10 Whoso is loving silver is not satisfied `with' silver, nor he who is in love with stores `with' increase. Even this `is' vanity.
for a root of all the evils is the love of money, which certain longing for did go astray from the faith, and themselves did pierce through with many sorrows;
`None is able to serve two lords, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will hold to the one, and despise the other; ye are not able to serve God and Mammon.
There is one, and there is not a second; even son or brother he hath not, and there is no end to all his labour! His eye also is not satisfied with riches, and `he saith not', `For whom am I labouring and bereaving my soul of good?' This also is vanity, it is a sad travail.
And he said unto them, `Observe, and beware of the covetousness, because not in the abundance of one's goods is his life.'
and I have looked on all my works that my hands have done, and on the labour that I have laboured to do, and lo, the whole `is' vanity and vexation of spirit, and there is no advantage under the sun!
there is no end to all the people, to all who were before them; also, the latter rejoice not in him. Surely this also is vanity and vexation of spirit.
And also, because the wine `is' treacherous, A man is haughty, and remaineth not at home, Who hath enlarged as sheol his soul, And is as death that is not satisfied, And doth gather unto itself all the nations, And doth assemble unto itself all the peoples, Do not these -- all of them -- against him a simile taken up, And a moral of acute sayings for him, And say, Wo `to' him who is multiplying `what is' not his? Till when also is he multiplying to himself heavy pledges? Do not thy usurers instantly rise up, And those shaking thee awake up, And thou hast been for a spoil to them?
And I have seen all the labour, and all the benefit of the work, because for it a man is the envy of his neighbour. Even this `is' vanity and vexation of spirit.
For an event `is to' the sons of man, and an event `is to' the beasts, even one event `is' to them; as the death of this, so `is' the death of that; and one spirit `is' to all, and the advantage of man above the beast is nothing, for the whole `is' vanity.
And I have hated life, for sad to me `is' the work that hath been done under the sun, for the whole `is' vanity and vexation of spirit. And I have hated all my labour that I labour at under the sun, because I leave it to a man who is after me.
And I give my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly: I have known that even this `is' vexation of spirit;
Trust not in oppression, And in robbery become not vain, Wealth -- when it increaseth -- set not the heart.
`Lo, the man who maketh not God his strong place, And trusteth in the abundance of his riches, He is strong in his mischiefs.'
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Ecclesiastes 5
Commentary on Ecclesiastes 5 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 5
Solomon, in this chapter, discourses,
So that if we can but learn out of this chapter how to manage the business of religion, and the business of this world (which two take up most of our time), so that both may turn to a good account, and neither our sabbath days nor our week-days may be lost, we shall have reason to say, We have learned two good lessons.
Ecc 5:1-3
Solomon's design, in driving us off from the world, by showing us its vanity, is to drive us to God and to our duty, that we may not walk in the way of the world, but by religious rules, nor depend upon the wealth of the world, but on religious advantages; and therefore,
Ecc 5:4-8
Four things we are exhorted to in these verses:-
Ecc 5:9-17
Solomon had shown the vanity of pleasure, gaiety, and fine works, of honour, power, and royal dignity; and there is many a covetous worldling that will agree with him, and speak as slightly as he does of these things; but money, he thinks, is a substantial thing, and if he can but have enough of that he is happy. This is the mistake which Solomon attacks, and attempts to rectify, in these verses; he shows that there is as much vanity in great riches, and the lust of the eye about them, as there is in the lusts of the flesh and the pride of life, and a man can make himself no more happy by hoarding an estate than by spending it.
Ecc 5:18-20
Solomon, from the vanity of riches hoarded up, here infers that the best course we can take is to use well what we have, to serve God with it, to do good with it, and take the comfort of it to ourselves and our families; this he had pressed before, ch. 2:24; 3:22. Observe,