Ecclesiastes 6:9 Commentary and Bible Study

Covetousness is a disease rooted in vanity. The simple meaning of the comparison is that it is better for a man to be content with what he already has, with what he can see with his eyes because it is already in front of him and in his possession, than to be hankering after what he does not have and can only reach out for with his desire. The sickness of an uncontrolled desire is most painful. It makes a person incapable of enjoying what they already have and guarantees that they will never find satisfaction. Even if their possessions increase, their desires keep pace with any new acquisitions and even outstrip them leaving him continually unsatisfied. The vanity of this situation should be obvious – it is the wandering of the desire and not the sight of the eyes that Solomon calls vanity. Such a person seems to want to be happy, but he follows a path that ensures he never will be. Is it a pleasant state of mind to be desiring what we do not have? It is acceptable to have desires if desire and the object of desire can at some time in the future be joined. But to shift the desire to something new at the very moment when it is about to be fulfilled is a form of madness. Why should a man deliberately torture himself? To have desires that are never satisfied is not pleasant but painful and frustrating, and yet the person under consideration makes sure his enjoyment of his desires never caches up with his desires. He has substituted desire itself for the obtaining of the object of his desire. He has substituted a lust for increase in place of what should be his goal, the enjoyment of what he gains. In this way the desire wanders, never coming to a rest in one place and so he finds himself chasing the wind.