Ecclesiastes 2:17

17 So I hated life because the work done under the sun [is] grievous to me. For everything [is] vanity and chasing wind!

Ecclesiastes 2:17 Meaning and Commentary

Ecclesiastes 2:17

Therefore I hated life
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, impatient of it, as Job, Jonah, and others have been. The Targum is,

``I hate all evil life:''

Alshech interprets it of the good things of this world, which were the cause of hurt unto him; and Aben Ezra understands, by life, living persons; because the work that is wrought under the sun [is] grievous unto me;
which was either wrought by himself; particularly his hard studies, and eager pursuits after knowledge and wisdom, which were a weariness to his flesh; or which were done by others, especially evil ones: so the Targum,

``for evil to me is an evil work, which is done by the children of men under the sun in this world;''

for all [is] vanity and vexation of spirit; (See Gill on Ecclesiastes 1:14).

Ecclesiastes 2:17 In-Context

15 So I said {to myself}, "{If I also suffer the same fate as the fool}, {what advantage is my great wisdom}?" So I said {to myself}, "This also [is] vanity!"

16 Certainly no one will remember the wise man or the fool in {future generations}. When [future] days come, both will have been forgotten already. How [is it that] the wise man dies the same as the fool?

17 So I hated life because the work done under the sun [is] grievous to me. For everything [is] vanity and chasing wind!

18 So I hated all my toil with which I have toiled under the sun, for I must leave it behind to someone who will be after me.

19 And who knows [whether] he will be wise or foolish? Yet he will exercise control of all [the fruit of] my toil with which I toiled wisely under the sun. This also [is] vanity!