Ecclesiastes 2:12

“And I turned myself to behold wisdom, and madness, and folly, etc.] Being disappointed in his pursuit of pleasure, and not finding satisfaction and happiness in that, he turns from it, and reassumes his study of natural wisdom and knowledge, to make a fresh trial, and see whether there might be some things he had overlooked in his former inquiries; and whether upon a revise of what he had looked into he might not find more satisfaction than before; being convinced however that the pursuit of pleasure was less satisfying than the study of wisdom, and therefore relinquished the one for the sake of the other: and in order, if possible, to gain more satisfaction in this point, he determined to…”

“He had tried (worldly) wisdom (Ecc 1:12-18) and folly (foolish pleasure) (Ecc 2:1-11); he now compares them (Ecc 2:12) and finds that while (worldly) wisdom excelleth folly (Ecc 2:13-14), yet the one event, death, befalls both (Ecc 2:14-16), and that thus the wealth acquired by the wise man's "labor" may descend to a "fool" that hath not labored (Ecc 2:18-19, Ecc 2:21); therefore all his labor is vanity (Ecc 2:22-23). what can the man do . . . already done-- (Ecc 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…”

“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 pleasure felt Ecclesiastes 2:24-26 in receiving God’s gifts, and in working with and for them. Ecclesiastes 2:12 What can the man do ... - i. e., “What is any man - in this study of wisdom and folly - after…”

“I turned - Being frustrated of my hopes in pleasure, I returned to a second consideration of my first choice, to see whether there was not more satisfaction to be gotten from wisdom, than I discovered at my first view. Done - As by others, so especially by myself. They can make no new discoveries as to this point. They can make no more of the pleasures of sense than I have done. Let me then try once more, whether wisdom can give happiness. Ecclesiastes 2:13”

“2:12-23 The Teacher now looks at the value of wisdom (2:12-17) and hard work (2:18-23). These, too, are “meaningless” (2:17). 2:12 who can do this better than I, the king? No one after the Teacher will have any better perspective for comparing wisdom and folly because nothing new will be done under the sun (1:9-10).”

“I turned: Ecc 1:17, Ecc 7:25, even that which hath already been done, or, in those things which have been already done, Ecc 2:25 Ecclesiastes 2:13”

“"And I turned myself to examine wisdom, and madness, and folly: for what is the man who could come after the king, him whom they have made so long ago!" Mendelssohn's translation, Ecc 2:12: "I abandoned my design of seeking to connect wisdom with folly and madness," is impossible, because for such a rendering we should have had at least מלּראות instead of לראות. Hitzig, otherwise followed by Stuart: "I turned myself to examine me wisdom, and, lo, it was madness as well as folly." This rendering is impossible also, for in such a case הנּהו ought to have stood as the result, after חכמה. The pasage, Zac 14:6, cited by Hitz., does not prove the possibility of such a brachyology, for there we…”