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Ecclesiastes, part 17, The Folly of Riches

Ecclesiastes 5:10 says,

¹⁰ He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves abundance with its income. This too is vanity.

Koheleth, the Preacher, observed that those who love money are never satisfied. There is a story about J. D. Rockefeller, the multi-millionaire a century ago, who was asked, “How much more money do you need?” He answered, “Just one more million.”

Love of Money

Koheleth does not condemn money itself, but the love of money (greed). The verb “love” signals desire and attachment as a foundational motive. The issue is orientation of the heart, not the size of the wallet. Money becomes destructive when it is treated as a source of fulfillment rather than as a tool. The verse presents a psychological truth: money promises satisfaction but produces appetite. Abundance increases desire rather than ending it; hence, it is self-defeating.

Thus, wealth expands expectation faster than enjoyment. Satisfaction is always deferred to the next acquisition. The love of money only brings growing dissatisfaction.

The Apostle Paul was familiar with this. He wrote in 1 Timothy 6:10 KJV, “the love of money is the root of all evil.”

Finite things cannot satisfy infinite longing. Contentment cannot be purchased True satisfaction lies outside of accumulation.

Ecclesiastes 5:11, 12 says,

¹¹ When good things increase, those who consume them increase. So what is the advantage to their owners except to look on? ¹² The sleep of the working man is pleasant, whether he eats little or much; but the full stomach of the rich man does not allow him to sleep.

Wealth attracts dependents; success multiplies claimants and “friends.” The owner’s role is reduced to being a spectator.

Peace Measured by Rest

Koheleth now shifts from economics to physiology, where sleep becomes the barometer of inner life. Peace is measured not by income, but by rest. The laborer works, eats, and sleeps well; the rich eat much, worry more, and sleeps poorly.

A full stomach is both psychological and physical. The mind is full of unsatisfied greed, just as banquets fill the body and satisfy for a few hours.

Ecclesiastes 5:13-15 says,

¹³ There is a grievous evil which I have seen under the sun: riches being hoarded by their owner to his hurt. ¹⁴ When those riches were lost through a bad investment and he had fathered a son, then there was nothing to support him. ¹⁵ As he had come naked from his mother’s womb, so will he return as he came. He will take nothing from the fruit of his labor that he can carry in his hand.

The danger is neither poverty nor generosity, but hoarding. We must distinguish between hoarding and saving for a comfortable retirement. It is the difference between greed and prudence.

Unknown Risk

Verse 14 is about investments that always come with certain risks. No moral failure is required.
No injustice is implied. Just risk. It is implied that the investor has “a son” and that he invests in order to give him an inheritance. It is tragic when the investment fails, and nothing remains for his heirs.

Birth and Death

Koheleth then returns to creation language reflecting Genesis 3:19,

¹⁹ By the sweat of your face you will eat bread, till you return to the ground, because from it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.

Again, we read Job’s lament in Job 1:21,

²¹ He said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I shall return there. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.”

Seeing this, Koheleth says in Ecclesiastes 5:16,

¹⁶ This also is a grievous evil—exactly as a man is born, thus will he die. So what is the advantage (yitrôn) to him who toils for the wind?

What advantage, or profit, is there when nothing is permanent, one cannot take it with him when he dies, and he has no control over this universal condition?

Ecclesiastes 5:17 concludes,

¹⁷ Throughout his life he also eats in darkness with great vexation, sickness and anger.

The hoarder’s life is characterized by “darkness” — lack of joy and always facing the unknown; “vexation” — continual frustration, “sickness” – mental and physical, and “anger” — resentment toward loss and limitations. Even before death, his wealth has already stolen life.

How to Live Life

Ecclesiastes 5:18-20 says,

¹⁸ Here is what I have seen to be good and fitting: to eat, to drink and enjoy oneself in all one’s labor in which he toils under the sun during the few years of his life which God has given him; for this is his [earthly] reward. ¹⁹ Furthermore, as for every man to whom God has given riches and wealth, He has also empowered him to eat from them and to receive his [earthly] reward and rejoice in his labor; this is the gift of God. ²⁰ For he will not often consider the years of his life, because God keeps him occupied with the gladness of his heart.

Qoheleth describes his “good and fitting” resolution to the dilemma brought about by mortality. Enjoyment is real but limited to “few years” that are explicitly given by God This is not hedonism. It is sober acceptance of limits. The key word “reward” here does not mean profit (yitrôn). It means “a portion, a share, a daily allotment.”

Qoheleth abandons the search for lasting surplus and embraces present sufficiency. Life is not lengthened—but it is lightened. God gives wealth, and God also gives the ability to enjoy it. These are not the same gift.

Enjoyment is therefore not automatic, not earned, and not controllable. It is God’s gift. Those who embrace life with an understanding of God’s sovereignty, “will not often consider the years of his life…” This does not mean denial of mortality. It means anxiety is quieted, obsession with time is softened, and the burden of calculation is lifted. Hence, the Apostle Paul advises us in Philippians 4:6, “Be anxious for nothing.”

The reason is that God keeps His people occupied with the gladness of his heart. Those who are absorbed by their relationship with God need not fret.

Ecclesiastes 5:18–20 offers a restrained resolution to Koheleth’s critique of wealth by affirming simple enjoyment of life as God’s gift rather than human achievement. After exposing the anxiety, loss, and futility produced by hoarded riches, Koheleth commends a posture of grateful reception—eating, drinking, working, and rejoicing within the limits God has assigned. Crucially, the ability to enjoy wealth is distinguished from wealth itself and identified as divine grace. This God-given gladness quiets obsessive anxiety about time and mortality, not by denying life’s brevity, but by filling it with present joy.