Perplexities of Life: Wealth and Unequality Ecclesiastes 5:8-6:9

Book of Ecclesiastes: 1. Genre – Wisdom Literature 2. Key Message 3. Read in Context

הָ֫בֶל= “hevel”

Do you see a man skilled in his work Do you see a man skilled in his work? He will stand before kings; He will not stand before obscure men. - Prov 22:9 What does a man gain from all of the work that he undertakes on earth? - Eccle 1:3

Money Answers Everything (!) - Eccle 10:19c

5:1-7 For when dreams increase and words grow many, there is vanity; but God is the one you must fear. - Ecclesiastes 5:7 ESV

Knowing, then, how widely the divine nature differs from our own, let us quietly remain within our proper limits. For it is both safer and more reverent to believe the majesty of God to be greater than we can understand, than, after circumscribing his glory by our misconceptions, to suppose there is nothing beyond our conception of it. - Gregory of Nyssa (335-394 AD)

Wealth and Social Inequality 5:8-6:8

If you see in a province the oppression of the poor and the violation of justice and righteousness, do not be amazed at the matter, for the high official is watched by a higher, and there are yet higher ones over them. But this is gain for a land in every way: a king committed to cultivated fields. Ecclesiastes 5:8–9 ESV

1. Desire for wealth is insatiable He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income; this also is vanity.  Eccle 5:10 ohev kesef lo yisba kesef

For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs. 1 Timothy 6:10 ESV

Ecclesiastes 5:11 2. The Wealthy can be a mere spectator When goods increase, they increase who eat them, and what advantage has their owner but to see them with his eyes? Ecclesiastes 5:11 ESV

3. The rich cannot sleep: Sweet is the sleep of a laborer, whether he eats little or much, but the full stomach of the rich will not let him sleep. Ecclesiastes 5:12 ESV

“In a country of sharp contrast, no one can sleep “In a country of sharp contrast, no one can sleep. The poor - the majority - do not sleep because they are hungry, and the rich do not sleep because they know it.” When the horizons close, Tamez

“Food can prevent sleep due either to its lack or its excess; but those who lack food at least get some sleep due to fatigue stemming from labor.” - John Chrysostom

4. You can’t take it with you (v13-17) There is a grievous evil that I have seen under the sun: riches were kept by their owner to his hurt, and those riches were lost in a bad venture. And he is father of a son, but he has nothing in his hand. As he came from his mother’s womb he shall go again, naked as he came, and shall take nothing for his toil that he may carry away in his hand. Ecclesiastes 5:13–15 ESV

As he came from his mother’s womb he shall go again, naked as he came, and shall take nothing for his toil that he may carry away in his hand. Eccle 5:15 And he said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” Job 1:21 ESV

for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. 1 Timothy 6:7 ESV

There is an evil that I have seen under the sun, and it lies heavy on mankind: a man to whom God gives wealth, possessions, and honor, so that he lacks nothing of all that he desires, yet God does not give him power to enjoy them, but a stranger enjoys them. This is vanity; it is a grievous evil. Ecclesiastes 6:1-2 ESV

Do not love the world or the things in the world Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. 1 John 2:15–16 ESV

Behold, what I have seen to be good and fitting is to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days of his life that God has given him, for this is his lot. Everyone also to whom God has given wealth and possessions and power to enjoy them, and to accept his lot and rejoice in his toil—this is the gift of God. For he will not much remember the days of his life because God keeps him occupied with joy in his heart. Ecclesiastes 5:18–20 ESV

As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life. 1 Timothy 6:17–19 ESV

“. but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness “..but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!” Matthew 6:23 (context – laying up treasures in heaven)\ A Hebraism, an idiom= “eye is bad” - Being a Miser

A stingy man hastens after wealth and does not know that poverty will come upon him. Proverbs 28:22

“Genuine enjoyment comes only from God, putting worldly desires in the proper context, namely that they are always passing away. The goods are not evil, but they are only provisional means for grateful enjoyment of God, so that they quickly pass away... To use the language of the epigraph, people therefore need to understand consecrated rather than unconsecrated relish.” Treier, D. J. (2011). Proverbs & Ecclesiastes (p. 178). Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos Press.

13 The end of the matter; all has been heard 13 The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. Ecclesiastes 12:13