The Creation of Animals

[JamesWesley]

How can these passages be explained?

20And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.
21And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
22And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.
23And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.

Here we see that fish and birds are created on the fifth day. Correct?

18 The LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him."

19 Now the LORD God had formed out of the ground all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. 20 So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds of the air and all the beasts of the field.

It seems that in this passage the birds were created after Adam. How is this so if birds were created on the fifth day, but Adam was created on the sixth?


Perhaps I'm misunderstanding something?

[sleepyhead]

Hello James,

Now the LORD God had formed...

I don't know what it says in hebrew but taking the above translation as is the key word here is "had". God had formed the birds on the 5th day.

[micatala]

How can these passages be explained?

20And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.
21And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
22And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.
23And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.

Here we see that fish and birds are created on the fifth day. Correct?

18 The LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him."

19 Now the LORD God had formed out of the ground all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. 20 So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds of the air and all the beasts of the field.

It seems that in this passage the birds were created after Adam. How is this so if birds were created on the fifth day, but Adam was created on the sixth?


Perhaps I'm misunderstanding something?

I believe most scholars would say the discrepancy is the result of there being two different accounts from two different traditions or authors. Genesis ch. 1 and the first few verses of ch. 2 form one account.

I think there is a reasonable probability that neither account was meant to be taken literally by the writers or the audiences to which they were addressed.

[JamesWesley]

Hello James,

Hello, sleepyhead.

Now the LORD God had formed...

I don't know what it says in hebrew but taking the above translation as is the key word here is "had". God had formed the birds on the 5th day.

I'm not sure what the orginial Hebrews says either, lets look at some of the other translations other than what I have given (New International Version).

19And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.

19 And out of the ground Jehovah God formed every beast of the field, and every bird of the heavens; and brought them unto the man to see what he would call them: and whatsoever the man called every living creature, that was the name thereof.

19(T)Out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the sky, and (U)brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called a living creature, that was its name.

Most versions translate it without the "had" part that you bolded. Without that had, most versions translate the Hebrew as if God created the animals after Adam.

[Heterodoxus]

I don't know what it says in hebrew[sic] ....

The Hebrew text of Gen. 2:19 is ambiguous. Specifically:

• Masoretic text (MT) reflects past tense, but
  Western Leningrad Codex (WLC) reflects present tense.

Explanation: וַיִּצֶר֩ can be correctly rendered to read, among other things, fashion or fashioned, or formed or forming.

[Slopeshoulder]

How can these passages be explained?

20And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.
21And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
22And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.
23And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.

Here we see that fish and birds are created on the fifth day. Correct?

18 The LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him."

19 Now the LORD God had formed out of the ground all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. 20 So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds of the air and all the beasts of the field.

It seems that in this passage the birds were created after Adam. How is this so if birds were created on the fifth day, but Adam was created on the sixth?


Perhaps I'm misunderstanding something?

I believe most scholars would say the discrepancy is the result of there being two different accounts from two different traditions or authors. Genesis ch. 1 and the first few verses of ch. 2 form one account.

I think there is a reasonable probability that neither account was meant to be taken literally by the writers or the audiences to which they were addressed.

Yes. The Yahwist (J) and Elohist (E) writers were edited together in Genesis.
It's a collection of writing representing different starins within ancient Judaism. It is not the innerrant word of god.
This is an example of why:
1. it never makes sense to read the Bible on one's own.
2. it always makes sense to tale a Bible 101 class at your local non-fundamentalist university (or at least get their textbook and read that first!!!).

[misz.kitty]

Genesis 1 and 2 both give accounts of the direction of creation. Many scholars agree that the two chapters were written by two different authors. The differences in the order of creation can suggest how the authors viewed God's power. Chapter 1 shows God's power over creation. Here, He is presented as powerful and above all. God speaks to create everything. Chapter 2 account shows God's power, yet presents Him as personal because God is more hands on especially when He creates Eve.

[whirlwind]

How can these passages be explained?

20And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.
21And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
22And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.
23And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.

Here we see that fish and birds are created on the fifth day. Correct?

18 The LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him."

19 Now the LORD God had formed out of the ground all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. 20 So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds of the air and all the beasts of the field.

It seems that in this passage the birds were created after Adam. How is this so if birds were created on the fifth day, but Adam was created on the sixth?


Perhaps I'm misunderstanding something?

Genesis 2:5 And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground.

Mankind was created on the sixth day. Adam was formed after the seventh day to "till the ground." Were the animals and birds created on the fifth day all the wild creatures and those created after Adam domestic animals....chickens, oxen?

Of course, the "tilling of the ground" wasn't just literal. Our Savior would come from the line of Adam and they were to sow seeds of truth throughout the world.