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Ecclesiastes 10:19 – Money Is The Answer To Everything
Is this phrase sarcasm or pragmatism? I once heard an entire lecture on this little phrase and the teacher never answered that simple question. He simply taught against money not being the answer to everything. He basically did not even reference Ecclesiastes.
I would like to suggest the author of Ecclesiastes is not being sarcastic, for sarcasms is not part of his literally repertoire – at least not in this book. Instead I believe the Preacher is being very pragmatic. Notice the beginning of the verse: Men prepare a meal for enjoyment. Is there condemnation in this assessment like in v.16? Verse sixteen is not about food, but about priorities – timing and purpose. Verse 17 shows the proper time to eat – Blessed are you, O land, whose king is of nobility and whose princes eat at the appropriate time – for strength and not for drunkenness.
While one prepares food for strength – we eat to live; not live to eat – one also prepares food for pleasure even if we are eating for strength.
Money is a man-made creation. God did not create money. So why did people make money? When we know that obvious answer, we can see that in a very pragmatic sense, money is the answer to everything for we cannot buy food, drink, and other necessities of life without money.
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