THE ISSUE OF CREATION ACCOUNTS

We are continuing our Annual Bible Reading and questions are still coming from readers and recently one of our readers asked the following:

QUESTION: Were Animals created before man or after man. According to the verses. Were Animals created on Day 6? Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth the living creature according to its kind: cattle and creeping thing and beast of the earth, each according to its kind”; and it was so. And God made the beast of the earth according to its kind, cattle according to its kind, and everything that creeps on the earth according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. (Genesis 1:24-25 NKJ). Out of the ground, the LORD God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature that was its name. So Adam gave names to all cattle, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam, there was not found a helper comparable to him. (Genesis 2:19-20 NKJ). – Amara

RESPONSE: thank you for reading and thank you for the observation. Well, what am about to share with you about your question is will again share it when I come to the brief introduction to the Book of Genesis. I mentioned in part 2 of the Bible preface that the Bible we are reading is many things but one of those things the Bible is, it is a literature piece and whoever handles the Bible must handle it in its specific parts as a literature piece of work. The best way to resolve this tension within the text is to first of all ask whether these are two different creation accounts with different creatures or it’s the same account.

Are there two Creation Accounts?

To respond to this sub-question whether they are two different creation accounts we need to go to the text itself as the person who asked the mother-question did. It looks as if there are two accounts and both describe the creation of animals, plants, and humans. When you read the text, you will realize that the content of both is distinct and from the surface contradictory though that is not the case.

In Genesis 1, God creates plants, then animals, and then simultaneously creates man and woman and from that point, we seem to have them whole and existent. You have to note, however, that the creation in Genesis 1 is a God who speaks things into existence and whatever he says becomes. The reason for this is because in the Hebrew philosophy, God’s WORD is a THING. God doesn’t speak abstract philosophies and concepts but his word becomes. The creation we, therefore, see in Genesis 1 (which I believe is the only creation) is one where God creates by his word. In other words, he spoke everything into existence.

The second thing to note about the creation account of Genesis 1 is that he creates EX-NIHILO (that is creating material out of immaterial). In Genesis 1, there is no raw-material that God uses to create and if he did, that would some kind of manufacturing or evolution. So the Creation account of Genesis 1 is whole and complete and not a creature isn’t created then.

In Genesis 2, however, God is not a creator but He is presented by the reporter as a manufacturer. Allow to me first of all mention a few creatures that are put in place and then demonstrate the manufacturing of Genesis 2 as opposed to the creation of Genesis 1. The first is Man-male (v. 7), the Plants (vs. 5-6, 8-9), third are Animals (v.19), and finally, the Woman (vs. 21-23) when you look at all these creatures in the Genesis 2 you will realize that they all share a particular thing in common and that is; they all have a Raw-Material from which they are made.

Men were made out of the dust of the ground, women are a product of Men’s Ribs, Plants and all the Beasts are products of the ground. To assume that there is a CREATION in Genesis 2 is to misunderstand what Creation is and in the long run to defend Evolution (where the material must come from the material).

What is Creation?

Briefly, creation is an act of God himself. Creation is when God puts into existence SOMETHING from NOTHING. It is a production of things from the immaterial. Creation presents God as the only ultimate FIRST-CAUSE of everything material and immaterial. Creation is not a reproduction. God puts SOMETHING out of NOTHING in place (which place and space can only be provided by Himself), he ordains that thing to multiply (Genesis 1:21-22, 24, 28) that multiplication is not Creation but reproduction of its Kind; the Kind that can only be created but not reproduced.

When we say that God is a Creator we are saying that he is the Beginning. And to say that God is the Beginning is not to talk about Time for time is a creature as well but the Beginning is a being known as God who never began but in whom everything began. It is, therefore, important for all of us to understand that such a Being we know as God cannot need a pre-existent raw material to produce goods as men do and as it is mistakenly understood by the readers of Genesis 2 who consider it a creation account.

Is God a Manufacturer In Genesis 2?

The straight answer to this question is NO, he isn’t. What we see in Genesis 2, as we have established, is not creation but characterization. As I told you already the Bible is a literature piece. In literature, ‘Characterization’ is a literary device that the author uses to demonstrate the plot, the event and what we can draw from all he/she paints concerning our existing worldview. For example, human beings, unlike all other creatures, were a product of Divine hands-on activity and not just spoken into existence like all other creatures (Genesis 2:7, 22) and in Genesis 1:26 we had already been informed that only man is in the image of the creator.

The author here communicates the lesson that man is the crown of all creation upon which the author will later build on the plot of salvation a business that is exclusive for humanity and humanity alone, the rest are disposable. For a woman to have been made out of the rib of the man, the author doesn’t intend an inferior breed in women but rather the characterization is about the physical differences between men and women who are equally human beings created in the image of God.

I could go on and on but the point where we need to appreciate is that in Genesis 2 God is neither creating again nor is He a manufacturer. He created once and neither is a woman a by-product of a man. In Matthew 19:4-5, the Lord Jesus declared: “He who made them from the beginning made them male and female (1:26), and said, For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife; and the two shall become one flesh (2:24).”

Note: To Jesus the creation of humanity (male and female) was in the same time and place (beginning) and he goes ahead to demonstrate that literary device applied in Genesis 2 that characterizes a woman as taken from the rib is not about Origin but about intimate relationship.

When it comes to the trees and the animals the literary device of characterization is about humanity and the ecological system but still not about the origin.

God bless you, I invoke Truth, Wisdom and Faith
Priest M.I.T White
iTiS Well of Worship Fellowship (John 4:24)
Questioning to Believe, Believing to Live