The Creation of Man, Part Three

A Devotional Series from Genesis

Online Bible Audio/Readings Links (ESV)

2/26 Reading Portions: Exodus 9; Luke 12; Job 27; 1 Corinthians 13

Genesis 2:7

then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground...

FORMED

In my Hebrew Bible, the first part of this portion of the verse begins like this: וייצר יהוה אלהים את־האדם (vay-yitz-ER YHVH el-ō-HEEYM et HA-ad-AM)

Our English word “formed” comes from the Hebrew root יָצַר (yaw-TZAR), which means “to mold” or “to squeeze into shape.” Now we’ve already meditated in an earlier devotional thought upon God’s creating mankind, man and woman, from nothing (Gen 1:26-27, see devotional from 2/18/26). Yet, here, YHVH God reveals the minutiae of the physical part of man. He took the dust from the ground that was watered by the mist rising from the earth (Gen 2:6), and from that clay He pinched, formed, molded, and squeezed that mud into Adam. Why was this so? What YHVH God does here in the physical formation of the first man, He foreshadows what He intends to do spiritually to men of faith when they are redeemed by God’s grace through the gospel of the Lord Jesus Messiah. In God’s providential design, He planned, formed, and ordained from the beginning, that the Living God was already beginning…

…for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, in order that He might be the firstborn among many brothers. Romans 8:28-29

Again, God formed man in the beginning to foreshadow the truth that we may be conformed to the image of His Son. And He did so by pinching, forming, molding, and squeezing the marvelous mud of our lives so we can be more like Christ. Hallelujah! What a Savior!