Ecclesiastes 2:22

“For what hath man of all his labour, and of the vexation of his heart? etc.] 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 one thing he has got by his labour that is of any real advantage to him, or can yield him any solid comfort and satisfaction, or bring him true happiness, or lead him to it.”

“Same sentiment as in Ecc 2:21, interrogatively.”

“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…”

“For what - What comfort or benefit remains to any man after this short and frail life is once ended? Ecclesiastes 2:23”

“hath man: Ecc 1:3, Ecc 3:9, Ecc 5:10, Ecc 5:11, Ecc 5:17, Ecc 6:7, Ecc 6:8, Ecc 8:15; Pro 16:26; Ti1 6:8 and of the: Ecc 4:6, Ecc 4:8; Psa 127:2; Mat 6:11, Mat 6:25, Mat 6:34, Mat 16:26; Luk 12:22, Luk 12:29; Phi 4:6; Pe1 5:7 Ecclesiastes 2:23”

“"For what has man of all his labour, and the endeavours of his heart with which he wearies himself under the sun? All his days are certainly in sorrows, and his activity in grief; his heart resteth not even in the night: also this is vain." The question literally is: What is (comes forth, results) to a man from all his labour; for "to become, to be, to fall to, happen to," is the fundamental idea of הוה (whence here הוה, γινόμενον, as at Neh 6:6, γενεεσόμενος) or היה, the root signification of which is deorsum ferri, cadere, and then accidere, fieri, whence הוּה, eagerness precipitating itself upon anything (vid., under Pro 10:3), or object.: fall, catastrophe, destruction. Instead of…”