Genesis 2:7-8

"And Jehovah God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. And Jehovah God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the living man whom he had formed."

"And God formed man of the dust of the ground ..." This truth is perpetually attested in the fact that man's body returns to dust upon his death. "Earth to earth, dust to dust."

The beautifully anthropomorphic presentation of God in this chapter is designed to teach men, not for the purpose of reducing God to the state of a creature resembling men. It is also a prophecy of the time when God Himself would become a man in the person of Jesus Christ, our Lord.

"Jehovah God ..." The precise reason for the incorporation of Jehovah with the name of God surfaces in this. The word rendered here as Jehovah is actually [~Yahweh], which in Hebrew corresponds to [~yatsar], meaning to "mold," or "to form."[13] Thus, it is God the Molder, or Former, who is appropriately indicated as the Actor in this verse.

"And breathed into his nostrils ..." The special blessing of humanity is indicated, because none of the animals were thus personally animated by the Almighty. Here is the impassable gulf that separates the animal kingdom from that of man. A special endowment was given to men. He became a living soul.

Thus, there is no contradiction whatever between Genesis 1 and Genesis 2. What is elaborated here reveals, "the foundation of that likeness to God and world-dominion ascribed to man in Genesis 1."[14] And just where, it may be asked, did Moses find such a significant and world-shaking truth as this? Can it be intelligently supposed that he discovered it in some old pagan document? Such views are absolutely untenable, in short, absurd. Information like this was not in the possession of the ancient pagans; nor could the light of nature have revealed it; and no human being was present to witness it! This is the Word of God.

"And Jehovah God formed man ..." As Jamieson pointed out, the verb means, "had formed,"[15] referring backward to the sixth day of creation.

"And Jehovah God planted a garden eastward in Eden ..." The arrogant critical bias to the effect that, "The planting of the garden was subsequent to the creation of man,"[16] can be sustained only by misunderstanding every word in this second chapter of Genesis. The true meaning is simply that God "had planted a garden" in Eden, designed particularly for the primeval home of mankind.

"Eastward in Eden ..." The word here rendered "eastward," literally means "from the east, not to the east." The significance of this will appear in Genesis 2:14, below: