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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadCambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges - James 1:9 - 1:9
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9. Καυχάσθω δὲ ὁ ἀδελφὸς ὁ ταπεινὸς κ.τ.λ. The transition to the contrast between rich and poor is quite natural here. For the problem of the prosperity of the wicked and the suffering of the righteous is one with which the Wisdom literature occupied itself more anxiously than with any other. It is, for instance, the theme of the Book of Job.
The rejoicing in τετείνοσες is parallel in spirit to the rejoicing ἐν πειρασροις. The τεπείνενσις of the rich (his becoming poor) will save him from the fate of the rich. Comp. 1Sa 2:10, LXX. (a passage not found in the Hebrew), μὴ καυχάσθω ὁ φρόνιμος ἐν τῇ φρονήσει αὐτοῦ, καὶ μὴ καυχάσθω ὁ δυνατὸς ἐν τῇ δυνάμει αὐτοῦ, καὶ μὴ καυχάσθω ὁ πλούσιος ἐν τῷ πλούτῳ αὐτοῦ.