Ecclesiastes 2:12

I turned myself. See on v. 11. Solomon had experienced and taken account of the material joys of life. Now he begins an examination of wisdom and folly from the practical angle.

For what? A literal translation of this clause would read, “For what the man who will come after the king?” The sense is probably that of the king asking what use would it be for a lesser man than he to seek to carry out the various experiments he had undertaken. He was a king, with every resource at his command; even more, he was wiser than ordinary men.

Already done. The lesser person coming “after the king” could scarcely hope to do more than Solomon had already accomplished. Solomon had proved the emptiness and futility of the pleasures of this world, and the matter might therefore be considered settled.