Genesis 2:7

Esh and Iysh

And the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living soul. (Genesis 2:7, KJV)

The Hebrew word for “fire” is אש (esh). Derived from this two-letter parent root is the three-letter child root איש (iysh) meaning “man.” Not only do these two words share the same root word, but they are also related in meaning. To re-discover this relationship between “fire” and “man”, let’s begin with the “creation” of fire from the ancient Hebrew perspective.

In ancient times, before the invention of lighters and matches, fire was made with a “bow drill” and tinder. Tinder is any fine organic material such as dried grass or inner bark fibers. The bow drill consisted of four parts: the fireboard, bow and string, rod, and handle. The fireboard was made of a flat board with a V-shaped cut at the edge of the board. The bow and string was constructed similar to an archer’s bow. The rod was a round stick pointed at one end and rounded at the other. The handle was a flat round board. The fine tinder was compressed into a ball and laid on the ground.

The fireboard was placed on top of the tinder with the V-shape cut over the tinder. The string of the bow was wrapped once around the rod and the pointed end of the rod was set on the fireboard over the V-shaped cut. The handle was placed on top of the rod. One hand held the handle while the other hand moved the bow back and forth in a sawing motion. This action caused the rod to spin back and forth on the fireboard.

As the rod spun on the fireboard, fine wood dust was shaved off the rod and deposited in the V-shape cut on top of the tinder. The friction of the two wood pieces rubbing also created heat causing the dust to become very hot. After a short time working the fire drill, smoke would begin to rise from the heated dust. The fireboard was carefully removed, leaving the pile of smoldering dust on the tinder. The tinder was picked up and enclosed around the dust, and the fire maker blew on the dust, increasing the heat. The dust then ignited the tinder, creating fire.

In light of this ancient form of making a fire, let us now look at the passage in Genesis 2:7:

And the fire maker formed a man of dust on the tinder and he blew into the tinder the breath of life and the man became a living fire.