12 So I turned to consider wisdom , madness and folly ; for what will the man do who will come after the king except what has already been done ? 13 And I saw that wisdom excels folly as light excels darkness . 14 The wise man's eyes are in his head , but the fool walks in darkness . And yet I know that one fate befalls them both . 15 Then I said to myself , " As is the fate of the fool , it will also befall me. Why then have I been extremely wise ?" So I said to myself , "This too is vanity ." 16 For there is no lasting remembrance of the wise man as with the fool , inasmuch as in the coming days all will be forgotten . And how the wise man and the fool alike die !
17 So I hated life , for the work which had been done under the sun was grievous to me; because everything is futility and striving after wind .
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Ecclesiastes 2:12-17
Commentary on Ecclesiastes 2:12-17
(Read Ecclesiastes 2:12-17)
Solomon found that knowledge and prudence were preferable to ignorance and folly, though human wisdom and knowledge will not make a man happy. The most learned of men, who dies a stranger to Christ Jesus, will perish equally with the most ignorant; and what good can commendations on earth do to the body in the grave, or the soul in hell? And the spirits of just men made perfect cannot want them. So that if this were all, we might be led to hate our life, as it is all vanity and vexation of spirit.