Ecclesiastes 2:12-17

¹⁵ So I said in my heart, “As it happens to the fool, it also happens to me, and why was I then more wise?” Then I said in my heart, “This also is vanity.”

¹⁶ For there is no more remembrance of the wise than of the fool forever, since all that now is will be forgotten in the days to come. and how does a wise man die? As the fool!

¹⁷ Therefore I hated life because the work that was done under the sun was distressing to me, for all is vanity and grasping for the wind.

I turned (v.12) — Implies a deeper study

The question (v.12) “what can the man do” etc. means no one could, or can, possibly compete with King Solomon in determining the vanity of things under the sun, for no one ever was, or will be, as efficiently equipped as he was for this experiment. — Williams, page 440.

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Verse 12b is saying that if a man comes after Solomon and decides to do the same study of wisdom and folly, what can that man do except what Solomon has already done? (And he would come to the same conclusion.) — Grace, page 1169.

darkness (v.14) — symbolizing evil and foolishness

It is certain that wisdom is relatively superior to folly; for the wise man makes a better job of life than the fool. But this relative is cancelled out by the absolute of death, a fact which seriously challenges the worth of wisdom. There is a paradox about wisdom; wisdom means looking forward. While the fool, like the grasshopper, lives for the moment, the wise man, like the ant, dips into the future; he takes his bearings from tomorrow, and endeavors to plot his course accordingly (v.14). Yet this wisdom is most hazardous; for it is not in our power to foresee, still less to control, the future. — Guthrie, page 572.

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Although wisdom is certainly preferable to folly, the pursuers of both are subject to a common lot. One event unites all. The Preacher suffers from no illusion about life under the sun, and he does not seek to soften perplexing issues. Death brings about the extinction of every project and robs every man of the enjoyment of dignity. The fool and the wise man die alike. “Therefore I hated life.” — KJV Commentary, page 739.

In Proverbs (5:5-8), Solomon encouraged his readers to seek wisdom. He wasn’t saying, in Ecclesiastes 2, that wisdom has no value—only that wisdom, by itself doesn’t give life meaning.

Both the wise and the foolish are soon forgotten (v.16).

Life was a burden and to be hated because both wise and fool share the same fate. — Grace, page 1169.