Charles Ellicott Commentary Genesis 2:7

"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." — Genesis 2:7 (ASV)

And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground. —Literally, formed the man (adam) dust from the ground. In this section, the prominent idea is not that of producing out of nothing, but of forming, that is, shaping and molding. So in Genesis 2:19, Jehovah forms the animals, and in Genesis 2:8, He plants a garden. As Elohim is almighty power, so Jehovah is wisdom and skill, and His works are full of contrivance and design.

Regarding man’s body, Jehovah forms it dust from the ground: the adâmâh, or fruitful arable soil, so called from Adam, for whose use it was specially fitted, and by whom it was first tilled. But the main intention of the words is to point out man’s feebleness. He is made not from the rocks, nor from ores of metal, but from the light, shifting particles of the surface, blown about by every wind. Yet, frail as man’s body is, God—

...breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. —The life came not as the result of man’s bodily organization, nor as derived by evolution from any other animal, but as a direct gift from God.

And man became a living soul. —The word translated “soul” contains no idea of a spiritual existence. For in Genesis 1:20, creature that hath life, and in Genesis 1:24, the living creature, are literally, living soul.

Indeed, the word refers to the natural life of animals and men, maintained by breathing, or in some way extracting oxygen from the atmospheric air. And whatever superiority over other animals man may possess comes from the manner in which this living breath was bestowed upon him, and not from his being “a living soul,” for that is common to all alike.

The whole of this second narrative is preeminently anthropomorphic. In the previous history, Elohim commands, and it is done. Here, He forms, builds, plants, and breathes into His work, and is the companion and friend of the creature He has made. It thus sets before us the love and tenderness of Jehovah, who provides a home for man, fashions a wife for him to be his partner and helpmate, rejoices in his intellect, brings the lower world to him to see what he will call them, and even after the fall, provides the poor outcasts with clothing.

It is a picture fitted for the infancy of mankind and speaking the language of primeval simplicity. But its lesson is for all times. For it proclaims the love of God to man, his special preeminence in the scale of being, and that Elohim, the Almighty Creator, is Jehovah-Elohim, the friend and counselor of the creature whom He has endowed with reason and free will.