Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Ecclesiastes 2:12-26
Solomon having found that wisdom and folly agree in being subject to vanity, now contrasts one with the other Ecclesiastes 2:13. Both are brought under vanity by events Ecclesiastes 2:14 which come on the wise man and the feel alike from without - death and oblivion Ecclesiastes 2:16, uncertainty Ecclesiastes 2:19, disappointment Ecclesiastes 2:21 - all happening by an external law beyond human control. Amidst this vanity, the good (see Ecclesiastes 2:10 note) that accrues to man, is the... read more
The Pulpit Commentary - Ecclesiastes 2:20
Therefore I went about to cause my heart to despair ; ἐπέστρεψα ἐγὼ . "I turned" in order to examine more closely. So in Ecclesiastes 2:12 we had, "I turned myself," though the verbs are not the same in the two passages, and in the former the LXX . has ἐπέβλεψα . I turned from my late course of action to give myself up to despair. I lost all hope in labor; it had no longer any charm or future for me. Septuagint, τοῦ ἀποτάξασθαι τὴν καρδίαν μου ἐν παντὶ μόχθῳ μου κ ... read more