Matthew Poole and continuators on Genesis 2:7

7. 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 .

And by that door into the Head and whole man. This is an emphatical phrase, sufficiently implying that the Soul of Man was of a quite differing Nature and higher extraction and original than the Souls of Beasts, which together with their Bodies are said to be brought forth by the Earth, Genesis 1. 24.

Heb. Of Lives: Either to shew the continuance of this breath or soul both in this Life, and in the Life to come; or to note the various degrees or kinds of Life, which this one breath worketh in us, the Life of Plants, in growth and nourishment; the Life of Beasts, in sense and motion; and the Life of a Man, in Reason and Understanding.

Who before this was but a dull lump of Clay, or a comely Statue.

i. e. A living Man: The Soul being oft put for the whole Man, as Gen. 12. 5. 13. and 46. 15, 18. 1 Pet. 3. 20. &c.

Marginal references: Heb. dust of the ground.; 1 Cor. 15. 47.; 1 Cor. 15. 45.