At this point in his thesis, the Teacher brings up a different evil. While it is similar to his description of the oppressor, even he, the oppressor, may fall victim to the evil work the Teacher is about to unveil. This kind of evil typically concerns the common laborer who errs, seeking the elusive status of financial wealth (Ecclesiastes 5:13). While there is nothing wrong about laying up in store for emergencies, which arise from time to time for everyone, the error some common folk make is to hoard the fruits of their labor. Remembering, that it is the Lord’s gift to man that he enjoys both his labor and the fruits he obtains therein, this present evil deprives the man described by the Teacher of the very gift the Lord had given him to enjoy. Thus, his life is spent completely in vain, whereby he lived without enjoying the life God had given him, and neither is he able to offer anything to his descendants.
The problem with hoarding is, one never really expects to lose what he has laid up. Ordinarily, common folk simply spend what they earn and enjoy living. No one can lose what he has already spent, so spending triggers the gift of enjoying life, which is the Lord’s gift to mankind. What the Teacher unfolds for our inspection is, there are folks who will simply hoard what they earn, laying it up in store, never spending it. They never actually take pleasure in the fruit of their labor.
Such men never really consider the idea that they may lose everything through a bad investment, or through fraud or the act of burglary, thieves may rob what these folks had laid up in store, (Ecclesiastes 5:14). Who knows when a sudden reversal of one’s state of affairs may occur or what the severity of such an occurrence might be? The point Solomon wishes his reader to understand is, the man lost everything, never enjoying the gift the Lord had given him for his personal enjoyment. What a tragedy! This is, indeed, a sore evil (Ecclesiastes 5:13)!
Yet, even, if these folks had lived his entire lives without any sudden disasters to have taken their wealth, no bad investments and no trouble from thieves, still the Teacher unveils a tragic figure for our consideration. All men die, and not even Pharaoh was able to take it with him. All men enter life naked, helpless and without any physical thing to help them in life. It is also true, no matter how much they’ve accumulated through legitimate savings or through foolish hoarding, no one is able to take anything with him when he dies (Ecclesiastes 5:15-16). Thus, the sore tragedy is revealed in that these foolish folks have lived their entire lives in a sickness that prevented them from enjoying what the Lord gave them for their pleasure. They leave it all behind for another, a thief, an heir, a partner, whomsoever, but he who earned it and hoarded it never enjoyed any of it.
Such folks live in darkness, without a plan. They have no goals, except to hoard what they were able to accumulate during the day. They lived their days of illness eating sorrow and anger, truly unhappy folks (Ecclesiastes 5:17). Nevertheless, who was to blame for it all? Who prevented them from enjoying, eating and drinking, that which was good and pleasant during the life God had given them (Ecclesiastes 5:18)? They had no one to blame but themselves!
Such is true also for the man whom the Lord had given wealth. Both his riches and his power were given him to be spent for a purpose, not necessarily for his exclusive use, nor even to bestow upon the poor, but to also provide a way for the poorer classes to labor and enjoy the fruits of working with their own hands (Ecclesiastes 5:19).
Those upon whom the Lord’s favor rests, whether rich or poor, receive his gift with thanksgiving and joy. Life for them is neither monotonous nor exasperating, nor do they dwell upon what they don’t have or what should have been. Neither are they apprehensive of the future. They simply dwell in the moment, enjoying their peace, while embracing how gracious the Lord has been to them (Ecclesiastes 5:20).
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