Комментарий к Кохелет 3:18

I said to myself. When I observed all this.

“I said in my heart: It is by the speech of the sons of man that God has differentiated them, and that they may see that they themselves are but as animals” (Ecclesiastes 3:18).
“I said in my heart: It is by the speech of the sons of man” – by the matters of which the wicked speak in this world, for they curse and blaspheme in this world, and the Holy One blessed be He bestows tranquility upon them. To what purpose? “That God has differentiated [levaram] them,” to designate [levarer] the attribute of justice for the wicked.⁷⁹In the World to Come. “And that they may see that they themselves are but as animals,” to see and to show the world that the wicked are likened to animals, just as the animal is condemned to be killed and does not come to life in the World to Come, so too, the wicked, like the animals, are condemned to be killed and do not come to life in the World to Come.
Another matter, “it is by the speech of the sons of man” – by the matters of which the righteous speak in this world regarding asceticism, fasts, and suffering. To what purpose? “That God has differentiated [levaram] them,” to designate [levarer] for them [reward for] the measure of their righteousness. “And that they may see that they themselves are but as animals,” to see and to show the world how Israel is drawn after Him like animals, as it is stated: “Now, you are My sheep, the sheep of My pasture, you are Man” (Ezekiel 34:31). And just as this animal extends its neck for slaughter, so, too, the righteous, as it is stated: “For we are killed all day long for You…” (Psalms 44:23). Let this tradition be in your hand, anyone who performs a mitzva just before his death, it is as though his measure of righteousness was lacking only that mitzva, and he completed it. And one who performs a transgression just before his death, it is as though his measure of wickedness was lacking only that transgression, and he completed it. Both these and those go whole; these whole in the measure of their righteousness and those whole in the measure of their wickedness.
Rabbi Bon and Rabbi Yitzḥak, Rabbi Bon said: Is it not, just as I established prophets from Israel who are called man, as it is stated: “You are Man” (Ezekiel 34:31), did I not establish prophets for the idolaters who are called animals, as it is stated: “[Should I not have pity on Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than one hundred and twenty thousand people…] and many animals” (Jonah 4:11).⁸⁰The midrash assumes that the term people in this verse refers to those who were not overly wicked, and the term animals refers to the wicked people of Nineveh. Rabbi Yitzḥak said:⁸¹Rabbi Yitzḥak’s statement opens the next section.

Concerning the state of man. Who adopted the trait of haughtiness, to exert rulership and superiority over those smaller than they.

[God] has set them apart. (Other texts: [God] should clarify for them.) The Holy One, Blessed Is He, to notify them that their rulership is nought, and to show them and also the princes and the kings —

They themselves are as beast. Like other beasts and animals they are to themselves.