Rhetoric: Benjamin’s crowning argument in his analogy of the unprofitable servant is the obvious fact that we cannot compete with Yahweh as a purveyor of blessings. Rather, humankind is ultimately and irrevocably dependent on Yahweh. We are not even as much as the “dust of the earth”—not because we are valueless but because we cannot create even something so common. Yahweh, however, has created both the dust and humanity from the dust. Benjamin is not making a statement about the absolute value of human beings; rather, he is commenting on our position as servants in relationship to Yahweh.