“There is a grievous evil that I have seen under the sun: Wealth protected for its owner to his detriment” (Ecclesiastes 5:12). “There is a grievous evil that I have seen under the sun”: “there is a grievous evil” – is there a grievous evil and a good evil? What, then, is a grievous evil? It is, for example, gout, poverty, debilitation, nakedness, and hunger.
“Wealth protected for its owner to his detriment” – Rabbi Yehoshua says: This is Koraḥ. Rabbi Shmuel said: This is Navot the Yizre’elite. Rabbi Yehuda said: This is Haman. Rabbi Yitzḥak said: These are the Reubenites and the Gadites.
The Rabbis say: This is Job, who was rich, became poor, and was restored to what he had been. Rabbi Gamliel ben Rabbi Ḥanina asked before Rabbi Mona, he said: ‘What is this that is written: “Wealth protected for its owner to his detriment”?’ He said to him: ‘The only benefit of the matter is regarding his punishment; when a punishment of the kingdom is imposed upon him, he will give what he will give.’72The only benefit of wealth is that if the government imposes a fine upon him he will be able to pay it.