The sleep of the worker is sweet, whether he eats little or much, but the abundance of the rich man permits him no sleep.
Solomon had shown the vanity of pleasure, gaiety, and fine works, of honour, power, and royal dignity; and there is many a covetous worldling that will agree with him, and speak as slightly as he does of these things; but money, he thinks, is a substantial thing, and if he can but have enough of that he is happy.
Commenting on Ecclesiastes 5:9-17
The sleep of a labouring man is sweet, whether he eat little or much,.... Or "of a servant" (i), who enjoys sleep equally as a king; a tiller of the ground, as Jarchi; who also interprets it of one that serves the Lord, as likewise the Targum; a beloved one of his, to whom he gives sleep, Psa 127:2.
Another argument against anxiety to gain riches. "Sleep . . . sweet" answers to "quietness" (Ecc 4:6); "not suffer . . . sleep," to "vexation of spirit." Fears for his wealth, and an overloaded stomach without "laboring" (compare Ecc 4:5), will not suffer the rich oppressor to sleep.