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Are there two creation accounts in Genesis 1 and 2 that contradict each other?
Critics of the Bible sometimes claim the 1st and 2nd chapters of Genesis represent two different creation accounts and that these two accounts are clearly contradictory. They allege the order of events is different. But some critics claimed Genesis 2 teaches the opposite. Genesis 2 teaches that Adam was created before Eve. But doesn’t Genesis 1 indicate they were created at the same time?
As is often the case, the critics just haven’t read the text carefully. Genesis 1:1-2:4 records an overview of the cosmic events of the creation week. It gives the order of events and a broad summary of what happened on each day.
Genesis 2:5–25 is not a second or different account of creation; rather it’s a more detailed report of the Adam–Eve focused events of Day Six. This should be clear, because this chapter describes in greater detail the creation of Adam and Eve – events that Genesis 1:26-30 indicate happened on the 6th day.
But what about the alleged differences? Genesis 1 indicates plants were created on Day 3 and people were created on Day 6. So, plants already existed when man was created. But regarding the early events of Day 6, Genesis 2:4-5 discusses a time “before any plant of the field was in the earth and before any herb of the field had grown. For the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the earth, and there was no man to till the ground.”
Is this contradictory? Not at all. Notice that Genesis 2 does not teach that there were no plants on Day 6. Rather, it states there was no plant of the field and that no herb of the field had grown. The phrase “of the field” is translated from the Hebrew word sodeh, which in this context refers to cultivated plants – those that were planted by man in ground tilled by man. So there were plants on Day 6, just know cultivated plants. And the rest of the verse gives the reason – because “there was no man to till the ground.”
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Are there two creation accounts in Genesis 1 and 2 that contradict each other?
Are there two creation accounts in Genesis 1 and 2 that contradict each other?