Why Adam Was Formed From the Place of His Atonement

"The human" (Genesis 2:7). [He was created] by the merit of Abraham, as it is written, "the greatest human among the giants" (Joshua 14:15) - this refers to Abraham. And why is he called "the great human"? Because he ought to have been created before Adam, the first human. But the Holy One, blessed be He, said: Perhaps he will ruin things and there will be no one to come and repair after him. Where does a person place a beam that overhangs? Not in the middle of the palace, but [at the edge], so that it can bear the beams before it and after it. So too Abraham was created in the middle of the generations, so that he might bear the generations before him and after him. One brings the well-ordered woman into the house of the disordered one, and one does not bring a disordered woman into the house of the well-ordered. "Dust" (afar) - this hints at "a fawn (ofer) of the world." Just as the world was created in its full ripeness, so Eve was created in her full ripeness. Adam and Eve were created like persons of twenty years of age. "Dust" indicates the male; "from the ground" indicates the female. The Maker brings dust for the male and earth for the female, so that His vessels should be sound. "From the ground" (Genesis 2:7) - he was created from the place of his atonement, as you say, "An altar of earth you shall make for Me" (Exodus 20:21). The Holy One, blessed be He, said: Behold, I am making him from the place of his atonement; would that he may stand firm.