James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,
To the twelve tribes scattered among the nations:
Greetings. [James 1:1 NIV]
We have looked at the author of the letter. We now look at the recipients. To whom is James sending this letter? This is one of the General Epistles - this is the group of letters in the New Testament not addressed to an individual (such as Timothy or Philemon) or to a church (such as Corinth or Ephesus). So it was intended for a wide audience and the reference to 12 tribes identifies the letter with the Jewish nation. So James, himself a Jew, was writing to his own people. There were 12 tribes (or clans) when the Israelites left Egypt but after the death of King Solomon, the nation was divided into two kingdoms - in the north was the Kingdom of Israel with 10 tribes and in the South the kingdom of Judah had two tribes. After the Assyrians attacked Israel and took the nation into exile, there were only two tribes left. And yet James is writing to 12 tribes.
He describes them as scattered among the nations. In our times, we have seen that wars and persecution result in people fleeing from their homeland and seeking refuge elsewhere (Ukrainians, for example). There are references to persecution in the book of the Acts and it may be that James was writing to persecuted Jewish Christians who were living abroad. It was a circular letter - to be read in various churches or groups across the Middle East.
James's letter was probably the first letter to be written. It is primarily written to Jews and there is no reference to the issues arising from Gentiles coming to faith.
There is no mention of the Council of Jerusalem described in Acts 15 (c. A.D. 49), which would be expected if that Council had already taken place. Therefore, James can be reliably dated c. A.D. 44–49, making it the earliest written book of the NT canon. [John MacArthur:
The letter provides some insight into the early Christian Church from a Jewish perspective. There is continuity with the Old Testament and that is hardly surprising. Much of this letter follows the tradition of Jewish wisdom instruction, which we have already witnessed in the Book of Proverbs. However, there are also similarities to the teaching of Jesus, especially the sermon on the Mount. https://993d363e-b34b-4777-b16d-2642e5d86775.usrfiles.com/ugd/993d36_bd45fa11418c49ec86fe72182fa38090.xlsx
So the letter was written to Jews who had come to accept that Jesus of Nazareth was their long awaited Messiah. They still were worshipping in the synagogue and were still steeped in the Jewish religion.
Diaspora
This is the Greek word which is translated as 'scattered' among the nations. It means 'scattered abroad' and literally means 'through a sowing.' There is a reference to Jews being scattered among the other nations in John's Gospel. Jesus has just intimated that he is leaving and that people will look for him but they will not be able to find him because 'where I am, you cannot come.' This causes some confusion among the Jews.
The Jews said to one another, “Where does this man intend to go that we cannot find him? Will he go where our people live scattered among the Greeks, and teach the Greeks? [John 7:35 NIV]
The scholars use the term diaspora to refer to the Jews who were 'scattered' in many different countries. There had been two great expulsions of Jews by the Assyrians when the northern kingdom of Israel was taken into exile (S Kings 17; 1 Chronicles 5) and the Babylonians who took the remaining two tribes known as Judah into exile (2 Kings 24, 25; 2 Chronicles 36). The Roman invasion resulted in Jews being taken away to Rome as slaves. In the centuries leading up to the coming of Jesus, thousands of Jews were leaving their homeland and settling in the countries around the Mediterranean Sea. In the Book of the Acts there is clear evidence of these Jews keeping links with their homeland and visiting Jerusalem. There was also persecution of the Jews in the early Christian church which intensified after the death of the first Christian martyr, Stephen (A.D. 31-34).
And Saul approved of their killing him. On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. [Acts 8:1 NIV]
This verse indicates that the persecuted Christians did not travel too far - Judea and Samaria. Around A.D. 44 there was another wave of persecution under Herod Agrippa 1 (Acts 12). So this probably provided James with his audience for his letter against a backdrop of Jews dispersed widely across the Mediterranean area.
Interesting to see Macarthur actually does consider a pre 49 date. Your chart on previous dayshare seemed to have Macarthur view as late as 62 but obviously that was only a snippet of his thoughts on this. I agree probably before or around 49 more likely than later date