8 Don’t be surprised if you see a poor person being oppressed by the powerful and if justice is being miscarried throughout the land. For every official is under orders from higher up, and matters of justice get lost in red tape and bureaucracy. 9 Even the king milks the land for his own profit!
10 Those who love money will never have enough. How meaningless to think that wealth brings true happiness! 11 The more you have, the more people come to help you spend it. So what good is wealth—except perhaps to watch it slip through your fingers!
12 People who work hard sleep well, whether they eat little or much. But the rich seldom get a good night’s sleep.
13 There is another serious problem I have seen under the sun. Hoarding riches harms the saver. 14 Money is put into risky investments that turn sour, and everything is lost. In the end, there is nothing left to pass on to one’s children. 15 We all come to the end of our lives as naked and empty-handed as on the day we were born. We can’t take our riches with us.
16 And this, too, is a very serious problem. People leave this world no better off than when they came. All their hard work is for nothing—like working for the wind. 17 Throughout their lives, they live under a cloud—frustrated, discouraged, and angry.
18 Even so, I have noticed one thing, at least, that is good. It is good for people to eat, drink, and enjoy their work under the sun during the short life God has given them, and to accept their lot in life. 19 And it is a good thing to receive wealth from God and the good health to enjoy it. To enjoy your work and accept your lot in life—this is indeed a gift from God. 20 God keeps such people so busy enjoying life that they take no time to brood over the past.
The preacher returns to money and specifically the broken promise of wealth. The promise of the world is that money will buy happiness. The world, or living under the sun, as the preacher says, is unable to deliver the promise it makes.
He makes some keen observations:
- Those who love money will never have enough.
- Hoarding riches harms the saver.
- We all come to the end of our lives naked and empty-handed like the day we were born.
- Life is to be enjoyed and to leave the world a better place than how you received it.
- True wealth comes from God.
Money can't buy love. It can't by the love of God or the love of people. If anybody knows this it is Solomon. Resources are necessary to live. Resources are a poor thing to live for, because in the end they disappoint.
No comments:
Post a Comment