Theophylact of Ohrid, on Heb 13:5

“Let your manners be without covetousness, contented with such things as you have; for he hath said: I will not leave thee, neither will I forsake thee.”

“He did not say: acquire nothing, but, even if you have possessions, do not be slaves to them, but relate freely to what you have, so as not to grieve if you should ever be deprived of any of your property, as he also said above: "you accepted the plundering of your possessions with joy" (Heb. 10:34). And in general, since many after losing their possessions strive to acquire them again, in view of the necessity of rendering help to others he says: "let your conduct be free from the love of money." Which is why he continues. He shows how one can avoid being lovers of money, namely: if we are content with what we have, if we do not strive to acquire anything beyond what is needed and necessary. For whoever strives to acquire more than is needed is obviously a lover of money. Since as it was likely that some were saying: what then, if we do not even have the necessities? – he answers that this can never be, for God says through the mouth of Isaiah: I will not forsake you (cf. Isa. 43:2) and, of course, does not lie. But since it was likely that these same people from among the Jews were saying: what present things shall we be content with? We have been plundered and nothing is left to us – he says: one can be content even with what remains, however little it may be. For God said: I will not forsake you, that is, I will not allow you to come to that. If the apostle perhaps understood this with reference to material needs, then you should understand it as said also with reference to every matter.”

Imported from an open dataset — not yet checked against the printed edition.