Ecclesiastes 2:17

“Therefore I hated life, etc.] Not strictly and simply understood, since life is the gift of God; and a great blessing it is, more than raiment, and so dear to a man, that he will give all he has for it: but comparatively, in comparison of the lovingkindness of God, which is better than life; or in comparison of eternal life, which a good man desires to depart from this world, for the sake of enjoying it. The sense seems to be this, that since the case of wise men and fools was equal, he had the less love for life, the less regard to it, the less desire to continue in it; no solid happiness being to be enjoyed in anything under the sun: though some think that he was even weary of life,…”

“Disappointed in one experiment after another, he is weary of life. The backslider ought to have rather reasoned as the prodigal (Hos 2:6-7; Luk 15:17-18). grievous unto me-- (Job 10:1).”

“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…”

“Life - My life was a burden to me. Is grievous - All human designs and works are so far from yielding me satisfaction, that the consideration of them increases my discontent. Ecclesiastes 2:18”

“2:17-20 The Teacher came to hate life because of its griefs (1:18), toils (2:18), and apparent futility (2:19-20).”

“I hated: Num 11:15; Kg1 19:4; Job 3:20-22, Job 7:15, Job 7:16, Job 14:13; Jer 20:14-18; Jon 4:3, Jon 4:8; Phi 1:23-25 work: Ecc 1:14, Ecc 3:16; Eze 3:14; Hab 1:3 for: Ecc 2:11, Ecc 2:22, Ecc 6:9; Psa 89:47 Ecclesiastes 2:18”

“"The life became hateful to me; for the work which man accomplsihes under the sun was grievous to me: because all is vain and windy effort." He hated life; and the labour which is done under the sun, i.e., the efforts of men, including the fate that befalls men, appeared to him to be evil (repugnant). The lxx translate: πονηρὸν επ ̓ ἐμέ; the Venet.: κακὸν ἐπ ̓ ἐμοί; and thus Hitzig: as a woeful burden lying on me. But עלי רע is to be understood after tov al, Est 3:9, etc., cf. Psa 16:6, and as synon. with בּעיני or לפני (cf. Dan. 3:32), according to which Symmachus: κακὸν γάρ μοι ἐφάνη. This al belongs to the more modern usus loq., cf. Ewald, 217i. The end of the song was also…”