And the LORD God formed man [of] the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
Ver. 7. Formed man of the dust.] Not of the rocks of the earth, but dust, that is soon dispersed, to note our frailty, vility, and impurity. Lutum enim conspurcat omnia, sic et caro. a But why should so glorious a soul (called here Neshamah, of affinity to Shamajim, heaven, whence it came) dwell in this corruptible and contemptible body? For answer, besides God's will, and for order of the universe, Lombard saith, b that by the conjunction of the soul with the body, so far its inferior, man might learn and believe a possibility of the union of man with God in glory, notwithstanding the vast distance of nature, and excellence; the infiniteness of both in God, the finiteness of both in man.
And breathed into his nostrils.] The greatest man is but a little air and dust tempered together. Quidam volunt metaphoram sumptam a vitrorum formatione. What is man, saith one, c but Nους και χους, soul and soil, breath and body, a pile of dust the one, a puff of wind the other, no solidity in either? Man is nothing else but the son of the earth, the nephew of nothing, terrae filius, nihili nepos saith Augustine; or a piece of clay neatly made up, d as Arian upon Epictetus hath it.
And man became a living soul.] Dicaearchus doubted of the soul, whether there was such a thing in natural events. rerum natural e He could not have doubted of it without it; as man cannot prove logic to be unnecessary, but by logic.
a Zuinglius.
b Lomb., l. ii. dis. 1.
c Nazian.
d πηλος κομφως πεφυραμενος .
e Tusc. Quaest.