Komentarz do Koheleta 5:8

The profit of the earth is desired by all. And the loftiness of the earth’s dwellers, who are haughty and provoke the Omnipresent; “is desired by all,” in everything, he performs His mission to punish them, even through gnats, as He did to Titus.¹¹See Maseches Gittin 56b for details of Titus’ punishment. When God created His world, He did not create a single thing without a purpose, according to the Gemara in Maseches Shabbos 77b.

“The advantage of land is in every way, a king is subservient to a field. One who loves silver will not be satisfied with silver, nor one who loves abundance with produce; this too is vanity” (Ecclesiastes 5:8–9).
“The advantage of land is in every way” – Rabbi Yehuda says: Even matters that you consider superfluous in the world are [an important] part of the existence of the world, like fiber to make rope, a thorn bush to fence a garden; they are [an important] part of the existence of the world.
“A king is subservient to a field” – even a king who reigns from one end of the world to the other end, “he is subservient to a field” – he asks and says: Has the field produced? Has the field not produced? Therefore, “one who loves silver will not be satisfied with silver, nor one who loves abundance with produce,” as anyone who avidly pursues riches, but does not have land, what benefit does he have?
Rabbi Yishmael ben Rabbi Yosei and Rabbi Ḥanin say: It is written: “Everyone who grasps an oar will disembark from their ships; sailors and all navigators of the sea will stand upon the land” (Ezekiel 27:29). Do we not know that it is land on which they stand? Rather, if the ship of one of them sinks and he has land ashore, it supports him.³⁴If one’s livelihood is only from trade, he can easily lose everything if his ship goes down at sea. If he owns land, he can plant crops and be sustained in a less risky manner. If he has no land, there is no greater vanity.

The king himself is subject to the soil. The Holy One, Blessed Is He, became subservient to Tzion to demand from her destroyers for [their] mistreatment [of Tzion], and to reward her builders.