Ecclesiastes 2:13 Commentary and Bible Study

Does this mean that wisdom, madness and folly are all one, that there is no difference between them? Of course not, says Solomon. Wisdom makes a vast difference and transforms a man’s life on earth. The difference between wisdom and folly is like the difference between light and darkness. The man in the light can see where he is going and he does not stumble over hidden obstacles. He has perspective on life and can anticipate the future, avoid pitfalls that many others do not see. He can see something of the purpose of this life and can by wisdom achieve things that would otherwise be beyond his grasp. There is a visible difference between the wise and the foolish. The wise man’s eyes are in his head and by implication the fool’s eyes are not. This is only to say that the wise man uses his eyes, but the fool’s eyes do him no good at all and might as well not be there. The eye gives light to the whole body in the sense that the information received by the eye is used by the brain to guide the hand and the foot and every other part of the body. He who is blind might as well be walking in darkness and the absence of wisdom puts a man at the most severe disadvantage in life. Yes, he says, I admit wisdom exceeds folly, but without God it does not matter, because wise and foolish both meet with the same end.In spite of all these remarkable advantages of wisdom over folly, it is not able to make any real difference in the final hour. This ought to be the ultimate test of wisdom’s worth. If it was able to deliver a person from death, then it would have something to boast about; then it would have real power. But since all it can do is lift up the wise above the foolish for a brief moment in this life, only to have them sink back down together, then it does not achieve very much. The same event of death, the same fate comes to both the wise and the foolish and this world’s wisdom is reduced to nothing. All these observations are from the viewpoint of man under the sun, man who knows nothing about the separation of the righteous and unrighteous after death. He cannot see that separation while he is still alive; it is all hidden from him. Solomon is describing what he can see, what is visible to every worldling – the phenomenon of death as observed by one who does not believe in God. From the unbeliever’s point of view, there is no point in expending all the effort needed to become wise, because, in the final analysis, it makes no difference – death claims both wise and foolish, and makes no difference between them.