Better Than Seeking Riches Is To Seek To Enjoy Walking With God (Ecclesiastes 5:18-20).
Once again he falls back on his idea of a godly man. Here is the one who does find blessing from God. We should note that what is in mind here is life within the covenant. It is the man who receives from God, acknowledges God, loves God and walks in His perceived will who is in mind. Even his food, drink and labour, which are central to his life and that of his family, are gifts from God.
It should be noted in this respect that in Ecclesiastes 5:1-2 worship of God was not being recommended, it was assumed, and the recommendation was as to how to approach it for it to be meaningful and beneficial. So all references to the life of the godly therefore assume this rightful worship of God. The writer is speaking of the full-orbed life of the godly.
‘Behold, what I have seen to be good and beneficial (literally ‘beautiful') is for one to eat and to drink and to enjoy good in all his labour in which he exerts himself under the sun, all the days of his life which God has given him. For this is his allotment. Every man also to whom God has given riches and wealth, and has given him the power to eat of them, and to take his allotment, and to rejoice in his exertions, this is the gift of God. For he will not call to mind the days of his life a great deal, because God answers him in the joy of his heart.'
Once more the Preacher comes back to God as his solution. The sensible view of life is to walk with God on the daily journey, looking constantly to Him. It is to recognise what God has allotted and to be satisfied. We must remember that these would not be seen as platitudes. In those days to the ordinary man God was of great relevance. Thus they would interpret literally and meaningfully what the writer is saying.
What is good and beautiful for a man is to live a simple, ordinary life, to eat and drink without excess, to enjoy his work, and to look to God, accepting both at His hands. If he has been given wealth by God he should accept it joyfully as a gift, and he also should enjoy his food and drink and the work that he does, and look to God. Note the proliferation of the mention of God (four times), a direct contrast with what has gone before when the concentration has been on man. It is only in previous passages about the godly man (Ecclesiastes 2:24-26), the passage on everlastingness and judgment (Ecclesiastes 3:10-18), and the passage on worship (Ecclesiastes 5:1-7) that we otherwise have such constant mentions of God.
He is not here distinguishing between poverty and wealth. The idealistic view in Israel, if not always the reality, was of every man having his own vine and his own fig tree, and his own plot of land (1 Kings 4:25). It was seen as so much a part of essential Israel that it was even the vision presented by the Assyrians when they sought to encourage Jerusalem to surrender (2 Kings 18:31). Thus there would be levels of wealth, which were seen by each as his allotment from God, and with which each would be content.
But each was to look to God, worshipping truly (Ecclesiastes 5:1-2), waiting on God and absorbing His everlastingness (Ecclesiastes 3:11), and receiving the joy which God gives to His own in response to the fact that they are His (Ecclesiastes 5:20). It was a life of trust, and obedience to the covenant that God had made with Israel, with each man acknowledging and loving God with all his heart (Deuteronomy 6:4-6). This assumption lay behind the kind of life the Preacher is describing. For each man's allotment in Israel came from the covenant with God.
‘All the days of his life which God has given him. For this is his allotment --- this is the gift of God.' This very much has in mind man's covenant relationship with God which lay at the root of Israel's beliefs. The godly man looks to God, is faithful to God and receives with thanksgiving what God has given him. He trusts, obeys and enjoys, recognising that even his life has been given to him by God.
‘For he will not call to mind the days of his life a great deal, because God answers him in the joy of his heart.' As a result he is not always looking back with regret, he is not worried about the future, he is not searching for what is meaningful. He will always have the joy of his continual walk with God, with the sense of everlastingness (ever undefined) in his heart.