Ecclesiastes 2:23

“For all his days [are] sorrows, and his travail grief, etc.] 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 and full of trouble, (<014709>Genesis 47:9 <181401>Job 14:1); yea, his heart taketh not rest in the night; which is appointed for rest and ease; and when laid down on his bed for it, as the word…”

“The only fruit he has is, not only sorrows in his days, but all his days are sorrows, and his travail (not only has griefs connected with it, but is itself), grief.”

“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…”

“Sorrows - Full of sorrows. Tho' he took great and unwearied pains all his days, yet the toils of his body were accompanied with vexation of mind. His heart - Because his sleep was broken with perplexing cares. Ecclesiastes 2:24”

“all: Gen 47:9; Job 5:7, Job 14:1; Psa 90:7-10, Psa 90:15, Psa 127:2 his heart: Ecc 5:12; Est 6:1; Job 7:13, Job 7:14; Psa 6:6, Psa 6:7, Psa 32:4, Psa 77:2-4; Dan 6:18; Act 14:22 Ecclesiastes 2:24”