(James 5:1–6). Now, perhaps we can read this as a dire warning issued only to those wealthy persons who have acted unjustly toward their employees and who live too self-indulgently. But the rest of the letter does not encourage us to do so. Earlier in the epistle, James has already asserted that, while the “poor brother” should exult in how God has lifted him up, the “rich man” (who, it seems, scarcely merits the name of “brother”) should rejoice in being “made low” or “impoverished,” as otherwise he will wither and vanish away like a wildflower scorched by the sun (1:9–11). He has also gone
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