He Who Loves Silver
8 If you see the oppression of the poor, and the violent taking away of justice and righteousness in a district, don’t marvel at the matter, for one official is eyed by a higher one, and there are officials over them. 9 Moreover the profit of the earth is for all. The king profits from the field. 10 He who loves silver shall not be satisfied with silver, nor he who loves abundance, with increase. This also is vanity. 11 When goods increase, those who eat them are increased; and what advantage is there to its owner, except to feast on them with his eyes? 12 The sleep of a laboring man is sweet, whether he eats little or much; but the abundance of the rich will not allow him to sleep. 13 There is a grievous evil which I have seen under the sun: wealth kept by its owner to his harm. 14 Those riches perish by misfortune, and if he has fathered a son, there is nothing in his hand. 15 As he came out of his mother’s womb, naked shall he go again as he came, and shall take nothing for his labor, which he may carry away in his hand. 16 This also is a grievous evil, that in all points as he came, so shall he go. And what profit does he have who labors for the wind? 17 All his days he also eats in darkness, he is frustrated, and has sickness and wrath. 18 Behold, that which I have seen to be good and proper is for one to eat and to drink, and to enjoy good in all his labor, in which he labors under the sun, all the days of his life which God has given him; for this is his portion. 19 Every man also to whom God has given riches and wealth, and has given him power to eat of it, and to take his portion, and to rejoice in his labor—this is the gift of God. 20 For he shall not often reflect on the days of his life, because God occupies him with the joy of his heart.
Wealth is examined as a mechanism rather than condemned as a sin, and four of its failures are stated as plain economics.
Verse 8 explains why oppression is so hard to address: one official is eyed by a higher one, and there are officials over them. Layers, and no single desk where the wrong can be laid. The instruction is don't marvel at the matter — not acceptance, but the removal of surprise.
Then the money, and the observations are mechanical.
First, appetite: he who loves silver shall not be satisfied with silver. The failure is in the loving rather than in the amount, which is why more cannot fix it. It is the eye and ear of the first chapter again Ecclesiastes 1:8.
Second, scale: when goods increase, those who eat them are increased. A larger estate attracts a larger household, and the owner's remaining advantage is to feast on them with his eyes — he watches other people eat.
Third, sleep: the sleep of a laboring man is sweet, whether he eats little or much; but the abundance of the rich will not allow him to sleep. The thing wealth was supposed to buy is the thing it takes.
Fourth, exit: naked shall he go again as he came, taking nothing, with the labor described as done for the wind.
Against all four, verses 18 and 19 set the third commendation, and it adds something the earlier ones did not have. Riches are not the problem; power to eat of it is the gift, and both are the gift of God.
And verse 20 gives the mechanism of contentment, which is absorption rather than reflection: he shall not often reflect on the days of his life, because God occupies him with the joy of his heart. The despair of chapter 2 began the moment a man stopped working and looked back over the works Ecclesiastes 2:11.
settled What this mark means