Verse 7
"Formed" (Heb. yasar) means to shape or mold and implies that God deliberately did this with tender loving care. It describes the work of an artist (cf. Job 10:8-9).
"Dust" (Heb. haadama) reflects man’s lowly origin. Even though he was in God’s image, man was a creature like other creatures God had made. This rules out the view that man descended from the gods, which was popular in the ancient Near East and was foundational in Egyptian cosmology. [Note: Sailhamer, "Genesis," p. 41.] In Creation God raised man out of the dust to reign. [Note: See W. Brueggemann, "From Dust to Kingship," Zeitschrift für die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 84 (1972):1-18.] However in the Fall man returned to the dust by his own work (Genesis 3:19). [Note: Sailhamer, "Genesis," p. 41.]
The "breath of life" (Heb. nesama) was God’s breath that gave Adam life, spiritual understanding (Job 32:8), and a functioning conscience (Proverbs 20:27). Adam’s life came from God’s breath. [Note: See Mathews, pp. 197-99.] His uniqueness consisted in his having been made in God’s image. God’s breath may be a synonym for His word (cf. Psalms 33:6). [Note: See Ellis R. Brotzman, "Man and the Meaning of Nephesh [Soul]," Bibliotheca Sacra 145:580 (October-December 1988):400-9.] Man, therefore, is a combination of dust and divinity. [Note: For defense of the historicity of Adam and Eve, see Waltke, Genesis, p. 80, n. 2.]
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