Riches Kept for the Owners - Ecclesiastes 5:13

In the book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon said, “The sleep of a laboring man is sweet, whether he eat little or much: but the abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleep”, and in chapter five and verse thirteen of his book Solomon shared about, “riches kept for the owners thereof to their hurt” where we read,

There is a sore evil which I have seen under the sun, 

namely, riches kept for the owners thereof to their hurt.

The verse reads, “There is a sore evil which I have seen under the sun, …” Solomon began with the words, “there is a sore evil” or “there exists a grievous, sickening and painful bad, malignancy, injury, distress, adversity and misery” “which I have seen” which means “that I, Solomon, have perceived, noticed, discerned and observed” “under the sun” or “beneath the sun in the sky”. Solomon began to share about a grievous malignancy and distress that he observed beneath the sun in the sky. 

The verse goes on to say, “… namely, riches kept for the owners thereof to their hurt.” Solomon continued with the word, “namely” or “specifically”, “riches kept for the owners thereof” which means “wealth and abundance guarded, observed, taken charge over and protected on behalf of the lords and masters of the riches” “to their hurt” or “to their, the owners of the riches’, bad, unhappiness and sadness”. Solomon specifically referred to wealth that is guarded and protected which causes unhappiness and sadness to the people who master over them.

When we meditate upon the words in this verse, we learn through Solomon how he observed a grievous distress and misery beneath the sun when wealth is guarded and protected over for the master of them to the degree that it harms them and makes them unhappy. God wants us to know the difference between temporary and eternal things. When He sent His Son Jesus into the world to die on the cross for the sins of all mankind and raised Him from the dead after three days, He made the way through belief and trust in Him as our personal “Savior and Lord” to be forgiven of our sins, granted everlasting life and equipped with His Holy Spirit so “riches” and wealth will never cause us unhappiness, distress and misery upon the earth. 

Next time Solomon says, “those riches perish by evil travail”, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.

Until tomorrow…there is more…

See more devotionals on the website "thewordfortodaywithray.com" or look for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be Married”, “One Year in the Sermon on the Mount” and the new poetry book "Random Mushrooms Volumes I and II" and the new novel "Elizabeth County" in all major bookstore sites, http://www.amazon.com ; http://www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore. All references are from "Strongs Concordance".