“He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance with increase: this is also vanity.”
My Notes
What Does Ecclesiastes 5:10 Mean?
The Preacher (Qoheleth) makes a timeless observation: the person who loves money will never be satisfied with money. The person who loves abundance will never have enough increase. The hunger grows faster than the income. It's vanity — hebel, vapor, mist, emptiness.
The construction is deliberate: he doesn't say "the person who has silver." He says "the person who loves silver." The problem isn't money. It's the love of it — the attachment, the craving, the belief that more will satisfy. That love is a hole that money falls through without filling.
Paul echoes this in 1 Timothy 6:10: "The love of money is the root of all evil." The Preacher observed it empirically. Paul stated it theologically. Both point to the same reality: desire for wealth is an appetite that feeding only increases.
Reflection Questions
- 1.Is there something in your life that feeding only makes you want more — an appetite that satisfying amplifies?
- 2.What's the difference between needing money and loving it — and which describes your relationship with it?
- 3.Have you experienced the 'moving goal line' — where enough is never enough?
- 4.How do you cultivate contentment in a culture that equates more with better?
Devotional
The person who loves silver will never be satisfied with silver. That's not a warning. It's a diagnosis.
The Preacher has watched wealthy people, and what he's seen is an equation that never balances: more money, more wanting. The appetite for wealth isn't satisfied by wealth. It's amplified by it. Every dollar earned creates a desire for two more. The goal line moves with every step toward it.
This isn't about people who need money. It's about people who love it. The distinction matters. Needing money to survive, to provide, to live with dignity — that's human. Loving money — making it the thing your heart craves, the thing you believe will finally make you feel complete — that's the vanity the Preacher is diagnosing.
And the diagnosis is terminal: shall not be satisfied. Not "probably won't be satisfied" or "might find it empty." Shall not. Ever. The love of money is a thirst that drinking only increases. You can't get enough of what doesn't satisfy.
What are you chasing that has this quality? Not just money — anything that promises satisfaction and delivers hunger instead. The pattern is the same whether the object is wealth, approval, success, or pleasure. If feeding the appetite makes it grow, the appetite is the problem. Not the amount.
The Preacher calls it vanity. Vapor. Because that's what you're grasping at.
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver,.... The tillage of the earth is necessary, a very laudable and…
Solomon had shown the vanity of pleasure, gaiety, and fine works, of honour, power, and royal dignity; and there is many…
He that loveth silver The sequence of thought led the Debater from the evils of the love of money as seen in…
Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture