Psalm 49:1-2 “Hear this, all you peoples; Give ear, all you inhabitants of the world, Both sons of mankind and sons of man, Rich and poor together.”

The rest of the chapters reads verses like this:
Those who are trusting in their riches And who are boasting in their great wealth
shall leave their wealth to others
Their graves are their houses, forever; Their dwelling places, to all generations; They call their lands after their own names
Do not be afraid when a man becomes rich, When the wealth of his house increases
For when he dies he takes none of it; His wealth does not go down after him.
Man, who is rich, Yet does not understand, Shall be like the beasts, They shall perish

In one of the previous Psalms, 39:6 it said “They busy themselves, only in vain; He heaps up wealth, But knows not who gathers them”, another translation says, “they accumulate riches without knowing who will get them“. Isn’t that so true, we gather and work towards wealth – only to leave it all behind to be used and wasted by others.

This Chapter is not just for the rich, it says in another translation, verse 1-2, “Hear this, all ye people; give ear, all ye inhabitants of the world: Both low and high, rich and poor, together“. The message for the poor : Verse 16, do not be afraid of the rich and when others gather so much. The message for the rich : Verse 20, they obviously do not understand anything, as they will perish and lie in the same piece of ground with the poor.

The Hebrew word for this specific rich or wealthy, is Asir H6223 – ʿāšîr. It is mostly directed at those who think they are better because of their riches. And if one entire Psalm is not enough, wait till you get to Proverbs – this word Asir is everywhere in Proverbs! For example Proverbs 2:22, “The rich H6223 and poor meet together: YHWH is the maker of them all.“

There is nothing wrong with Wealth – as YHWH Himself provides wealth, like He did with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob! He even gave Job double as much back for what he lost. So it is not the wealth that is evil. It is the way the Rich see it, and the way the Poor see it. People look at wealth the wrong way. The sad story of the rich young man that approached Yeshua, who would do anything for YHWH.. except leave his riches. The story is told in Matthew 19:24, Mark 10:25, and Luke 18:25. Yeshua then says, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of YHWH“. Riches can be a trap, and it is so easy to be caught up in it! The bling of the gold and silver is so distracting, that it is hard to focus on the Provider of the riches.

The solution? Be happy, content, peace/Shalom with where you are and what you have.  Do not seek riches. If it comes to you, don’t look at it, always be thankful. When we will get to the end of the book of Ecclesiastes, the final word or thought there is, that the meaning of life is found in fearing YHWH and keeping His commandments, recognizing that all earthly pursuits are ultimately futile and that YHWH will bring every deed into judgment.