For the sun rose with a burning heat and parched the grass: and the flower thereof fell off, and the beauty of the shape thereof perished. So also shall the rich man fade away in his ways.
ανετειλεν γαρ ο ηλιος συν τω καυσωνι και εξηρανεν τον χορτον και το ανθος αυτου εξεπεσεν και η ευπρεπεια του προσωπου αυτου απωλετο ουτως και ο πλουσιος εν ταις πορειαις αυτου μαρανθησεται
9 Church Fathers comment on this verse
"The beauty of its face perished." He used the word "face" not in its proper meaning, for it is used only of a human being and not of other things. "So also the rich man will fade away in his ways." By "ways" he means undertakings in the present life.
Thus in the present life the prosperity of men passes away. It appears like grass or a flower, and disappears like a flower because of its extreme brevity.
Even if it remains blooming for a time, later it still withers and dries up under the rays of the Sun of righteousness. It becomes hay, which remains only to be thrown into the furnace and burned.
With this (Ps 89:6) there fully agrees what the prophet Isaiah and James said for our instruction: “The grass dries up, the flower withers” (Isa 40:6-7), and “the sun rises, the scorching heat comes, and by its heat dries up the grass. Its flower falls, and the beauty of its appearance disappears.”
By the scorching heat of the sun he means the sentence of the stern Judge, by which the temporal beauty of the foolish finally perishes.
The elect also flourish, but not like grass. For “the righteous shall flourish like a palm tree” (Ps 91:13).
The ungodly flourish for a time. “Like grass they shall quickly wither, and like green herbs they shall soon fall away” (cf. Ps 36:2).
The righteous flourish like a tree, for their flower, that is, their firm hope, awaits eternal fruit. Their root, that is, love, remains strong and unchanging.
Therefore the Wise One also says, “I, like a vine, brought forth fragrance” (cf. Sir 24:17, 20).
Finally, righteous Naboth preferred to die rather than turn the vineyard of his fathers into a vegetable garden (3 Kgdms 21:1-16).
To turn the vineyard of the fathers into a vegetable garden means to exchange persistent labors for acquiring the virtues, which we learned from the fathers, for the temporal enjoyment of sin.
The righteous prefer to lay down their soul rather than choose earthly goods instead of heavenly ones.
Therefore it is sung of them that they will be “like a tree planted by the streams of waters, which will bring forth its fruit in its season” (Ps 1:3).
And what of the ungodly? Of them it is said: “And the beauty of its appearance perishes. So also the rich man will wither in his ways.”
The Apostle is not speaking of every rich man, but of the one who trusts in uncertain riches (cf. 1 Tim 6:17).
For the Apostle set the rich man opposite the humiliated brother, showing that he speaks of a rich man who has no humility.
Abraham, though rich in the world, received the poor man into his bosom after death, and left the rich man in torments.
But he left him not because he was rich, since he himself had once been rich, but because he did not wish to be merciful and humble as Abraham was.
Conversely, he received poor Lazarus not because Lazarus was materially poor, but because he strove to be humble and pure, as Abraham was.
Such a rich man, that is, a proud and ungodly man who prefers earthly joys to heavenly ones, will wither in his ways. That is, he will perish in his unrighteous works, because he did not wish to enter the right way of the Lord.
But if he perishes like grass before the scorching heat of the sun, then the righteous man, like a fruit-bearing tree, not only endures that whole burning heat, that is, the severity of the Judge.
He also bears the fruits of good works, for which he will receive the eternal reward. Therefore the Apostle rightly adds:
By the ways of the rich man he means the course of life in prosperity, in the midst of which an unexpected change for the worse overtakes a man.
The brother of God likens wealth to a flower of the field, in order to show its instability and brief duration.
He calls the outward appearance of grass and flowers their “face,” to strengthen the impression. The Lord also used the expression “the face of heaven and earth” (Lk 12:56).
Strictly speaking, “face” is said of a human face, not of animals or other creatures. Among four-footed animals it is called a muzzle or snout, and among birds a beak, according to Oecumenius.
Thus, he says, the rich man will wither like the flower of the field in his way and in the works he does in this life.
Isaiah says the same of every man: “All flesh is grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withered and the flower fell, but the word of our God abides forever” (Isa 40:6-8).
The chief Apostle Peter said the same, taking it from Isaiah (1 Pet 1:24-25). Sirach also says the same: “All flesh grows old like a garment. This is the covenant from of old: you shall surely die.
Like leaves flourishing on a thick tree, some fall and others grow. So also is the generation of flesh and blood: one dies, and another is born” (Sir 14:18-19).
Some teachers, interpreting David’s striking words, “As for man, his days are like grass; as the flower of the field, so he blossoms” (Ps 102:15), say that the prophet did not say a garden flower, but a field flower.
He did this to show precisely the brief duration of human life. Garden flowers are protected by gardeners and for a long time suffer no harm.
Field flowers, on the contrary, are preserved by no one. They are trampled by animals, plucked by men, damaged by birds, and through other circumstances become short-lived.
The rich man withers like a flower in his works. A sudden change can always follow in this life. Yesterday he was rich and accompanied by success, and today he suddenly becomes unfortunate and poor, according to Oecumenius.
According to Mitrophan, “When the rich man imagines that he prospers exceedingly and surpasses others in glory, and is adorned on every side with crowns of authority, at that very moment he withers.
Having ended his life, he lies dead, voiceless, motionless, without appearance, and moreover he stinks unpleasantly and unbearably.”
By “rich” here the brother of God means the proud man who boasts in his wealth. Thus in his pride he will be humbled, and in his exaltation he will fall.
It would have been fitting to say, “let the rich man be put to shame in his humiliation.” But because this word would have been harsh, he leaves it aside and speaks less harshly, according to Oecumenius.
According to Saint Mitrophan, let the rich man boast in the natural humility that he has. That is, he is an earthly man, and he must die, decay, become dust, and become food for worms.
If he is puffed up by his wealth, let him be humbled by the remembrance of death. Such humility will become his glory and praise.
See verse 10. “So also the rich man withers in his ways.” A rich man who uses his wealth for the comforts and pleasures of his life is outwardly beautiful, like a flower of the field.
But wealth is a thing as unstable and fleeting as a flower of the field. Heat will come, or some unexpected calamities will strike (cf. Job ch. 1), and the wealth has perished.
Even if calamities do not overtake the rich man, sooner or later death will overtake him. Then wealth is finished.
And how long is the whole life of man, even of an old man? It is “a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away” (Jas 4:14).
In either case, the rich man withers like a flower, and all his ways, all his undertakings and actions, are finite (cf. Theophylact).
If, besides wealth, he had nothing, then he has nothing of which to boast. Therefore he can boast only in his humiliation, if he has acquired it either in wealth or through wealth.
How can a rich man glory in humility? According to the thought of the holy Apostle James, this is possible when a Christian endowed with wealth by the Lord does not boast of it. On the contrary, he vividly recognizes its corruption and instability, like the flower on a blade of grass. He never forgets that man's true height consists in the independence of his heart and soul from material goods. It consists also in virtue, which by its very nature is humble and meek.
Returning to his main thought, the Apostle again exhorts us to endure temptations. He counsels the humiliated poor not to despond because of the temptations that befall them.
Behind their visible humiliation there follows their invisible moral height and the crown of heavenly glory.
The same counsel is also given to the rich, because they can be even more often subjected to humiliation through the swift corruption and destruction of wealth (cf. Mt 6:19).
The Apostle James counsels us to give praise to the height of humility and the wealth of poverty. The Apostle Paul gives a vow to boast in his infirmities, because he sees in this the pledge of God’s power, made perfect in weaknesses (see 2 Cor 12:9).
The Apostle James sees an even greater fruit from enduring humiliation, namely, the crown of eternal life promised by the Savior.
The Apostle Paul also awaited this crown of righteousness for himself, as the reward for labors and sorrows (see 2 Tim 4:8).
This crown will also be the possession of all who endure every temptation and remain faithful to the Lord until death.
Therefore, Christian, be faithful unto death, and the Lord will give you the crown of life (Rev 2:10)!
“Let the humble brother boast in his exaltation, and the rich in his humiliation, because like the flower of the grass he passes away. For the sun rose with scorching heat and dried up the grass. Its flower fell, and the beauty of its appearance perished. So also the rich man withers in his ways.”
Christian wisdom, which must be asked of God with faith in His power and goodness, is needed by every Christian, every brother. It is needed both by one humbled in outward position, such as one living in poverty, and by one who has attained high position through wealth.
To the first, Christian wisdom suggests that he should not regard his lowly position as a misfortune. On the contrary, he should boast in it as a high position.
He should console himself with the thought that the Lord Jesus called into His kingdom the lowly of this world (1 Cor 1:28). By His own example He sanctified poverty and homelessness (Mt 8:20).
But if it belongs to the poor man to boast in his exaltation, Christian wisdom requires the rich man to boast in humiliation. Let him see this humiliation in death, from which wealth saves no one.
The life of every man, and therefore of the rich man, is as fleeting as the life of grass and of the flower on the grass.
The greenery of grass and the beauty of the flower on it delight us. But from the heat of the sun, the grass dries up and its flower, which forms its beauty, perishes.
The thought of life’s brevity should humble the rich man, reminding him that death makes him equal to the last beggar.
This reminder is bitter, but saving. It not only guards him against pride in wealth, but can also restrain him from wavering in fidelity to Christ if persecution for the faith occurs.
Even if he must die for the faith, he has nothing to fear from death. In any case, he cannot escape death. Wealth saves no one from it, and therefore it is not worth clinging to.
Passages read together with this verse.
Greek text, 32 words with lemma, transliteration and Strong’s number. Tap to expand.
THEOSIS