The creation stories of Genesis (there are two of them) were never intended to be a scientific statement. Instead, their purpose was as a rebuttal in order to demythologize a much earler creation story the Hebrews were familiar with, namely, the egyptian creation epic:
www.theologywebsite.com/etext/egypt/creation.shtml
In this earlier creation story, which the Hebrews would have been taught as fact during their sojourn in Egypt, there were numerous gods and goddesses. The surface of the planet was a deity, the sun, moon and stars were deities, and even the atmosphere was a deity. There were well over 40 different deities in the egyptian pantheon of gods and goddesses, with every one of them having a physical form that could be painted on a tomb wall or sculpted into a statue.
Moses, whom I accept as having written Genesis, needed to 'cancel out' this teaching. So beginning with Genesis 1:1 and continuing to Genesis 2:3, he methodically 'stripped' every deity that the Hebrews knew of its divinity. The sun, moon and stars were merely objects in the sky which gave them light, and nothing more. The surface of the planet and its atmosphere were merely two parts of this planet, and nothing more. And the other species of animals that the Hebrews saw around them were merely other species of animals, and nothing more. At the end of that passage they were to see only one Being as truly divine, and he was both invisible and over-and-above all that he had created, so he could never have his image painted on a tomb wall or sculpted into a statue.
The second creation story separated man (the true translation of the Hebrew word 'adam') from the other species of animals. The egyptian creation epic had described mankind as having been created along with the other species on the last day of creation, and then 'dumped' onto this planet along with them. This was reinforced at the time of the Hebrews' sojourn in Egypt by the belief held there that only royalty could attain an afterlife, and they could only attain it due to their being direct descendants of the gods.
Moses wrote that man first came into existence as a specie set apart by God. He could converse with God. He has given the authority to name all of the other species of animals, a symbol of authority in that era. He was given a special place (The Garden of Eden) where he could live comfortably. And he was even given a helpmate (Eve) in a special manner. Rather than see himself as just another animal, man was to see himself as in a special relationship with the Creator.
But man also had another ability which no other species have yet today. He could recognize good and evil, and choose which path he would follow. Somewhere in prehistory man had evolved to the point at which this recognition was part of his psyche, and so had lost the innocence which up to that point he had shared with all of the other species.
Moses described that point in time via his using another egyptian legend, namely, the story of the battle between Ra, the sun god, and Sebau, the serpent-fiend. At the end of this battle Ra had maimed and bound Sebau so as to force him to crawl on the ground on his belly. It can be found in The Egyptian Book of the Dead, about five paragraphs from the beginning of the book, and in the first paragraph under the heading 'A Hymn to Ra:
www.africa.upenn.edu/Books/Papyrus_Ani.html
Would the people have known what Moses was doing? Yes, they would have. The egyptian creation epic was taught all over Egypt as fact. Also, Ra was one of the highest ranking of the egyptian gods, so the story of Ra versus Sebau would have been common knowledge. So the people would have been able to receive the message which Moses was sending them without their getting entangled in the arguments which we see today.
.... I would love to spend a day with you as you minister to those less fortunate .... those things are an impossibility for me to do on a regular basis .... I prefer a quick and easy handout and then I run away 
