Ecclesiastes 5:9-20 ; Ecclesiastes 6:1-9
I. In all grades of society human subsistence is very much the same. Even princes are not fed with ambrosia, nor do poets subsist on asphodel. The profit of the earth is for all.
II. When a man begins to amass money, he begins to feed an appetite which nothing can appease, and which its proper food will only render fiercer. Therefore happy they who have never got enough to awaken the accumulating passion!
III. It is another consideration which should reconcile us to the want of wealth that as abundance grows, so grow the consumers, and of riches less perishable the proprietor enjoys no more than the mere spectator.
IV. Among the pleasures of obscurity, the next noticed is sound slumber. If the poor could get a taste of opulence, it would reveal to them strange luxuries in lowliness.
V. Wealth is often the ruin of its possessor. It is "kept for the owner to his hurt."
VI. Last of all are the infirmity and fretfulness which are the frequent companions of wealth.
VII. Whether your possessions be, great or small, think only of the joys at God's right hand as your eternal treasure. Lead a life disentangled and expedite, setting your affections on things above and never so clinging to the things temporal as to lose the things eternal. The true disciple will value wealth chiefly as he can spend it on objects dear to his dear Lord.
J. Hamilton, The Royal Preacher,Lecture XI.
References: 5:10-6:12. T. C. Finlayson, A Practical Exposition of Ecclesiastes, p. 137. Ecclesiastes 5:13-20. R. Buchanan, Ecclesiastes: its Meaning and Lessons, p. 191.Ecclesiastes 5:14-17. J. Bennet, The Wisdom of the King, p. 310. Ecclesiastes 6:2. J. N. Norton, The King's Ferry Boat, p. 66.