Commentaries:
Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown
He had tried (worldly) wisdom (Ecclesiastes 1:12-18) and folly (foolish pleasure) (Ecclesiastes 2:1-11); he now compares them (Ecclesiastes 2:12) and finds that while (worldly)
wisdom excelleth folly (Ecclesiastes 2:13-14), yet the one event, death, befalls both (Ecclesiastes 2:14-16), and that thus the wealth acquired by the wise man's "labor" may descend to a "fool" that hath not labored (Ecclesiastes 2:18-19, Ecclesiastes 2:21); therefore all his labor is vanity (Ecclesiastes 2:22-23).
what can the man do . . . already done— (Ecclesiastes 1:9). Parenthetical. A future investigator can strike nothing out "new," so as to draw a different conclusion from what I draw by comparing "wisdom and madness." HOLDEN, with less ellipsis, translates, "What, O man, shall come after the king?" etc. Better, GROTIUS, "What man can come after (compete with) the king in the things which are done?" None ever can have the same means of testing what all earthly things can do towards satisfying the soul; namely, worldly wisdom, science, riches, power, longevity, all combined.
Other Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown entries containing Ecclesiastes 2:12:
Ecclesiastes 1:13
Ecclesiastes 1:17
Ecclesiastes 2:12
Ecclesiastes 7:25
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