Some things associated with dust
Exodus 32 & Deuteronomy 9 the golden calf (their sin) was burned and stamped into dust and thrown into brook that descended out of the mount where God was. That sin was carried away out of the camp. 3000 who would not return to the LORD were killed by the sword of the priests
2Chronicles 34 Josiah (King of Judah) had all the high places and the altars of Baalim in all of the land of promise stamped into dust. That dust was cast upon the graves of those who worshipped at before them. They were buried under their sin.
· The worship of idols (sin) leads to death Dust is associated with sin that leads to death
· God’s mercy was seen in Exodus sin carried away from the people. In 2Chronicles they had went to far to receive mercy so they died in their sins.
In Joshua 7 the covering with dust is seen for the first time
· It seemed the LORD had turned away from Israel and Joshua and the elders covered themselves with dust. A hopeless situation that cane out of a sinful act.
Dust is seen in 20 verses of Job. First: 2:8 He was covered with rupturing boils he set in the ashes [dust left from a fire].
2:12 When Job’s friends saw his condition they sprinkled dust upon their heads toward heaven. They held the dust above their heads fall back down.
· They were showing their sadness over their friend’s condition. They were in morning with Job’s condition. They considered Job’s condition had come as punishment upon Job from heaven.
Through out the book of Job these “friends” told him that his condition was punishment from God (heaven) because of some great sin Job had sinned and would not confess. (1:1). The constant accusations from these friends wore Job down. He became hard hearted and forgot what he said in 2:10.
Chapter 7: 5-6 The dust had mixed with the fluid from the boils that covered his body and dried into clods.
In 38:38 God asks Job what he knows about the clods of dust. When dust is mixed with a little water than is baked by the sun it becomes hard it will break up into clods. Those clods will be so hard that rain will not be able to penetrate or soften them. Could God be telling Job not to become so hard hearted that his hope in the LORD is blocked for ever?
42:6 In the clods were broken. Job realized he was nothing when compared to God. He said, “Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” Job turned away from concentrating on himself to loving and praising the living God.
Lamentations 2:10 ¶ The elders of the daughter of Zion sit upon the ground, and keep silence: they have cast up dust upon their heads; they have girded themselves with sackcloth: the virgins of Jerusalem hang down their heads to the ground.
· Jeremiah look over the condition of Jerusalem during the 70 captivity of Babylon. The LORD had allowed Jerusalem to be destroyed. They were in a hopeless situation. The virgins believed they would die unmarried and childless.
In Acts 22:23-24 Paul was in chains and was close to being put to death. Those to whom Paul was speaking could not stand to hear his words and were so distressed that they cast off their clothes, and threw dust into the air. Their dust was for the death of Paul, actually to put to death the words of truth Paul spake.
Dust is not seen again in the New Testament again until Revelation 18:19 when the world morns over the destruction of Babylon.
Romans through Revelation 3 are for Christians who are living in this present evil world.
This present and evil world has only dust to offer man. No hope, no life, only misery, doubt, sickness, and death, separation from God. The serpent crawling upon the ground eating dust pictures how Satan seeks to turn the heart of man away from the hope and life offered through the Truth of the gospel offering only death and Hell. 1Peter 5:8
There is no circumstance that should bring a Christian in a place of hopelessness. When we are becoming weary in this world remember the remedy Jesus presented in John 17:13 And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves. John 16:33 These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.
Psalm 119:25 ¶ DALETH. My soul cleaveth unto the dust: quicken thou me according to thy word. [The contrast between the dust and the Word]
Job 34:15 All flesh shall perish together, and man shall turn again unto dust
Ps 103:13-14 Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear him. 14 For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust
Ec 3:20 All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again.