Ecclesiastes 2:18-23

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Ecclesiastes 2:17-26

Business is a thing that wise men have pleasure in. They are in their element when they are in their business, and complain if they be out of business. They may sometimes be tired with their business, but they are not weary of it, nor willing to leave it off. Here therefore one would expect to have found the good that men should do, but Solomon tried this too; after a contemplative life and a voluptuous life, he betook himself to an active life, and found no more satisfaction in it than in the... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Ecclesiastes 2:18

Yea, I hated all my labour which I had taken under the sun ,.... The great works he made, the houses he built; the vineyards, gardens, and orchards he planted, &c.; what he got by his labour, his riches and wealth; and what he also got, not by the labour of his hands, but of his mind. Some understand this of the books he wrote; which were a weariness to his body, and fatigue to his mind; and which he might fear some persons would make an ill use of: Aben Ezra interprets it of his labour... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Ecclesiastes 2:19

And who knoweth whether he shall be a wise man or a fool ?.... The king that should be after him, as the Targum, that should be his successor and heir; and so whether he would make a good or bad use of what was left; whether he would keep and improve it, or squander it away; suggesting, that could he be sure he would be a wise man that should come into his labours, it would be some satisfaction to him that he had laboured, and such a man should have the benefit of it; but as it was a... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Ecclesiastes 2:20

Therefore I went about to cause my heart to despair ,.... Of ever finding happiness in anything here below. He "turned about" F25 וסבותי "versus sum", Montanus; "et ego verti me", Vatablus, Mercerus, Gejerus. , as the word signifies dropped his severe studies of wisdom, and his eager pursuits of pleasure; and desisted from those toilsome works, in which he had employed himself; and went from one thing to another, and settled and stuck at nothing, on purpose to relax his mind, as the... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Ecclesiastes 2:21

For there is a man whose labour is in wisdom, and in knowledge, and in equity ,.... Who does all he does, in natural, civil, and religious things, in the state, in his family, and the world, and whatsoever business he is engaged, in the wisest and best manner, with the utmost honesty and integrity, according to all the rules of wisdom and knowledge, and of justice and equity; meaning himself; the Midrash interprets this of God; yet to a man that hath not laboured therein shall he leave... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Ecclesiastes 2:22

For what hath man of all his labour, and of the vexation of his heart ?.... What profit has he by it, when there is so much vexation in it, both in getting it, and in the thought of leaving it to others? What advantage is it to him, when it is all acquired for and possessed by another; and especially of what use is it to him after his death? Even of all wherein he hath laboured under the sun ? the Targum adds, "in this world"; though he has been labouring all his days, yet there is not... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Ecclesiastes 2:23

For all his days are sorrows, and his travail grief ,.... All his days are full of sorrows, of a variety of them; and all his affairs and transactions of life are attended with grief and trouble; not only the days of old age are evil ones, in which he can take no pleasure; or those times which exceed the common age of man, when he is got to fourscore years or more, and when his strength is labour and sorrow; but even all his days, be they fewer or more, from his youth upward, are all evil... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Ecclesiastes 2:18

I hated all my labor - Because, It has not answered the end for which it was instituted. I can enjoy the fruits of it but a short time. 3. I must leave it to others, and know not whether a wise man, a knave, or a fool will possess it. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Ecclesiastes 2:19

A wise man or a fool? - Alas! Solomon, the wisest of all men, made the worst use of his wisdom, had three hundred wives and seven hundred concubines, and yet left but one son behind him, to possess his estates and his throne, and that one was the silliest of fools! read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Ecclesiastes 2:20

I went about to cause my heart to despair - What makes all worse, there is no remedy. It is impossible in the present state of things to prevent these evils. read more

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