The effect of personal covetousness 5:10-12

If a rich man is covetous, all that his increasing wealth will bring him will be the necessity of greater vigilance and more anxiety (cf. 1 Tim. 6:9-10). For example, more wealth in the home may lead to burglar alarm systems and the hassle they bring. "To look on"(v. 11) means having to keep an eye on them.

"How often have we read of an athlete--say, a boxer--whose golden moments found him surrounded by an entourage that gladly shared his wealth, but whose twilight days saw him both broke and abandoned. Wealth can carry its own frustration--that was the Preacher's apt observation."⁵¹