Into his nostrils, 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, Gen_1:24.
The breath of life, Heb. of lives; either to show 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.
Man, who before this was but a dull lump of clay, or a comely statue,
became a living soul, i.e. a living man: the soul being oft put for the whole man, as Gen_12:5, Gen_12:13, Gen_46:15Gen_46:18, 1Pe_3:20, &c.