Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ecclesiastes 2:16
For [there is] no remembrance of the wise more than of the fool forever; seeing that which now [is] in the days to come shall all be forgotten. And how dieth the wise [man]? as the fool.
16. there is no remembrance of the wise ] More accurately, For the wise man as for the fool there is no remembrance for ever, the last two words being emphatic, almost as if intentionally calling in question the teaching of Psa 112:6, that “the righteous shall be had in everlasting remembrance.” The assertion seems at first too sweeping. There are sages, we say, who live yet in the memory of men whose names the world will not willingly let die. Practically, however, as regards the influence of the desire for posthumous fame as a motive, the number of such names is inappreciably small, even with the manifold resources of monuments and written records. The scribes and doctors, the artists and the poets of one age are forgotten in the next, and only here or there can any man be bold to say with Bacon that he commits his memory “to the care of future ages.” (See note on ch. Ecc 1:11.) Even a biographical dictionary is often but as the sepulchre of the mouldering remains of reputations that have been long since dead, and their place knoweth them no more. Then, as in later days, there were those who substituted the permanence of fame for that of personal being, and the Debater, with his incisive question shatters the unsubstantial fabric.
And how dieth the wise man? As the fool ] Literally, “ with the fool,” as if in partnership with him, sharing the same lot. Better, perhaps, as an exclamation, not a question, “ How dieth the wise man with (= as) the fool. The absence of any hope of an immortality beyond that of fame has been already implied. The present clause brings before us the manner and circumstances of death. We stand, as it were, by the two death-beds, of the wise and of the fool, and note the same signs of the end, the same glazed eye, the same death-dew on the brow, the same failing power of thought. The picture of chap. Ecc 12:1-6 is true of both. The seeker had apparently never stood by the death-bed of one whose face was lit up, and, as it were, transfigured by a “hope full of immortality.” Here also we may trace in the later personator of Solomon a deliberate protest against what seemed to him the teaching of Ecclesiastes ( Wis 2:1-9 ).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 16. There is no remembrance] The wise and the fool are equally subject to death; and, in most instances, they are equally forgotten. Time sweeps away all remembrances, except the very few out of millions which are preserved for a while in the page of history.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
There is no remembrance of the wise more than of the fool for ever; their name and memory, though it may flourish for a season among some men, yet it will not last for ever, but will in a little time be worn out; as we see in most of the wise men of former ages, whose very names, together with all their monuments, are utterly lost, as hath been oft observed and bewailed by learned writers in several ages.
As the fool; he must die as certainly as the fool, and after death be as little remembered and honoured.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
16. remembrancea great aim ofthe worldly (Ge 11:4). Therighteous alone attain it (Psa 112:6;Pro 10:7).
for everno perpetualmemorial.
that which now isMAURER,”In the days to come all things shall be now long agoforgotten.”
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
For [there is] no remembrance of the wise more than of the fool for ever,…. The Targum interprets it, in the world to come; but even in this world the remembrance of a wise man, any more than of a fool, does not always last; a wise man may not only be caressed in life, but may be remembered after death for a while; the fame of him may continue for a little time, and his works and writings may be applauded; but by and by rises up another genius brighter than he, or at least is so thought, and outshines him; and then his fame is obscured, his writings are neglected and despised, and he and his works buried in oblivion; and this is the common course of things. This shows that Solomon is speaking of natural wisdom, and of man’s being wise with respect to that; and his remembrance on that account; otherwise such who are truly good and wise, their memory is blessed; they are had in everlasting remembrance, and shall never be forgotten in this world, nor in that to come, when the memory of the wicked shall rot; whose names are only written in the dust Jer 17:13, and not in the Lamb’s book of life;
seeing that which now [is], in the days to come shall all be forgotten: what now is in the esteem of men, and highly applauded by them; what is in the mouths of men, and in their minds and memories, before long, future time, after the death of a man, as the Targum, or in some time after, will be thought of no more, and be as if it never had been, or as if there never had been such men in the world. Many wise men have been in the world, whose names are now unknown, and some their names only are known, and their works are lost; and others whose works remain, yet in no esteem: this is to be understood in general, and for the most part; otherwise there may be some few exceptions to this general observation.
And how dieth the wise [man]? as the fool; they are both liable to death; it is appointed for men, rinse or unwise, learned or unlearned, to die, and both do die; wisdom cannot secure a man from dying; and then wise and fools are reduced to the same condition and circumstances; all a man’s learning, knowledge, and wisdom, cease when he dies, and he is just as another man is; in that day all his learned thoughts perish, and he is upon a level with the fool. Solomon, the wisest of men, died as others; a full proof of his own observation, and which his father made before him, Ps 49:10. But this is not true of one that is spiritually wise, or wise unto salvation; the death of a righteous man is different from the death of a wicked man; both die, yet not alike, not in like manner; the good man dies in Christ, he dies in faith, has hope in his death, and rises again to eternal life. The Targum is,
“and how shall the children of men say, that the end of the righteous is as the end of the wicked?”
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
“For no remembrance of the wise, as of the fool, remains for ever; since in the days that are to come they are all forgotten. And how dieth the wise man: as the fool!” As in Ecc 1:11, so here is the principal form, not different from . Having no remembrance forever, is equivalent to having no eternal endurance, having simply no onward existence (Ecc 9:6). is both times the comparat. combin., as at Ecc 7:11; Job 9:26; Job 37:18; cf. , Psa 49:11. There are, indeed, individual historically great men, the memory of whom is perpetuated from generation to generation in words and in monuments; but these are exceptions, which do not always show that posterity is able to distinguish between wise men and fools. As a rule, men have a long appreciating recollection of the wise as little as they have of the fools, for long ago ( vid., beshekvar , p. 640) in the coming days ( , accus. of the time, like the ellipt. , Isa 27:6) all are forgotten; is, as at Psa 14:3, meant personally: the one as the other; and is rendered by the Masora, like Psa 9:6, , as the pausal form of the finite; but is perhaps thought of as part., denoting that which only in the coming days will become too soon a completed fact, since those who survive go from the burial of the one, as well as from that of the other, to the ordinary duties of the day. Death thus sinks the wise man, as it does the fool, in eternal oblivion; it comes to both, and brings the same to both, which extorted from the author the cry: How dieth the wise man? as the fool! Why is the fate which awaits both thus the same! This is the pointed, sarcastic (how!) of the satirical Mashal, e.g., Isa 14:4; Eze 26:17; and is = moriendum est , as at 2Sa 3:3, moriendum erat . Rambach well: est h. l. particula admirationis super rei indignitate .
What happened to the author from this sorrowful discovery he now states.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
(16) It might be urged on behalf of the Solomonic authorship that Solomon himself might imagine that in the days to come he and his wisdom would be forgotten, but that such a thought does not become a long subsequent writer who had been induced by Solomons reputation for wisdom to make him the hero of his work. It would seem to follow that the writer is here only giving the history of Solomons reflections, and not his ultimate conclusions. Better to omit the note of interrogation after wise man, and put a note of exclamation after fool, the how being used as in Isa. 14:4; Eze. 26:17.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
16. Seeing that which forgotten Rather, Since both will be forgotten in coming days, as [has been the case] long ago. Very many wise and fools have lain down in oblivion, and so it will ever be. How, etc., is in Hebrew an exclamation of grief, equal to Alas, that the wise man dieth as the fool! In the original there is here no question.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
For there is no remembrance of the wise more than of the fool forever; seeing that which now is in the days to come shall all be forgotten. And how dieth the wise man? as the fool. (17) Therefore I hated life; because the work that is wrought under the sun is grievous unto me: for all is vanity and vexation of spirit. (18) Yea, I hated all my labour which I had taken under the sun: because I should leave it unto the man that shall be after me. (19) And who knoweth whether he shall be a wise man or a fool? yet shall he have rule over all my labour wherein I have laboured, and wherein I have shewed myself wise under the sun. This is also vanity. (20) Therefore I went about to cause my heart to despair of all the labour which I took under the sun. (21) For there is a man whose labour is in wisdom, and in knowledge, and in equity; yet to a man that hath not laboured therein shall he leave it for his portion. This also is vanity and a great evil. (22) For what hath man of all his labour, and of the vexation of his heart, wherein he hath laboured under the sun? (23) For all his days are sorrows, and his travail grief; yea, his heart taketh not rest in the night. This is also vanity. (24) There is nothing better for a man, than that he should eat and drink, and that he should make his soul enjoy good in his labour. This also I saw, that it was from the hand of God. (25) For who can eat, or who else can hasten hereunto, more than I? (26) For God giveth to a man that is good in his sight wisdom, and knowledge, and joy: but to the sinner he giveth travail, to gather and to heap up, that he may give to him that is good before God. This also is vanity and vexation of spirit.
The Preacher, having fully and clearly ascertained, that both sensual pleasures and mental pursuits after human learning, void of divine knowledge, are alike full of disappointment, proceeds now to show the entire vanity and emptiness of human life, in its present fallen state, to give comfort. And if the Reader is brought, under the divine teaching, to learn therefrom the total insufficiency of all things here below, to afford solid and substantial happiness to the soul; the great object intended from this scripture is answered. The picture here drawn of human life, is made exactly to correspond to what it really is. Somewhat is wanting after our review, or even our enjoyment of the whole, to constitute happiness. So that let a man eat, or drink; let him study to excel his neighbour in all human science; vanity of vanities marks all; for all is vanity and vexation of spirit.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Ecc 2:16 For [there is] no remembrance of the wise more than of the fool for ever; seeing that which now [is] in the days to come shall all be forgotten. And how dieth the wise [man]? as the fool.
Ver. 16. For there is no remembrance of the wise. ] viz., Unless he be also wise to salvation, for then he shall be had in everlasting remembrance. Or otherwise, either he shall be utterly forgotten, as being not written among the living in Jerusalem, Isa 4:3 or else he shall not have the happiness to be forgotten in the city where he had so done; Ecc 8:10 I mean, where he had been either a dogmatic, or at least a practical atheist, as the very best of the philosophers were, Rom 1:18-31 1Co 1:17-31 the choicest and the most picked men among them. 1Co 3:21
And how dieth the wise man? as the fool.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
remembrance = memorial, as in Ecc 1:11, Ecc 1:11.
of = for.
for ever. See note on Ecc 1:4.
seeing that which now is = for, as in time past.
as the fool. Compare Psa 49:10. 2Sa 3:33.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
there is: Ecc 1:11, Exo 1:6, Exo 1:8, Psa 88:12, Psa 103:16, Mal 3:16
how: Ecc 6:8, 2Sa 3:33, Psa 49:10, Heb 9:27
Reciprocal: Psa 73:4 – no Ecc 3:19 – that which Ecc 8:10 – they were Ecc 9:5 – for the Isa 14:10 – Art thou also 1Co 15:55 – is thy victory
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
2:16 For [there is] no remembrance of the wise more than of the fool {l} for ever; seeing that which now [is] in the days to come shall all be forgotten. And {m} how dieth the wise [man]? as the fool.
(l) Meaning, in this world.
(m) He wonders that men forget a wise man, being dead, as soon as they do a fool.