James 5:11

‘You have heard of the patient endurance of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord, how that the Lord is full of pity, and merciful.’

James then calls on the one who was to the Jews the supreme example of patient endurance. ‘You have heard of the patient endurance of Job.’ Not even his greatest friend could have called Job ‘patient’. He endured with gritted teeth and loud protests (see the Book of Job). But the end was that the Lord was full of pity towards him, and was merciful, because he bore all that came on him and retained his full confidence in God. He had the kind of spirit which faced up to doubt, sorrow and disaster and emerged with a faith stronger than it was before, and in the midst of his trials cried out, ‘Though He may slay me, yet will I trust Him (Job 13:15).’. And the Lord understood and had compassion on him, just as He will have compassion on all His people who endure, even though they may in their weakness occasionally despair. We should note that the Jews traditionally saw Job as a prophet (see Ezekiel 14:14; Ezekiel 14:20).