Page 36 - ADAM IN GENESIS

that watered the ground. Obviously it was not effective in keeping the vegetation around
all year long because at this time there was none yet in the land. The nature of this mist
(Heb. ed) is a mystery. This word is only used here and in Job 36:27. The LXX translates
it differently in both instances; pege (spring) here and nephele (cloud) in Job. According
to TWOT, ed could be derived from the Akkadian word edu which refers to the annual
inundation of Babylon by the Euphrates as well as to irrigation. If that is indeed the
derivation of ed, it would fit with the interpretation that the vegetation is short-lived and
seasonal because of the ephemeral water source. The usage in Job also indicates a
working hydrological cycle when it speaks of the drops of water; they distill his mist (ed)
in rain which the skies pour down and drop on mankind abundantly (Job 36:27-28).
While the word meaning is not very well understood, it seems clear it is part of the
familiar hydrologic cycle which rules out the possibility biblically that there was no rain
before the Flood.
The stage is now set in this land for the appearance of man. In some portion of land
where the climate is such to produce ephemeral vegetation because rainfall is seasonal
and a mist or irrigating flood is insufficient to produce year-round vegetation, God is
about to form His masterpiece out of the dust of the ground. The land is in the dry season
awaiting this cultivator who appears in verse 7.
God's Garden:
We know that the verbs in verse 4-6 help tell us the background information for when the
first wayyiqtol verb appears. That verb occurs in verse 7. The LORD God is at work in
this verse (wayyiytser yehwah elohim: and the LORD God formed). We are told that the
LORD God formed man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath
of life, and the man became a living creature. It should be very clear that this is a direct
reference to chapter 1 verses 26-27 except more detail is given here. It should also now
be very clear that we are in Creation Day 6. On this Day, Yahweh elohim formed haadam
(the man) aphar (dust) min haadamah (from the ground). Notice the similarity of the
Hebrew word for man (adam) and the word for ground (adamah). The proper name for
the first man adam is nothing more than a transliteration of the word. In fact, the LXX
transliterates the word Adam beginning in verse 16. Before that it uses anthropos (man)
exclusively. The ESV waits until verse 20 when the mans helper (Eve) is made to
transliterate Adam into English. There should again be no mistaking the origin of man. As
his very name suggests, his body is part of the ground and not the product of evolutionary
refinement.
This is the first occurrence of yatsar (to form). The emphasis here is on shaping
something out of existing material. Notice it is not the man's body that is divinely created.
As we saw in 1:27 it is his being made in the image of God that is the reason for the word
bara (to create). This image we bear is the reason we are uniquely special amongst all
created things. The body is merely sculpted dust.
God's next act after forming Adam's body from the dust was to breathe (naphach) into his
nostrils (aph; LXX strangely translates as prosopon (face)) the breath (neshamah) of life
(chayyiym; LXX - zoe). With that, the man became a nephesh chayyah. So what exactly
happened here? Moses writes in Leviticus 17:11 that the life (nephesh) of a creature is in
its blood. When the animals of chapter 1 and man became nephesh chayyah, their bodies
were filled with lifeblood. Keep in mind that we share this trait with the other creatures. It