“When there were no plants (because the soil wasn’t moist enough as it hadn’t rained yet.) then God created a mist to cover the earth so that the plants could grow.”
(I don’t believe it actually rained until the great flood in the days of Noah which was probably when the waters above the expanse he called a sky were released… this water above the sky before then would explain why people lived so long in t he early days of Genesis)

See first it tells you that the plants aren’t growing for the reason that the ground isn’t wet enough, then it tells you that God made the ground wet for them. Just a little more detail about the creation of plants like it will go on to do about the creation of man after. And then after that God created man, and that came a few days later.

There is the issue with your understanding of Gen1 and Gen2, they are not of the same events. Put them in successive order, not side by side, and you may get a better understanding. Remember that those chapter breaks where not in the original writings.

Mike

’4These are the generationsof the heavens and the earth when they were created,in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens.

5When no bush of the field was yet in the land and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up—for the LORD God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground, 6and a mist was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground— 7then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.’
All best.
Charles

I can’t but notice that you only quoted the second half of Gen 2:4, yet capitalized the word ‘In’ as if that were the beginning of the verse. I think you did that intentionally sir, because the first part of Gen 2:4 says “These are the generations of the heavens and the earth….”

Let me explain to others why you left that out:

The phrase ‘These are the generations’ (Hebrew toledoth) show that here is the beginning of a major shift of the book. It is a narrowing down of emphasis from the entire creation to one selected area, namely, mankind and his story.

That phrase is a superscription, a ‘title’, and brings nothing to a close, but introduces what follows. It points forward, not backward and is vital to understanding a correct interpretation of the first two chapters of Genesis. Yet you are treating that phrase as a subscription, or ‘summary’.

You have missed this important signpost (intentionally I believe because it throws a wrench in your presuppositions). This signpost shows clearly there is one creation account, not two as you would have others believe in order to lend weight to your argument.

In His service,
Joel

Thanks again. But the situation is perfectly clear:

Gen 1: Plants are made on the 3rd day: (1:11). Man is made on the 6th day: (1:27)
Gen 2:4-7: ‘In the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, when no plant of the field was yet in the earth and no herb of the field had yet sprung up …..then the Lord Godformed man…’
All best wishes.
Charles

Genesis Chapter 2

Verse 4
God Made the heavens and the earth

Verse 5
God made the plants

Verse 7
God made man

Verse 8
God made the Garden of Eden and placed the man there.

Verse 9
Goes on further to describe God forming plants in the garden, including the tree of knowledge of good and evil and the tree of life (which was not forbidden until after Adam and Eve had sinned and death entered the world, but they had not yet eaten of it)

This is all the same order as Genesis 1 (with some extra details such as how God created man… the only thing that we dont’ know (or at least I don’ t know, perhaps it says somewhere and I’ve missed that part) is whether the Garden of Eden was created on day 6, right after man, or whether it was on day 8 after God’s day of rest… but the order does not change… Genesis 1 just doesn’t mention the garden, that’s all.

Then you some descriptions of where the Garden of Eden was located and God’s warning about not eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil

THEN, perhaps verse 19 may sound out of order… where it says “And out of the ground, the Lord God formed eyery beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them…” but that’s where the topical order comes in. The chapter is about man: his creation, his placement, his duties. This passage is simply saying that God brought the animals to Adam to be named, and that God had formed these animals. It doesn’t say he formed them after man, it just says that he formed them period and the reason they are mentioned after and not before is because they are mentioned in the section about Adam’s duties when he names them all.

You are right, both the statements that man was created before plants, and that man was created after plants cannot be true (at least not from a human perspective, I imagine God’s view on time, being outside it, could make it true if he wanted to and we’d never get it/understand it unless he decided to reveal to us how that works, but this isn’t the case here). BUT as the bible never states that plants were created after humans, there is no problem/contradiction here. I’m not saying the bible never uses metaphors anywhere, it’s a very poetic book… but this isn’t one of them… Genesis 1 and 2 agree with each other… plants were created on earth… then man was created… later the plants of the Garden of Eden were created… the Garden of Eden did not cover the entire earth, therefore it is easily possible that plants existed outside of the Garden before they did inside… Genesis 2 is just detailing the creation of man again and it’s placement into the garden of eden… not retelling the story of creation.

The destiny for lost people is not eternal separation from God. It’s the eternal PRESENCE of God’s wrath. He is not absent from hell, He pours out His wrath on those whose names is not in the Lamb’s book of Life for eternity.

You have been asked a most valid question, and I’d be very appreciative if you would answer it directly. “If God allowed death to enter the world before sin, then what is the punishment for sin? If it is death, then what sin did those animals and other pre-human creatures commit to deserve death if there was no sin before Adam?”

- Joel

What part of Genesis 1:1 is metaphorical?

Mankind was created after plants, as indicated in Genesis chapter 1. Adam was created before the trees of the garden, as described in Genesis 2. Where is the contradiction?

I find that someone has to force Genesis into a “metaphor” labeled box in order to justify Darwinian evolution because they know that the plain reading of scripture tells them God created everything in 6 standard days. Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 are written in a historical narrative formate, no metaphor to be found.

Charles, I hope you do not take my responses as an attack. I am concerned that you misunderstand a portion of scripture that is imperative to the faith. If God allowed death to enter the world before sin, then what is the punishment for sin? If it is death, then what sin did those animals and other pre-human creatures commit to deserve death if there was no sin before Adam?

In Christ,
Mike

- Joel