A time to get (seek), and a time to lose. The verb abad, in piel, is used in the sense of "to destroy" (Ecclesiastes 7:7), and it is only in late Hebrew that it signifies, as here, "to lose." The reference is doubtless to property, and has no connection with the last clause of the preceding verse, as Delitzsch would opine.
There is a proper and lawful pursuit of wealth, and there is a wise and prudent submission to its inevitable loss. The loss here is occasioned by events over which the owner has no control, differing from that in the next clause, which is voluntary.
The wise man knows when to exert his energy in improving his fortune, and when to hold his hand and take failure without useless struggle. Loss, too, is sometimes gain, as when Christ's departure in the flesh was the prelude and the occasion of the sending of the Comforter (John 16:7); and there are many things of which we know not the real value till they are beyond our grasp.
A time to keep, and a time to cast away. Prudence will make fast what it has won, and will endeavor to preserve it unimpaired. But there are occasions when it is wiser to deprive one's self of some things in order to secure more important ends, as when sailors throw a cargo, etc; overboard in order to save their ship (comp.
Jonah 1:5; Acts 27:18, Acts 27:19, Acts 27:38). And in higher matters, such as almsgiving, this maxim holds good: "There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth …. The liberal soul shall be made fat, and he that watereth shall be watered also himself" (Proverbs 11:24, Proverbs 11:25).
Plumptre refers to Christ's so-called paradox," Whosoever would ( ὃς ἂν θέλῃ) save his life shall lose it, and whosoever shall lose his life for my sake shall find it" (Matthew 16:25).