What is the meaning of God's forming man from the dust of the ground?

The metaphor of forming man from the Dust of the Earth is to signify that man is both transient and natural, beholden to the same conditions that affect all life on earth. This would mean that humans were designed to be mortal and to feel pain as well as being capable of deciding their actions as opposed to being morally bound like angels.

The Dust is one half of man while the Divine Breath, conferring on man the capacity to improve himself and better his condition is the second half of man. Each metaphor is connected with other so as to create a mortal creature capable of aspiring to greatness, but having the freedom to choose or refuse it.