God Labored in the Soil

Man was created out of the soil, as part of the process by which God created our world.  Either it cost something for God to create us, or the language about God resting is just intended as an instructive metaphor.  Either way, the implication of the earth as the fruit of God's labors is not to be taken lightly.

The ancients knew that soil was the result of a gradual process, unlike the mountains, which appear to have been made (though now in a state of erosion) in a single stroke.  The people of earth have always watched the stone be turned into a part of the soil, and (as in Luke 13) they have watched the organic matter of life become again an indispensable part of the soil.  The creation of soil for Adam's birth can be spoken of as abruptly as the creation of the mountains, or the creation of the soil can be seen as the result of labor, and care, and time.  The latter view would seem the most reverent.