DUST
Small particles of matter that make up the earth; Man was formed from dust, and when he fell into sin he was told: “You are dust, and to dust you will return” (Gen. 2:7; 3:19).
“The first man is of the earth, earthly” (1 Cor. 15:47). It is used as a symbol of weakness: “For he knows our condition; he remembers that we are dust »(Ps. 103: 14).
“Licking the dust” is a figure of defeat (Ps. 72:9). Throwing dust on the head was a sign of pain (Ez. 27:30; Rev. 18:19). Shaking off the dust from one’s feet, when abandoning a city in which the servants of Christ had been rejected, meant abandoning them to judgment (Mt. 10:14; Acts 13:51). Throwing dust into the air was an expression of great indignation (Acts 22:23).