Born of Clay?

Many Holy scriptures state that man was created from dust, water or even clay.
But then many scholars imagine that we were born of a chemical reaction from the primordial ooze.
That we are just the result of an inevitable variation of a pattern of cells splitting in two.
But which assumption is correct?

Maybe both are.

The Biblical retelling of creation stories state that two (Adam and Eve) were made from one (Adam).

Couldn't this also be a metaphor for the bifurcation of cells?

But then why does the Bible state that man was made in the image of God?

Was God originally a mere cell?

Well... no - initially He was much less and much more.

But as He became more aware of Himself, He began to create creatures which reflected this newly found (albeit always existent) consciousness.

Some stories even include a precursor to the Eve character in the form of Lilith.

But Lilith didn't act as she was supposed to and rebelled.

Maybe Lilith and her progeny from the archangel Samael are those from esoteric religious texts mentioning different types of man.

Maybe Lilith was one of God's failed attempts at creating humanity and the Adam and Eve model is what we are resultant from.

In any case - maybe the Adam and Eve story related in Genesis is really a metaphor for the creation of Man.