Genesis 2:7

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, Genesis 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 Genesis 12:5, Genesis 12:13, Genesis 46:15 Genesis 46:18, 1 Peter 3:20, &c.