Very interesting. Thanks for your thoughtful and detailed response. Much appreciated.
There are claims made that I have never heard before. Have you outlined the evidence in another post?
Not sure where you get Adam as having both sexes, or 1,000 years before Eve was taken out of him. (for starters)
The first 4 chapters of Genesis have been taught in Christianity a certain way since before the Reformation, I would assume. Too many contradictions though. Doctrine and the NT were more important items of discussion since the first century.
You have to read the entire Bible many times to get the entire picture. And there is still not enough comprehension unless you actually comment on it all every day, and then to top if off, one writer claimed what they were taught by Jesus and what He did, would take up way more than what was written down. John 21:25
"And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen."
"Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, along with everything in them. On the seventh day God was finished with his work which he had made, so he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. God blessed the seventh day and separated it as holy; because on that day God rested from all his work which he had created, so that it itself could produce."
That is from the Complete Jewish Bible.
How can there be history and generations in one day?
"But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night."
How can Adam be both sexes?
"And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man."
Ok, so the basic teaching is that Adam was only a male but in creating from Adam's bone God designed a totally separate sex. Adam knew the bone was his, so declared the woman his flesh and bone.
The issue I have, is that is not how God stated humans were created. Not that there is a conflict in Genesis 2, but the conflict is with the accepted interpretation.
"And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he
them. And God blessed
them, and God said unto
them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth."
There were
them prior to the 7th Day.
The argument is that Genesis 2 is just a repeat of Genesis 1. The them is only Adam and Eve. But that contradicts God giving the them, the command to fill the earth, and the single Adam to live in an enclosed Garden with borders, 4 rivers.
I don't hold to Adam being a seperate creation. I don't even hold to the literal implication, God created another set of animals after the 7th day and after planting a Garden. The creation mentioned in Genesis 2 is still the same time and way it was already accomplished before the 7th day, in chapter 1.
It is reasonable to state God created in anticipation for the need Adam would have when placed alone in a new Garden, way before that need was a realization. God already planned to come as Messiah in the far distant future, even before Adam was created and disobeyed. There is not even a contradiction between chapters that animals were created before humans, in one, even though in chapter 2 the only reason given, was seemingly because God saw Adam was lonely, and then God decided to create all the animals. God already knew Adam was lonely on the 5th Day when He created them and it was not an after thought after Adam was placed in the Garden.
Chapter 2 just delves into the reasoning behind the creation that had already occurred in chapter 1. It is not a reaccounting, but shows more of God's reasoning not disclosed in the previous chapter.
In chapter 1 we see creation as a whole. In chapter two we see creation from a single created human's perspective as God saw it. It is God telling Moses what to write, and He was not giving the narrative to confuse us. Not sure why people attempt to be confusing and contradictory?
Even God seems to be arguing from emotion:
"And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him. And 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. And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him. And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;"
Not that what is given literally happened. It is God even doing the reasoning. Not that Adam was lonely, and obviously God did not not have a learning curve.
It is rather obvious if you take one human and place that human in an enclosed area by themselves, they would be alone, and eventually lonely and probably board even. So why not place 2 humans in this Garden? That would certainly solve the problem. Then why did God already declare prior to the 7th day "they" were many, and already there to fill up the earth during the 7th Day of rest from all creation?
People already assume Eve was there on the 6th day, when in reality the Garden was planted after the 7th day, and not prior to the 7th day. That should not be an assumption. Those on the 6th day were male and female and told to fill the earth. After the 7th day we see one assumed male all alone in a garden full of animals and vegetation, needing something to do because he was "lonely". Then after naming all the animals, which was supposed to take 6 minutes?, or 6 months?, or 6 years?, this man was still alone.
There is no need to name anything even during the 1,000 years. Nothing even died. They were not even "named" the "sons of God", until chapter 6. Here is the simple explanation from Scripture why nothing died for 1,000 years:
"And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and
every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so."
Every seed from every plant and every tree was consumed as food by every living thing on the whole earth. Nothing died and no seed ever germinated. It never left the body either. How do we know this?
"Here is the history of the heavens and the earth when they were created. On the day when Adonai, God, made earth and heaven, there was as yet no wild bush on the earth, and no wild plant had as yet sprung up; for Adonai, God, had not caused it to rain on the earth, and there was no one to cultivate the ground. Rather, a mist went up from the earth which watered the entire surface of the ground." CJB
"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, 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. But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground." KJV
The first set of verses point out no wild plants sprung up. No domesticated plants were ever used. Now the KJV made more sense that for many generations of human and animal life, a thousand years, no seed ever went into the ground, died and came up again, not wild, nor domestic. So the plants and trees were watered naturally and no one had a garden nor a farm nor did they worry about anything dying or even left to die. Even the insects were part of the no seed left behind campaign.
Literally nothing was planted, and then what are we told takes place after the 7th day?
"Adonai, God, planted a garden toward the east, in ‘Eden, and there he put the person whom he had formed. Out of the ground Adonai, God, caused to grow every tree pleasing in appearance and good for food, including the tree of life in the middle of the garden and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil."
If the tree was forbidden and enclosed it was not planted prior to the 7th day. The whole process of trees and plants prior to the 7th day was to be the only food. Now we have a tree that cannot be eaten from period. Do we have a repeat of history in the future? After the 7th day, Satan was allowed to enter and decieve Eve. Not prior to the 7th day. Now we see a second 1,000 years where Satan is once again not allowed on earth. There is no sin and death during that time. And once again after the 1,000 years, Satan is allowed to decieve those on the earth. Makes sense to me, even if that is just my opinion. Not made up, but Scripture.