Eclesiastes 5
Didymus the Blind · Comentário Patrístico (catena)
Eclesiastes 5:9
Regarding the literal interpretation: No one is lord, owner and ruler over a field that lies fallow where thorns and thistles grow; but the field that is well tilled has a king. Thereby the owner is called a king.…When the defenders of the teaching that God's providence rules over everything argue that there is providence, they generally say, Like a weave clearly shows that there is a weaver—whether or not he is seen—in the same way he who sees a well tilled field gets the impression that it has someone who leads and rules over it.… When you, therefore, see a soul that is well tilled, that sows with tears and is ready to reap with shouts of joy, then this tilled field has a king, the Logos, who leads, rules and reigns. — COMMENTARY ON ECCLESIASTES 145:2
Eclesiastes 5:12-13
Of what use is wealth that belongs to someone? He is obviously lord over his wealth. The wealth somebody owns is his amenity and he himself is lord over his wealth. As he himself can use wealth well by being lord over it and not its slave, so also wealth can become lord over him who owns it. Woe to that person. That is the case if he is greedy and becomes a slave of mammon. — COMMENTARY ON ECCLESIASTES 155:11
Eclesiastes 5:12-13
People use their children as an excuse for gathering riches. At times they do injustice, rob and do similar things, saying: "I'm doing this for my children." … I have seen a person who struggled to become rich, but his riches were of no use. He did not enjoy them himself, nor did his son receive them, but he remained poor and in the same state as he had entered the world. After all, he was not born with money or with clothes.…Only the soul's goods can be taken away into heaven.… If he has done good with his money, if he has a good reputation and honor, and if he has tried to help the weak, then he takes with him something of what he has labored for, namely, that he has done good. — COMMENTARY ON ECCLESIASTES 156:15
Eclesiastes 5:19
This is the literal interpretation. If someone has much money, if he has lots of good food and many wines, he still cannot eat and drink all of it. But he doubtless has a gift: whatever he can consume, if he has enough food to satisfy him and enough drink, this is a gift from God. But when someone eats and drinks more than necessary, then it is not a gift from God but a gift from desire.Regarding the spiritual interpretation: God gives wisdom along with the riches and capabilities inherent in wisdom, that is, wisdom's insights, so that people eat and drink from the things they have received: the bread of wisdom, its water, the wine, which he mingled into a cup. This is a gift from God. If one takes the spiritual in the right way, it is, finally, the grace of his lot. — COMMENTARY ON ECCLESIASTES 164:1