Ecclesiastes 2:14

14 Wise people see where they are going, but fools walk around in the dark. Yet I saw that both wise and foolish people end the same way.

Ecclesiastes 2:14 Meaning and Commentary

Ecclesiastes 2:14

The wise man's eyes [are] in his head
And so are the eyes of every man; but the sense is, he makes use of them, he looks about him, and walks circumspectly; he takes heed to his goings, he foresees the evil, and avoids it; or the danger he is exposed unto, and guards against it. Some understand it, in a more spiritual and evangelical sense, of Christ, who is the head of the body the church, and of every true believer; of everyone that is wise unto salvation, whose eyes are on him alone for righteousness, salvation, and eternal life; or on whom Christ's eyes are; who is said to have seven eyes, with which he guides, guards, and protects his people; but the fool walketh in darkness;
his eyes are to the ends of the earth; he walks incautiously, without any circumspection or guard; he knows not where he is, nor where he is going, nor where he shall set his foot next, nor at what he may stumble; wherefore a wise man is to be preferred to a fool, as wisdom is to folly. The Midrash interprets the wise man of Abraham, and the fool of Nimrod; and I myself perceived also that one event happeneth to them all;
the wise man and the fool; or, "but I myself perceived" F23 though it is allowed that a wise man is better than a fool; yet this also must be owned, which Solomon's experience proved, and every man's does, that the same things befall wise men and fools; they are liable to the same diseases of body, and disasters of life; to poverty and distress, to loss of estate, children, and friends, and to death itself.


FOOTNOTES:

F23 (yteryw) "sed agnovi", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; "sed cognovi", Rambachius; "but I saw", Broughton.

Ecclesiastes 2:14 In-Context

12 Then I began to think again about being wise, and also about being foolish and doing crazy things. But after all, what more can anyone do? He can't do more than what the other king has already done.
13 I saw that being wise is certainly better than being foolish, just as light is better than darkness.
14 Wise people see where they are going, but fools walk around in the dark. Yet I saw that both wise and foolish people end the same way.
15 I thought to myself, "What happens to a fool will happen to me, too, so what is the reward for being wise?" I said to myself, "Being wise is also useless."
16 The wise person and the fool will both die, and no one will remember either one for long. In the future, both will be forgotten.
Scripture taken from the New Century Version. Copyright © 1987, 1988, 1991 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.