{2} Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. {3} Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.

(2) He applies that to the poor, which he spoke against the rich, warning them to wait for the Lord's coming patiently, who will avenge the injuries which the rich men do to them.

(3) The taking away of an objection: Although his coming seems to linger, yet at the least we must follow the farmer, we who do patiently wait for the times that are fitting for the fruits of the earth. And again, God will not postpone the least bit of the time that he has appointed.

People's New Testament

5:7 Be patient therefore, brethren. James now turns from the rich, wicked Jews, to his suffering brethren. Let them be patient.

Unto the coming of the Lord. That would bring relief. The primary reference is to the relief from Jewish persecution which followed the Lord's coming in judgment on the Jewish nation.

Behold, the husbandman... hath patience. The tiller of the soil has to sow and wait long in patience for fruit. Be you like him.

Until he receive the early and latter rain. The early rain was the November showers which prepared the ground for the seed; the latter rain, the spring showers needed to bring the harvest to maturity. Compare De 11:14.

Wesley's Notes

5:7 The husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit - Which will recompense his labour and patience. Till he receives the former rain - Immediately after sowing. And the latter - Before the harvest.

King James Translators' Notes

Be...: or, Be long patient, or, Suffer with long patience

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

7. Be patient therefore-as judgment is so near (Jas 5:1, 3), ye may well afford to be "patient" after the example of the unresisting Just one (Jas 5:6).

brethren-contrasted with the "rich" oppressors, Jas 5:1-6.

unto the coming of the Lord-Christ, when the trial of your patience shall cease.

husbandman waiteth for-that is, patiently bears toils and delays through hope of the harvest at last. Its "preciousness" (compare Ps 126:6, "precious seed") will more than compensate for all the past. Compare the same image, Ga 6:3, 9.

hath long patience for it-"over it," in respect to it.

until he receive-"until it receive" [Alford]. Even if English Version be retained, the receiving of the early and latter rains is not to be understood as the object of his hope, but the harvest for which those rains are the necessary preliminary. The early rain fell at sowing time, about November or December; the latter rain, about March or April, to mature the grain for harvest. The latter rain that shall precede the coming spiritual harvest, will probably be another Pentecost-like effusion of the Holy Ghost.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

5:7-11 Consider him that waits for a crop of corn; and will not you wait for a crown of glory? If you should be called to wait longer than the husbandman, is not there something more worth waiting for? In every sense the coming of the Lord drew nigh, and all his people's losses, hardships, and sufferings, would be repaid. Men count time long, because they measure it by their own lives; but all time is as nothing to God; it is as a moment. To short-lived creatures a few years seem an age; but Scripture, measuring all things by the existence of God, reckons thousands of years but so many days. God brought about things in Job's case, so as plainly to prove that he is very pitiful and of tender mercy. This did not appear during his troubles, but was seen in the event, and believers now will find a happy end to their trials. Let us serve our God, and bear our trials, as those who believe that the end will crown all. Our eternal happiness is safe if we trust to him: all else is mere vanity, which soon will be done with for ever.