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.
2:16 For - Their memory, though it may flourish for a season, yet will in a little time be worn out; as we see it, most of the wise men of former ages, whose very names, together with all their monuments, are utterly lost. As the fool - He must die as certainly as the fool.
2:12-17 Solomon found that knowledge and prudence were preferable to ignorance and folly, though human wisdom and knowledge will not make a man happy. The most learned of men, who dies a stranger to Christ Jesus, will perish equally with the most ignorant; and what good can commendations on earth do to the body in the grave, or the soul in hell? And the spirits of just men made perfect cannot want them. So that if this were all, we might be led to hate our life, as it is all vanity and vexation of spirit.
