Jam 1:11, 1Pe 1:24 | Barnes | STEP | Verse 11. For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat . Isaiah ( ) employs the word wind, referring to a burning wind that dries up the flowers. It is probable that the apostle also refers not so much to the sun itself, as to the hot and fiery wind called the simoom , which often rises with the sun, and which consumes the green herbage of the fields. So Rosenmuller and Bloomfield interpret it. It withereth the grass . . It withereth the stalk , or that which, when dried, produces hay or fodder--the word here used being commonly employed in the latter sense. The meaning is, that the effect of the hot wind is to wither the stalk or spire which supports the flower, and when that is dried up, the flower itself falls. This idea will give increased beauty and appropriateness to the figure --that man himself is blasted and withered, and then that all the external splendour which encircled him falls to the ground, like a flower whose support is gone. And the grace of the fashion of it perisheth . Its beauty disappears. So shall the rich man fade away an his ways . That is, his splendour, and all on which he prided himself, shall vanish. The phrase "in his ways," according to Rosenmuller, refers to his counsels, his plans, his purposes; and the meaning is, that the rich man, with all by which he is known, shall vanish. A man's "ways," that is, his mode of life, or those things by which he appears before the world, may have somewhat the same relation to him which the flower has to the stalk on which it grows, and by which it is sustained. The idea of James seems to be, that as it was indisputable that the rich man must soon disappear, with all that he had of pomp and splendour in the view of the world, it was well for him to be reminded of it by every change of condition; and that he should therefore rejoice in the providential dispensation by which his property would be taken away, and by which the reality of his religion would be tested. We should rejoice in anything by which it can be shown whether we are prepared for heaven or not.

James 1:11

Verse 11. For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat. Isaiah (Isa 40:7) employs the word wind, referring to a burning wind that dries up the flowers. It is probable that the apostle also refers not so much to the sun itself, as to the hot and fiery wind called the simoom, which often rises with the sun, and which consumes the green herbage of the fields. So Rosenmuller and Bloomfield interpret it.

It withereth the grass. Isa 40:7. It withereth the stalk, or that which, when dried, produces hay or fodder--the word here used being commonly employed in the latter sense. The meaning is, that the effect of the hot wind is to wither the stalk or spire which supports the flower, and when that is dried up, the flower itself falls. This idea will give increased beauty and appropriateness to the figure --that man himself is blasted and withered, and then that all the external splendour which encircled him falls to the ground, like a flower whose support is gone.

And the grace of the fashion of it perisheth. Its beauty disappears.

So shall the rich man fade away an his ways. That is, his splendour, and all on which he prided himself, shall vanish. The phrase "in his ways," according to Rosenmuller, refers to his counsels, his plans, his purposes; and the meaning is, that the rich man, with all by which he is known, shall vanish. A man's "ways," that is, his mode of life, or those things by which he appears before the world, may have somewhat the same relation to him which the flower has to the stalk on which it grows, and by which it is sustained. The idea of James seems to be, that as it was indisputable that the rich man must soon disappear, with all that he had of pomp and splendour in the view of the world, it was well for him to be reminded of it by every change of condition; and that he should therefore rejoice in the providential dispensation by which his property would be taken away, and by which the reality of his religion would be tested. We should rejoice in anything by which it can be shown whether we are prepared for heaven or not.

1 Peter 1:24

Verse 24. For all flesh is as grass. That is, all human beings, all men. The connexion here is this: The apostle, in the previous verse, had been contrasting that which is begotten by man with that which is begotten by God, in reference to its permanency. The former was corruptible and decaying; the latter abiding. The latter was produced by God, who lives for ever; the former by the agency of man, who is himself corruptible and dying. It was not unnatural, then, to dwell upon the feeble, frail, decaying nature of man, in contrast with God; and the apostle, therefore, says that "all flesh, every human being, is like grass. There is no stability in anything that man does or produces, lie himself resembles grass that soon fades and withers; but God and his word endure for ever the same." The comparison of a human being with grass, or with flowers, is very beautiful, and is quite common in the Scriptures. The comparison turns on the fact, that the grass or the flower, however green or beautiful it may be, soon loses its freshness; is withered; is cut down, and dies. Thus in Ps 103:15,16: "As for man, his days are as grass;

As a flower of the field, so he flourisheth,

For the wind passeth over it and it is gone,

And the place thereof shall know it no more."

So in Isa 40:6-8; a passage which is evidently referred to by Peter in this place:--

"The voice said, Cry.

And he said, What shall I cry?

All flesh is grass,

And all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field.

The grass withereth,

The flower fadeth.

When the wind of Jehovah bloweth upon it:

Surely the people is grass,

The grass withereth,

The flower fadeth,

But the word of our God shall stand for ever."

Jas 1:10,11. This sentiment is beautifully imitated by the great dramatist in the speech of Wolsey:-- "This is the state of man: to-day he puts forth

The tender leaves of hope, to-morrow blossoms,

And bears his blushing honours thick upon him.

The third day comes a frost, a killing frost.

And--when he thinks, good easy man, full surely

His greatness is a ripening--nips his root,

And then he falls."

Comp. Isa 40:6-8.

And all the glory of man. All that man prides himself on--his wealth, rank, talents, beauty, learning, splendour of equipage or apparel.

As the flower of grass. The word rendered "grass," (χορτος,) properly denotes herbage; that which furnishes food for animals--pasture, hay. Probably the prophet Isaiah, from whom this passage is taken, referred rather to the appearance of a meadow or a field, with mingled grass and flowers, constituting a beautiful landscape, than to mere grass. In such a field, the grass soon withers with heat, and with the approach of winter; and the flowers soon fade and fall.

The grass withereth, and the flower thereof fadeth away. This is repeated, as is common in the Hebrew writings, for the sake of emphasis, or strong confirmation.

(1) "For" "For that" (c) "For all flesh" Isa 40:6-8