Moreover, I saw under the sun that in the place of justice, even there was wickedness, and in the place of righteousness, even there was wickedness. I said in my heart, God will judge the righteous and the wicked, for there is a time for every matter and for every work. I said in my heart with regard to the children of man that God is testing them that they may see that they themselves are but beasts. For what happens to the children of man and what happens to the beasts is the same; as one dies, so dies the other. They all have the same breath, and man has no advantage over the beasts, for all is vanity. All go to one place. All are from the dust, and to dust all return.Who knows whether the spirit of man goes upward and the spirit of the beast goes down into the earth?

Ecclesiastes 3:16-21

Usually, I try to make Fridays brief and encouraging and then there is the passage above. Few of us need to be reminded of the phrase ‘dust to dust” because we know that no matter how long we live on this earth, eventually we will die. Solomon was likely familiar with the 49th Psalm which also expresses similar themes –

For he sees that even the wise die;
the fool and the stupid alike must perish
and leave their wealth to others…

Man in his pomp yet without understanding is like the beasts that perish.

Psalm 49:20

In Ecclesiastes, Solomon observed the injustice around him. He anticipated that God “will judge the righteous and the wicked, for there is a time for every matter and for every work” and this indicates that he believes there is more to this life than equality with the beasts of the earth. Yes, our bodies will experience “dust to dust”, but where there is judgment, there is something more, something beyond for the human being.

The Psalmist finds hope in death and looks forward to redemption.

God will redeem me from the realm of the dead; he will surely take me to himself.”

Psalm 49:15

Paul wrote of such judgment and still found hope for the believer – “for the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23).