12 And I turned to see wisdom, and madness, and folly, but what 'is' the man who cometh after the king? that which 'is' already—they have done it! 13 And I saw that there is an advantage to wisdom above folly, like the advantage of the light above the darkness. 14 The wise!—his eyes 'are' in his head, and the fool in darkness is walking, and I also knew that one event happeneth with them all; 15 and I said in my heart, 'As it happeneth with the fool, it happeneth also with me, and why am I then more wise?' And I spake in my heart, that also this 'is' vanity: 16 That there is no remembrance to the wise—with the fool—to the age, for that which 'is' already, 'in' the days that are coming is all forgotten, and how dieth the wise? with the fool!
17 And I have hated life, for sad to me 'is' the work that hath been done under the sun, for the whole 'is' vanity and vexation of spirit.
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.