Ecclesiastes 6 · a question people ask
Why would God give a man riches and not the power to enjoy them?
The chapter doesn't say. It tells only what the Preacher saw: "a man to whom God gives riches, wealth, and honor, so that he lacks nothing for his soul of all that he desires, yet God gives him no power to eat of it, but an alien eats it" (6:2). It names no sin of the man's and gives no reason, and it doesn't say who the alien is. The Preacher calls it "vanity, and it is an evil disease" (6:2), and says of it, "it is heavy on men" (6:1). In another place he does give a reason in a different case, "but to the sinner he gives travail, to gather and to heap up, that he may give to him who pleases God" (2:26), but 6:2 doesn't call its man a sinner, and these notes don't read 2:26 into it. What the book does say more than once is that being able to enjoy what is given is itself from God: "This also I saw, that it is from the hand of God" (2:24), and "has given him power to eat of it … this is the gift of God" (5:19).
The verses
“There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it is heavy on men: a man to whom God gives riches, wealth, and honor, so that he lacks nothing for his soul of all that he desires, yet God gives him no power to eat of it, but an alien eats it. This is vanity, and it is an evil disease.”
“There is nothing better for a man than that he should eat and drink, and make his soul enjoy good in his labor. This also I saw, that it is from the hand of God.”
“For to the man who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy; but to the sinner he gives travail, to gather and to heap up, that he may give to him who pleases God. This also is vanity and a chasing after wind.”
“Every man also to whom God has given riches and wealth, and has given him power to eat of it, and to take his portion, and to rejoice in his labor—this is the gift of God.”