Genesis contradictions?
In Genesis chapter 2 the order of creation seems to be different to that in chapter
1 with the animals being created (2:19) after Adam (2:7). Doesn’t the Bible
contradict itself here?
by Don Batten
Between the creation of Adam and the creation of Eve, the KJV/AV Bible says (Genesis
2:19) ‘out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast
of the field, and every fowl of the air’. On the surface, this
seems to say that the land beasts and birds were created between Adam and Eve. However,
Jewish scholars apparently did not recognize any such conflict with the account
in chapter 1, where Adam and Eve were both created after the beasts and birds (Genesis
1:23–25). Why is this? Because in Hebrew the precise tense of a verb
is determined by the context. It is clear from chapter 1 that the beasts and birds
were created before Adam, so Jewish scholars would have understood the verb ‘formed’
in Genesis 2:19 to mean ‘had formed’ or ‘having formed’.
If we translate verse 19 as follows (as one widely used translation1 does), ‘Now the LORD God had
formed out of the ground all the beasts of the field …’,
the apparent disagreement with Genesis 1 disappears completely.
The question also stems from the wrong assumption that the second chapter of Genesis
is just a different account of creation to that in chapter 1. It should be evident
that chapter 2 is not just ‘another’ account of creation because chapter
2 says nothing about the creation of the heavens and the earth, the atmosphere,
the seas, the land, the sun, the stars, the moon, the sea creatures, etc. Chapter
2 mentions only things directly relevant to the creation of Adam and Eve and their
life in the garden God prepared specially for them. Chapter 1 may be understood
as creation from God’s perspective; it is ‘the big picture’, an
overview of the whole. Chapter 2 views the more important aspects from man’s
perspective.
Genesis 2:4 says, ‘These are the generations of the heavens
and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth
and the heavens’. This marks a break with chapter 1. This phraseology
next occurs in Genesis 5:1, where it reads ‘This is the
book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man’.
‘Generations’ is a translation of the Hebrew word toledoth,
which means ‘origin’ or ‘record of the origin’. It identifies
an account or record of events. The phrase was apparently used at the end of each
section in Genesis2 identifying the
patriarch (Adam, Noah, the sons of Noah, Shem, etc.) to whom it primarily referred,
and possibly who was responsible for the record. There are 10 such divisions in
Genesis.
Each record was probably originally a stone or clay tablet. There is no person identified
with the account of the origin of the heavens and the earth (Genesis
1:1–2:4), because it refers primarily to the origin of the whole universe,
not any person in particular (Adam and Eve are not mentioned by name, for example).
Also, only God knew the events of creation, so God had to reveal this, possibly
to Adam who recorded it. Moses, as ‘author’ of Genesis, acted as a compiler
and editor of the various sections, adding explanatory notes under the inspiration
of the Holy Spirit. The toledoths acknowledge the sources of the historical records
Moses used. This understanding underlines the historical nature of Genesis and its
status as eyewitness history, contrary to the defunct ‘documentary (JEDP)
hypothesis’ still taught in many Bible colleges. [Ed. note: for a
refutation of this fallacious and anti-Christian theory, see
Did Moses really write Genesis?.]
The differences in the toledoth statements of Genesis 2:4 and 5:1 affirm that chapter
1 is the overview the record of the origin of the ‘heavens
and earth’ (2:4)—whereas chapter 2 is concerned with Adam
and Eve, the detailed account of Adam and Eve’s creation (5:1,2). The wording
of 2:4 also suggests the shift in emphasis: in the first part of the verse it is
‘heavens and earth’ whereas in the end
of the verse it is ‘earth and heaven’.
Scholars think that the first part of the verse would have been on the end of a
clay or stone tablet recording the origin of the universe and the latter part of
the verse would have been on the beginning of a second tablet containing the account
of events on earth pertaining particularly to Adam and Eve (Genesis
2:4b–5:la).
Let us apply this understanding to another objection: some also see a problem with
the plants and herbs in
Genesis 2:5 and the trees in
Genesis 2:9. We have already realized that Genesis 2 focuses on issues
of direct import to Adam and Eve, not creation in general. Notice that the plants
and herbs are described as ‘of the field’
in Genesis chapter 2 (compare
1:12) and they needed a man to tend them (2:5). These are clearly cultivated
plants, not just plants in general. Also, the trees (2:9) are only the trees planted
in the garden, not trees in general.
Genesis was written like many historical accounts with an overview or summary of
events leading up to the events of most interest first, followed by a detailed account
which often recaps relevant events in the overview in greater detail. Genesis 1,
the ‘big picture’ is clearly concerned with the sequence of events.
The events are in chronological sequence, with day 1, day 2, evening and morning,
etc. The order of events is not the major concern of Genesis 2. In recapping events
they are not necessarily mentioned in chronological order, but in the order which
makes most sense to the focus of the account. For example, the animals are mentioned
in verse 19, after Adam was created, because it was after Adam was created that
he was shown the animals, not that they were created after Adam.
Genesis chapters 1 and 2 are not therefore separate contradictory accounts of creation.
Chapter 1 is the ‘big picture’ and Chapter 2 is a more detailed account
of the creation of Adam and Eve and day six of creation.
The final word on this matter, however, should really be given to the Lord Jesus
Christ Himself. In Matthew chapter 19, verses 4 and 5, the Lord is addressing the
subject of marriage, and says: ‘Have ye not read, that
he which made them at the beginning made them male and female, And said, For this
cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they
twain shall be one flesh?’
Notice how in the very same statement, Jesus refers to both Genesis 1 (verse 27b:
‘male and female created he them’) and
Genesis 2 (verse 24: ‘Therefore shall a man leave his
father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh’).
Obviously, by combining both in this way, He in no way regarded them as separate,
contradictory accounts.
Reference and notes
- The NIV. Return to text.
- Charles Taylor, Who wrote Genesis?
Are the toledoths colophons? Journal of Creation 8(2):204–211,
1994. Return to text.
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