WRITINGS
Theologians often discuss the condition of man in the Garden of Eden before the fall. God is all-knowing, so why did He place the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the garden if He foreknew that man would eat of it? It would seem that God had a purpose for this primitive condition.
The first Hebrew word in the Bible is Be-reisheet. This word signifies the very act of creation—God brought “being” into existence from “non-being,” something from nothing. In the beginning (Be-reisheet), the Lord God made all things perfect. Each living organism on earth was divinely planned and woven into the most remarkable fabric of creation, a living tapestry of God’s artwork. Every detail, carefully and methodically executed by the wisdom of God, for a creation without wisdom would be chaos.
It is written, “The LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life [nishmat chaim]; and man became a living being [in Hebrew a living soul—Nefesh Chaya]” (Genesis 2:7). Thus, God created man in His image, male and female He created us. We are therefore complex beings comprised of a body formed by the hand of God and made from the dust of the earth, and a soul, a spirit that God breathed into us. While certain basic instincts and emotions chemically derive from our physical bodies, our God-breathed souls contain the more profound essence of who we are. For this reason, we are not like any other creature.
