And then…

God “formed the man out of the dust of the ground.” (Gen. 2:7a Masoretic Text) The Hebrew word used here for formed is yatsar, a potter’s term that means to squeeze into shape, mold into a form as a potter sculpting, individuals at conception, frame, and so on.

The word for ground is adamah, which also means soil as for building, husbandman, husbandry, and so on. It comes from the word ‘adam, meaning to show blood in the face, turn rosy or flush, ruddy, reddened, and so on.

From this word comes another word ‘adam, which is the word for man, mankind, human being, common sort, or of low degree.

From this last definition comes ‘Adam, as a proper name. Adam’s name reflected his standing, a man of low degree from the redness of earth’s clay. Out of the womb of the adamah, the soil of building, God shaped the ‘adam.

God fashioned man, as if drawing near to form him with His own hands out of the earth, as a potter in total absorption with his clay, taking time to sculpt him. This evokes the image of Jehovah having a personal relationship with man as His special creation, as a hands-on project.

I imagine the Potter taking His time with His most prized possession, and through His Word, molded here, patted there, adding more in this spot, a little less in that spot. Can’t you just imagine that, when God finished, Adam looked like one of Michelangelo’s statues or like the image of Adam on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel?

Created with no life yet, man received another touch from the Creator. The Spirit of God hovered over him and “blew into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” (Gen. 2:7b Masoretic Text)

Breath in Hebrew means a puff, wind, angry or vital breath, divine inspiration, soul, spirit, and so on. That breath of God, that divine inspiration infused man, supplying him with the vital breath of His likeness.

I can imagine God whispering in Adam’s ear, “I am your Life, the very breath of your soul,” and Adam sitting up, saying, as Job did, “The spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.” (Job 33:4 NKJV)

What God commanded Ezekiel in his vision to prophesy over the dry bones in the valley sounds as if God could have pronounced it over Adam, “Behold, I will cause breath and spirit to enter you, and you shall live; and I will lay sinews upon you and bring up flesh upon you and cover you with skin, and I will put breath and spirit in you, and you [dry bones] shall live; and you shall know, understand, and realize that I am the Lord.” (Ezek. 37:5-6 Amp)

Just as God gave mankind His breath of physical life, so He endows us with the breath of the Spirit, placing His Eternal Life within us through His Son. As “He Himself gives life and breath to everything,” (Acts 17:25a TLB) “the soul of every living thing is in the hand of God, and the breath of all mankind,” (Job 12:10 TLB) and it is “the breath of the Almighty, that gives him understanding.” (Job 32:8 NIV)

God created us and His purpose was to have an eternal relationship with His creations. Paul said, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Cor. 5:17 NIV) Therefore, the only way for us to have that everlasting relationship with the Father is to allow the Holy Spirit to infuse us with that vital breath of His likeness, His divine inspiration, His Eternal breath of Life.

Have you allowed the Almighty to breathe Life into your spirit? Can you say as Job, “The spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life”?

May you know that precious breath of Eternal Life as He infuses it into your body, soul, and spirit.