Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth?
Who knoweth. Not doubt of the destination of man's spirit (Ecclesiastes 12:7). The question expresses 'how few, by reason of the outward mortality to which man is as liable as the beast, comprehend the wide difference between man and the beast' (Isaiah 53:1). Since man's spirit is the breath of God, it cannot perish with the body, but must at death return to Him who gave it. That which belongs to the earth is given back to the earth: so that which belongs to heaven returns to heaven. The creation of man in the image of God (Genesis 1:26-27; Genesis 2:7) involves the necessity of an immortality of blessedness or misery. The Hebrew expresses the difference strongly, 'The spirit of man that ascends, it belongeth to lª- on high; but the spirit of the beast that descends, it belongeth to below, even to the earth.' Their destination and proper element differ utterly (Weiss). Man's superiority does not lie on the surface, and is hence not easily discerned; the resemblance of man to the beast in mortality forces itself on our notice. The fact that man's pre-eminence is thus hidden ought in itself to be sufficient to lead man to humility, and to extinguish pride in him.