Ecc 3:19-20 | KingComments | STEP | The judgment of is still postponed, although we yearn for it. It may give us an unsatisfactory feeling that evil can do its work unhindered. Yet that too has a purpose: all injustice in time becomes a test that makes it infallibly clear whether we fear God or not. We learn the truth about ourselves and then discover that we are not only judges of the injustice around us, but that the injustice is also within us. The injustice of man proves at least one aspect of God’s purpose: it provides an undeniable demonstration on the scene of the history of our ignorance of our own nature and destiny. There is probably nothing more capable of exposing man as a sinner and a wicked person – and this in all ranks – than cursing the iniquity of the world. Anyone who fears God can endure injustice. Anyone who curses it does not know himself. Man is no better than beasts as long as he lives without connection to eternity. As long as the children of men do not fear God, they do not know God. And if they do not know God, they get excited about all the injustice in the world. Injustice shows that man is just as cruel and often more cruel than beasts. Furthermore, man has in common with the beasts that he dies just like the beasts. Without involving God or eternity there is no difference between man and a beast. Then man stands on the same level as the beast. We recognize this in the theory of evolution, which reasons in that way because it excludes God in the search for the origin of creation. give an explanation of . To the eye, humans and beasts go to the same place. They all have the breath of life in them ( ; ; ), and a man can be buried “with the burial of a donkey” ( ). shows man’s mortality as something he has in common with all earthly creatures. It confronts us with the fall into sin and with the irony that while we imagine ourselves to be gods, we humans die like the beasts. Man and beast have the dust of the earth as a common origin ( ). Through man’s sin, man, and beasts too, return there when they die ( ). The Preacher also notices the difference between man and beast in what happens after death ( ). Returning to dust relates to the body of both man and beast. However, man has something that the beast does not have and that is a spirit. Man has received his breath of life from God, through which he has become a living being ( ). This is not how God has done it with beasts. He created them by the power of His word ( ). The difference between man and beast that is present at death, is beyond the perception of man. The word “who”, which begins in , is a cry of despair. Man’s general view is that there is no difference. The Preacher knows that there is a difference ( ). We can only know this through revelation from God. The Preacher talks about people in their splendor ( ) and not about the believer who is received by God ( ).

‏ Ecclesiastes 3:19-20

Similarity and Difference Between Man and Beast

The judgment of Ecc 3:17 is still postponed, although we yearn for it. It may give us an unsatisfactory feeling that evil can do its work unhindered. Yet that too has a purpose: all injustice in time becomes a test that makes it infallibly clear whether we fear God or not. We learn the truth about ourselves and then discover that we are not only judges of the injustice around us, but that the injustice is also within us.

The injustice of man proves at least one aspect of God’s purpose: it provides an undeniable demonstration on the scene of the history of our ignorance of our own nature and destiny. There is probably nothing more capable of exposing man as a sinner and a wicked person – and this in all ranks – than cursing the iniquity of the world. Anyone who fears God can endure injustice. Anyone who curses it does not know himself.

Man is no better than beasts as long as he lives without connection to eternity. As long as the children of men do not fear God, they do not know God. And if they do not know God, they get excited about all the injustice in the world. Injustice shows that man is just as cruel and often more cruel than beasts. Furthermore, man has in common with the beasts that he dies just like the beasts. Without involving God or eternity there is no difference between man and a beast. Then man stands on the same level as the beast. We recognize this in the theory of evolution, which reasons in that way because it excludes God in the search for the origin of creation.

Ecc 3:19-21 give an explanation of Ecc 3:18. To the eye, humans and beasts go to the same place. They all have the breath of life in them (Gen 7:22; Psa 73:22; Pro 7:22), and a man can be buried “with the burial of a donkey” (Jer 22:19). Ecc 3:19 shows man’s mortality as something he has in common with all earthly creatures. It confronts us with the fall into sin and with the irony that while we imagine ourselves to be gods, we humans die like the beasts. Man and beast have the dust of the earth as a common origin (Ecc 3:20). Through man’s sin, man, and beasts too, return there when they die (Gen 3:19).

The Preacher also notices the difference between man and beast in what happens after death (Ecc 3:21). Returning to dust relates to the body of both man and beast. However, man has something that the beast does not have and that is a spirit. Man has received his breath of life from God, through which he has become a living being (Gen 2:7). This is not how God has done it with beasts. He created them by the power of His word (Gen 1:24-25).

The difference between man and beast that is present at death, is beyond the perception of man. The word “who”, which begins in Ecc 3:21, is a cry of despair. Man’s general view is that there is no difference. The Preacher knows that there is a difference (Ecc 12:7). We can only know this through revelation from God. The Preacher talks about people in their splendor (Psa 49:12 ; 20) and not about the believer who is received by God (Psa 49:15).