“Then said I in my heart, As it happeneth to the fool, so it happeneth even to me; and why was I then more wise? Then I said in my heart, that this also is vanity.”
Qohelet's complaint that the fate of the fool will be his own fate as well, rendering his pursuit of wisdom pointless, expresses the existential despair that arises when one accepts both the reality of death and the emptiness of all striving. If death abolishes the distinction between the wise and foolish, why should the Preacher have tortured himself in endless reflection and investigation? This moment of apparent suicidal nihilism will be countered by later verses suggesting that life's present goods, however modest, retain value.
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