, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. They have lived in luxury and self-indulgence, fattened themselves for the day of slaughter, and condemned and murdered the innocent who did not oppose them.

Interpret. This is prophetic speech in the tradition of Amos and Isaiah. James is not condemning wealth as such, but wealth gained by withholding what workers are owed and wealth hoarded while others go without. The unpaid wages cry out, an echo of Abel's blood crying from the ground. God hears money that has been kept from those who earned it. The rich appear to have won, but James places them at the end of the story, on the day of slaughter, when the accounting is done.

Apply. If you employ anyone, or influence how anyone is paid, is there money crying out against you that you have called a business decision? Where are you accumulating in a way that has quietly become hoarding? And how does knowing that the Lord Almighty hears the harvesters change the way you think about the people whose labor your comfort depends on?