Part 1 of 3
Over the next few articles, we will be looking at Ecclesiastes 5:8-6:12 under the theme, “Pursing Wealth versus Enjoying God’s Gifts.”
Many years ago, I watched a movie entitled, “The Bucket List.” A bucket list is basically a list of things that a person hopes to experience or achieve or accomplish during his lifetime before he kicks the bucket, i.e. dies.
The movie “The Bucket List” is about two terminally ill cancer patients who were roommates in the hospital. One is a humble car mechanic, while the other is a very wealthy billionaire.
Over time, these two men, who were poles apart in terms of their social status and background, became good friends and they composed a list of things to do together before they kicked the bucket – things which they had never done before like skydiving and visiting a safari in Africa and driving a sports car around a racing track and so on.
There was one scene early on in the movie where the billionaire, who had just undergone his first round of chemotherapy, was about to eat a very sumptuous and expensive meal, which included prosciutto and melons and veal paillard.
His mechanic friend, who knew better, said to him, “You sure you want to eat all that?” The rich man said, “sure, it’s the best in town!” He even offered some to him but he declined. In the next scene, the rich man is in the toilet throwing up everything he had just eaten, and his friend said to him, “it ain’t the best in town no more.”
That scene reminds me of a line in our passage which says, “A man to whom God hath given riches, wealth, and honour, so that he wanteth nothing for his soul of all that he desireth, yet God giveth him not power to eat thereof…”
In the previous passage in Ecclesiastes, Solomon wrote about how we ought to approach and behave in the house of God. In this passage, he transports us out of the house of God and back into the world to once again see various aspects of the vanity and meaninglessness of life under-the-sun. The focus here is on the vanity of pursuing after wealth and the importance of enjoying God’s good gifts to us.
We can divide the passage into seven smaller sections. In this article, we’ll look at the first three.
The first section is found in verses 8-9 of chapter 5 and it tells us that injustice and oppression in society are not surprising.
Solomon writes, “If thou seest the oppression of the poor, and violent perverting of judgment and justice in a province, marvel not at the matter: for he that is higher than the highest regardeth; and there be higher than they. Moreover the profit of the earth is for all: the king himself is served by the field.” The main point here is that political oppression, injustice and exploitation in this world should not surprise us. Government officials all the way up to the king often use their position for their own financial and material advantage, with the result that those at the bottom of the social economic ladder suffer. Solomon mentions the earth and the field because the source of wealth is the ground, where plants and crops grow and where minerals and other natural resources are found.
The person who works the ground, whether he be a farmer or miner or builder or something else, has someone over him. And that person in turn has someone over him and it goes on all the way up to the king. The ground feeds and supplies everyone, including the king. But each person on the ladder often uses the person beneath him to his own advantage. Solomon is not saying that such exploitation, injustice and oppression are right. He is simply telling us that these things are the realities of life in this fallen world and we should not be surprised when we observe it. We are reminded that as long as there is greed, covetousness, lust and materialism in the heart of man, such things are bound to happen.
The second section is from chapter 5 verses 10-12 and it basically says that the increase in wealth does not bring satisfaction. “He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance with increase: this is also vanity. When goods increase, they are increased that eat them: and what good is there to the owners thereof, saving the beholding of them with their eyes? The sleep of a labouring man is sweet, whether he eat little or much: but the abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleep.”
Here Solomon speaks of how the increase of wealth and riches bring no satisfaction and he suggests three reasons for this.
First, the person who loves money will not be satisfied because he will always desire more. Such a person never feels he has enough.
The second reason why an increase in wealth brings no satisfaction is that an increase in wealth leads to an increase in liabilities. “When goods increase, they are increased that eat them…” In other words, the more you have, the more material demands are placed on your wealth. Expenses and overheads increase. Profit margins decline in relation to income.
Perhaps an illustration of this might help. Some years ago, I read an article in the papers about how our Airline, which has always been one of the most profitable airlines in the world, suffered a drastic cut in its profits. Even though its revenue had gone up, its profits dropped drastically compared to the previous year. Here we have a case of an increase in revenue but a decline in profit and the reason for this decline was due to the surprisingly high fuel prices for that period. And yet the airline cannot cease its flight operations just because of soaring oil and fuel prices. It has to continue to fly or it won’t earn any revenue.
Here in our text, Solomon is telling us that an increase in wealth may not bring satisfaction because while one may see an increase in gross earnings, one may not get to enjoy it. One may handle more money but one does not necessarily have more.
Then the third reason why increasing wealth does not lead to satisfaction is found in verse 12. “The abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleep.” The person with more has more to worry about, and this anxiety as well as sense of insecurity leads to sleeplessness. In contrast, the person who has learned how to be content with what he has will be able to sleep well whether he has little or much.
This brings us to the third section from verses 13-17, which teaches that wealth is temporal and cannot be carried out of this world. “There is a sore evil which I have seen under the sun, namely, riches kept for the owners thereof to their hurt.” Notice again the phrase “under the sun,” which speaks of a secular approach to life.
What is this evil that Solomon is referring to? It is the problem of hoarding – riches kept or hoarded to the hurt of the owner. The money is kept and never used, and thus does not bring joy or pleasure in any way. See, the irony of hoarding? The hoarder keeps the wealth away from everyone, including himself!
Then in verse 14, Solomon speaks of another evil, namely, the loss of wealth through some misfortune. The person loses everything and has nothing to pass on to the next generation.
Next, Solomon points to yet another disaster with respect to the enjoyment of one’s riches, and that is, death. Verses 15 and 16, “As he came forth of his mother’s womb, naked shall he return to go as he came, and shall take nothing of his labour, which he may carry away in his hand. And this also is a sore evil, that in all points as he came, so shall he go: and what profit hath he that hath laboured for the wind?”
Even if you don’t lose everything in some financial disaster, still when you die, you cannot take any part of it with you. Nobody leaves the world richer than when he came. Think about that for a moment. You came with nothing and you go with nothing. This is true not just of a poor person but of the richest billionaire in the world. For all the riches that you may possess in this life, once death comes, it’s all over. Verse 17 concludes this third section by telling us that people who love wealth and live for it are like those who eat in darkness and loneliness – a picture of misery…