Text: Ecclesiastes 3:20-21
OT Text Referred to: Genesis 2:7
Subject: Humanity's Dusty Origin and Destiny
Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Reference Type: Allusion
Connection Method(s): None
Significance: Genesis 2:7 records that God formed man from עָפָר מִן־הָאֲדָמָה (aphar min-ha'adamah, "dust from the ground"). Ecclesiastes 3:20 echoes this directly: "All come from dust (עָפָר), and all return to dust (עָפָר)." Qoheleth uses the creation account to level a sobering observation — from the vantage point of observable experience "under the sun," humans and animals share the same dusty origin and the same mortal end. The provocative question of 3:21, "Who knows if the spirit (רוּחַ, ruach) of man rises upward?", probes whether the divine breath that distinguished humanity in Genesis 2:7 grants any advantage over the animals at death. By alluding to creation while questioning its implications, Qoheleth forces the reader to confront whether the dignity of being formed and animated by God has any lasting consequence beyond the grave.