2:7 See theological note “Body and Soul, Male and Female.”

formed. This figure from pottery making represents God’s activity in shaping each person (Job 10:8–12).

man . . . from the ground. The wordplay in Hebrew, “man” (Hebrew ’adam) and “ground” (Hebrew ’adamah), shows man’s close connection with the ground (2:5, 15; 3:19), and underlies Paul’s later teaching that the first Adam was fashioned in a natural body for an earthly existence. The heavenly Son of Man (Dan. 7:13) shared in this earthly state in order to secure for fallen man a spiritual body of imperishable glory in the resurrection of the redeemed (1 Cor. 15:42–49).

breathed. This figure represents the Spirit’s creative activity (Ps. 104:30; Ezek. 37:1–10, 14).

living creature. The Hebrew here does not say “a living being became man”—man is not formed from preexistent life. Man is differentiated from the animals by bearing the image of God (1:26 and notes), and he shows his authority over the animals by naming them (vv. 19, 20).