Genesis 2:7-8

Yahweh God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. Yahweh God planted a garden eastward, in Eden, and there he put the man whom he had formed.

Here we have some facts about how God made man. First, we learn that man is made out of dust. I was reading an article recently about a machine that makes oil out of living matter.
The article said that if a man were to fall into the machine they would be broken down to elemental chemicals of the earth; including oil. It is interesting that the machine used a
combination of heat, water and pressure in order to break down the living matter. God willing, I will discuss this more later in our study of Genesis.

The point here is that God made man out of the basic elements of the earth, so it isn’t a big surprise that we can be broken back down into elements again.

With the combination of the human form and “the breath of life” from God, “man became a living soul.” I think that there is much more to these things than meets the eye, but I only perceive just a little bit of it. “Breath” is what the word “spirit” in Hebrew is sometimes interpreted as. These things are very mysterious to me because it has to do with how a creature becomes a self aware. The animals have a soul because this is the same word used when they were given life. We do know, however, that the soul of man is different in that it was created in the image of God.

Isn’t it interesting that the more we learn about God, the more we learn about man because we are in His image and are intended to glorify Him? We don’t “find ourselves” by looking within. We find ourselves by looking at God and we look at God by studying the Bible and allowing the Holy Spirit to help us realize what it says.

Finally, we learn that man was placed in a garden in Eden. Man didn’t create his own garden. God intended for man to live in a place created for him by God.