Keil and Delitzsch Commentary - Ecclesiastes 2:22 - 2:22

Online Resource Library

Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com

Keil and Delitzsch Commentary - Ecclesiastes 2:22 - 2:22


(Show All Books | Show All Chapters)

This Chapter Verse Commentaries:

“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 הֹוֶה, γινόμενον, as at Neh 6:6, γενεεσόμενος) or היה, the root signification of which is deorsum ferri, cadere, and then accidere, fieri, whence הַוָּה, eagerness precipitating itself upon anything (vid., under Pro 10:3), or object.: fall, catastrophe, destruction. Instead of שֶׁהוּא, there is here to be written שְׁהוּא,

(Note: Thus according to tradition, in H, J, P, vid., Michlol 47b, 215b, 216a; vid., also Norzi.)

as at Ecc 3:18 שְׁהֶם. The question looks forward to a negative answer. What comes out of his labour for man? Nothing comes of it, nothing but disagreeableness. This negative contained in the question is established by כִּי, 23a. The form of the clause, “all his days are sorrows,” viz., as to their condition, follows the scheme, “the porch was 20 cubits,” 2Ch 3:4, viz., in measurement; or, “their feast is music and wine,” Isa 5:12, viz., in its combination (vid., Philippi's Stat. Const. p. 90ff.). The parallel clause is וָכַעַם עִנְיָנוֹ, not כוְ; for the final syllable, or that having the accent on the penult, immediately preceding the Athnach-word, takes Kametz, as e.g., Lev 18:5; Pro 25:3; Isa 65:17 (cf. Olsh. §224, p. 440).

(Note: But cf. also וָלא with Zakeph Katan, 2Ki 5:17; ואר וגו with Tiphcha, Isa 26:19; and וְרִיב under Psa 45:10.)

Many interpreters falsely explain: at aegritudo est velut quotidiana occupatio ejus. For the sake of the parallelism, ענינו (from ענה, to weary oneself with labour, or also to strive, aim; vid., Psalmen, ii. 390) is subj. not pred.: his endeavour is grief, i.e., brings only grief or vexation with it.

Even in the night he has no rest; for even then, though he is not labouring, yet he is inwardly engaged about his labour and his plans. And this possession, acquired with such labour and restlessness, he must leave to others; for equally with the fool he fails under the stroke of death: he himself has no enjoyment, others have it; dying, he must leave all behind him, - threefold הבל, Ecc 2:17, Ecc 2:21, Ecc 2:23, and thus הבלים הבל.