Scripture · Job 38:1-7
Genesis 2:7 · The creation of Adam
Elohim Creating Adam
Then the LORD God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, and the man became a living being.
A winged figure bends over a man whose legs are already caught in a serpent’s coils. William Blake’s Elohim Creating Adam, made between 1795 and about 1805, turns the creation of human life into an unsettling encounter. This color print, finished with ink and watercolor, belongs to Tate.
What does Elohim Creating Adam show?
Blake places the creator and Adam almost horizontally across the picture. The creator’s wings fill the sky; his hands reach toward Adam’s head and the earth. Below him, Adam stretches one arm outward while the serpent encircles his legs.
The dark clouds and strained faces make this a troubled beginning. Tate explains that Blake associated humanity’s fall with its descent into earthly existence. That is Blake’s imaginative understanding of creation; Genesis 2:7 itself describes the gift of life, and the serpent enters the biblical story in chapter 3.
What does Genesis 2:7 mean?
Genesis 2:7 brings earth and breath together. God forms the human being from the ground, then breathes life into him. The verse presents human life as both physically fragile and dependent on God’s gift.
This happens before Adam receives the command about the tree. Life is given before his obedience is tested. The verse’s first movement is God drawing near to what He has formed.
Blake’s serpent introduces danger into the beginning; the paired verse brings our attention back to the breath by which Adam becomes alive.
Sources
Tate, collection record. Medium, support dimensions, collection and date.
Tate, Elohim Creating Adam. Date, medium, dimensions, and Tate’s interpretation of Blake’s design.
Berean Standard Bible. Scripture wording checked against the Berean Standard Bible.