What is the question "Ki Mi Yode'a"?
Rashi: Who knows good deeds?
Ibn Ezra: Also this refers to the Oni. Man does not know what is good for him in life - wealth or poverty.
Ibn Ezra (10:14): A fool says, I will eat and drink, for I do not know what will be in my life and after death.
Refer to 6:12:2:5-6.
Do people not know what is good for man?
Rashi: It refers to what is good to do in his lifetime that will be good for him in the long world [to come].
Rashbam: Who knows what is good to do in this world. If he knew to choose the good deed, he would do so. People do not do so!
Ri Kara: Who knows what is the best deed of all?
Rid: One does not know what good he will have [from his toil] in the few days of his lifetime.
Seforno: Even if he has pleasure in some of his days, who knows if he will have good in all of his days? Sometimes, due to these buildings (refer to 6:11:1:5), envy, hatred and damage will come to him.
Metzudas David: Few people know it.
Why does it say "Mispar Yemei Chayei Hevlo"?
Rashi: His days are few.
Rid: [One does not know what good he will have from his toil] in his days.
Metzudas David: The days that Shamayim allotted to him.
What is the meaning of "v'Ya'asem ka'Tzel"?
Rav Sadya Gaon: When he considers them [to have no importance,] like a shadow.
Rashi: He will do [deeds that will be good for him in the world to come] in his short lifetime, which is like the shade of a flying bird. Shlomo did not explain if it is like the shade of a date tree or wall, which last, but David already explained "Yamav k'Tzel Over" (Tehilim 144:4; Koheles Rabah).
Ibn Ezra: It is proper to make his days like a passing shadow, and not seek Halichas ha'Nefesh (going in the ways of Kesilim, that their Nefesh is never satisfied - Ibn Ezra 9) to the point that he abandons his money 1 . Just like a shadow does not stand for a moment, so his days pass, and they are primary - all the more so, all that occurs in his days, whether good or bad, wealth or poverty, [pass quickly].
Rashbam: People make their days like a passing shadow - they do not want to go in the good path, therefore they die before their [allotted] time.
Rid: He should pass his few days with the good (benefit) from his toil.
Seforno: When it is decreed that a person become poor, he does these deeds that increase Hevel, so he will lose his time and acquisitions; he makes them like a shadow, for a short time.
Metzudas David: He should do the deeds, that it is proper to do them, at all times, without resting, like a shadow, which never rests; it always leans from place to place due to the sun's motion.
Ri Kara: He should say, since my days flee like a passing shadow, if I do not benefit now from my property, tomorrow I will die, and others will consume it!
About what future matter is there no one to tell man?
Rashi: How long the wealth, which he gathered via oppression, will last for his sons.
Ibn Ezra: There is no benefit to abandoning his money, even though he does not know what will be done with his money after his death.
Rashbam: What will be after his death in the world, and for his children. Therefore, he should good deeds, so that his children after him will find Brachah.
Rid: Whether his children will benefit from the good of his toil.
Seforno: Perhaps all his deeds [to be remembered after death - refer to 6:11:1:5] will cease immediately after his death, and he did not attain his purpose at all!
Metzudas David: Now only does he not know what is conceptual (the deeds that it is proper to do them). Even the tangible, what will be after his death, he does not know in this world, and he needs one to tell him!
