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

Then I saw that wisdom excelleth folly, as far as light excelleth darkness.

Are in his head; in their proper place, and therefore they can see, which they could not do if they were out of his head. He hath the use of his eyes and reason, and sees his way, and orders all his affairs with discretion, and foresees, and so avoids, many dangers and mischiefs. Walketh in darkness; manageth his affairs ignorantly, rashly, and foolishly, whereby he showeth that his eyes are not in his head, but in his heels, or, as it is expressed, , in the ends of the earth. And; or, yet; notwithstanding this excellency of wisdom above folly for our conduct in the matters of this life, yet at last they both come to one end. One event happeneth to them all; both are subject to the same calamities, and to death itself, which utterly takes away all difference between them.

Ecclesiastes 2:14 The wise man’ s eyes [are] in his head; but the fool walketh in darkness: and I myself perceived also that one event happeneth to them all. Ver. 14. The wise man’ s eyes are in his head.] He judiciously pondereth things past, and prudently ordereth things present, and providently foreseeth to prevent dangers likely to ensue. The Chinese use to say of themselves, that all other nations of the world see but with one eye, they only with two. Italians tell us, that, whereas Spaniards seem wise and are fools, Frenchmen seem fools and are wise, Portuguese neither are wise nor so much as seem to be so, they themselves both seem wise, and are so. This I could sooner believe if from a better mouth than their own. Romani, sicut non acumina, ita non imposturas habent, saith Bellarmine; The Romans (those wittiest of the Italians) are neither very subtle nor very simple. But the fool walketh in darkness.] He hath neither sight nor light, but is acted and agitated by the prince of darkness, who holds his black hand before the eye of such men’ s minds and blinds their understandings - dealing with them as Pliny saith the eagle deals with the hart; she lights upon his horns, and there flutters up and down, filling his eyes with dust borne in her feathers, that at last he may cast himself from a rock, and so be made a prey unto her. One event happeneth to them all.] As did to Josiah and Ahab in the manner of both their dying in battle. They may be all wrapped up together in a common calamity, and sapientes sapienter in gehennam descendant, the world’ s great wise men go very wisely down to hell; there, for want of saving grace, fools and wiser men meet at one and the same inn, though by several ways, at one and the same haven, though from several coasts. Pροσσωκαιοπισσω. Description of the World, Ec. Of China. Heyl., Geog. Augustine.

(14) Event.—Translated “hap,” or “chance” (Rth 2:13; 1 Samuel 6:9; 1 Samuel 20:26).

Verse 14. The wise man's eyes, c.] Well expressed by Choheleth: - "The wise are circumspect, maturely weigh The consequence of what they undertake, Good ends propose, and fittest means apply To accomplish their designs." But the fool walketh in darkness] "But fools, deprived Of reason's guidance, or in darkness grope, Or, unreflecting like a frantic man, Who on the brink of some steep precipice Attempts to run a race with heedless steps, Rush to their own perdition." One event happeneth to them all.] "Though wide the difference, what has human pride To boast? Even I myself too plainly saw, That one event to both alike befalls To various accidents of life exposed, Without distinction: nor can wisdom screen From dangers, disappointments, grief, and pain."

14. The wise man’s eyes are in his head] The figurative language is so much of the nature of an universal parable that we need hardly look to any special source for it, but we are at least reminded of those that “walk on still in darkness,” who have eyes and yet “see not” in any true sense of seeing (Isaiah 6:10). In Proverbs 17:24 we have the opposite form of the same thought: “The eyes of a fool are in the ends of the earth.” Comp. also John 11:10; John 12:33. and I myself perceived also] Better, And yet I myself perceived. The thought of Ecc 2:13 which had given an apparent resting-place for the seeker, is traversed by another which sends him once more adrift. Wisdom is better than folly. True, but for how long? With an emphasized stress on his own personal reflections, he goes on, “Yes, I myself, learning it for myself, and not as a topic of the schools, saw that there is one event for the wise and for the fool.” In a few short years the difference in which the former exults will vanish, and both will be on the same level. So sang the Epicurean poet: “Omnes una manet nox,Et calcanda semel via lethi.”“One dark black night awaits us all;One path of death we all must tread.”Hor. Od. i. 28. 15.

14. The wise man’s eyes are in his head — The Hebrew is more forcible: As for the wise man, his eyes, etc. The “wise man’s eyes” are where they belong, and can be used to some purpose.