Then, meaning after matters that He, glorified and exalted is He, has decreed regarding the term and changes. "He caused him to die," and He indicated the necessity of hastening to the preparation by the conjunction in His saying, "So He buried him," meaning He made for him a grave and concealed him in it. He commanded that he be buried as a mark of honor for him and protection from the wild animals. Burial is making for the deceased a grave and giving the slain one to his family so they may bury him. The meaning is gratitude that He made for man a place suitable for his burial and made it after death such that he can be buried in it. If He had willed, He could have made him decay with the filth and similar things that would prevent his being honored, or made him such that he would be trampled upon and not buried like the remains of animals. Thus, he has known through this that the beginning of man is a despised drop, and his end is a filthy corpse, and in between that, he carries the honor. So, he is honored by knowledge only by that which created him and shaped him, and that necessitates that he should be grateful to Him, not ungrateful.