#33 Genesis Post #13

Are there chronological inconsistencies between Genesis 1 & 2? Here are the key passages to compare:

“And God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth.” And it was so. ” (Genesis 1:11, ESV)

“These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens. When 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, ” (Genesis 2:4–5, ESV)

The word translated "field" in Gen 2:5 is Sadeh in the Hebrew. While it can occasionally be translated to mean land as opposed to sea, it most often refers to a smaller piece of land within all the overall land that exists. There is another Hebrew word that speaks to land in general - eretz. This context leads us toward this particular use, for it says "No bush of the field was yet in the land (eretz)..."  Sadeh has a specific agricultural connotation picturing a plain that has been cultivated. This is also consistent contextually for it says "and there was no man to work the ground..."

So the very common objection that Gen 1 says God made plants then Man while Gen 2 says God made Man then plants is misleading. For in actuality Gen 1 says God made plants then Man. Gen 2 says that until God made Man there was no agriculture, which makes sense given there was no Man.