12 “The sleep of a labouring man is sweet, whether he eat little or much: but the abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleep”.
This thought is connected to the last verse, one can be consumed by great possessions but the sleep of a laboring man (though his possession be great or small) is sweet; this is something Solomon envied because he did not sleep the sleep of a hardworking righteous man. He was a hard working and ambitious man but it was to build for himself a name, that makes the labor empty. It is more likely the widow who offered her two mites out of her poverty had far more peace and joy in her life and slept better than Solomon with all his wealth and cavalcade. His sleep was interrupted by worries and woes that were a product of his great love for his wealth and position. The pursuit of things does not bring the peace and satisfaction that one imagines it will, the man who is upright and ekes out an existence by the sweat of his brow, who at times has very little, while at other times has much can rejoice with great peace in his heart because he is free from covetousness and idolatry.
13 “There is a sore evil which I have seen under the sun, namely, riches kept for the owners thereof to their hurt”.
It is unfortunate but in many cases once man acquires great wealth it ends up being to his destruction, it can produce covetousness. When a man is poor and he has very little resources then he is generally free from the vices and entanglements of wealth (although there are exceptions to this rule for the moment we will generally accept it is so), he lives his life incapable of indulging in extravagant affairs. But once a man can do whatsoever his heart imagines he begins to indulge his lusts and very quickly vice has a strangle hold on him. Also, as is the case of Solomon his wealth became an idol to him and he had no peace because he spent all his time worrying about his treasures. What is the point? God does not bless mankind just to make him rich; Gods blessings are to be used to make others rich. Job said he used his influence and resources to set those who had no one to help them free, this is the pattern for the church. “When the ear heard me, then it blessed me; and when the eye saw me, it gave witness to me: Because I delivered the poor that cried, and the fatherless, and him that had none to help him. The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me: and I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy. I put on righteousness, and it clothed me: my judgment was as a robe and a diadem. I was eyes to the blind, and feet was I to the lame. I was a father to the poor: and the cause which I knew not I searched out. And I brake the jaws of the wicked, and plucked the spoil out of his teeth”. Job 29:11-17
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