Murder and oppression

Do we murder the poor when we abuse them? James thinks so. At the beginning of chapter 5, he sharply rebukes the rich, reminding them that they have not paid the laborers who mowed their fields (v. 3). Like Abel’s blood, the laborers “cry out against you, and the outcry of those who did the harvesting has reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth” (v. 4), that is, the “Lord of Armies.”

Untimely pay seems a minor oversight. Not for James: It’s a sin of Cain.