Answering Biblical ‘Contradictions’: Different Order of Creation in Genesis 1 and 2
December 3, 2012 § Leave a comment
Objection:
Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 directly contradict each other regarding the order of creation. They both can’t be right – but they both can be wrong.
Answer:
Genesis 1 is an overview of the six days of creation, and chapter 2 is a more detailed and developed narrative of the sixth day, focusing on the creation of mankind. There is no conflict. If you’re critiquing the relative order of plants and man, Ch. 1 puts plants before man in order of creation. But ch. 2 (“before any plant of the field was in the earth and before any herb of the field had grown”, vs. 5) refers to the cultivation of plants, which had not yet occurred when Adam was created. God created vegetation (as well as everything else) in a fully grown state, not as seeds in the ground. He gave the responsibility of farming to Adam. The words translated to plant, field and grew differ from the terms that express general vegetation in chapter 1. Some contend that the chapters differ in the order of creation of animals relative to man, but 2:19 suggests that the animals were brought to Adam after Adam was created, not that they were created after him.
God&Neighbor 
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