Biblically speaking, which came first? Animals or people?

Question

Firstly, please understand that I'm not trying to start a fight or demean anyone's beliefs. I'm genuinely curious about this.

I personally do believe that the Bible contains contradictions, but I understand that nearly all of them can be explained logically if one accepts certain premises on faith.

However, I have never heard an acceptable apologetic for the differing creation accounts between Genesis 1 (animals came first) and Genesis 2 (people came first). How do those who believe in biblical inerrency reconcile those two accounts?

Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

The animals came first as per Genesis 1. If you look at Genesis 2 in the original Hebrew, it says that God had already formed the animals from the earth (yâtsar) and then brought them before Adam. He is not created them again, after Adam, in Genesis 2. Rather he parades what he had already made before man. "And out of the ground the LORD God "had already" formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam" would be an accurate translation of the verse.

Unfortunately, the English language does not have a verb tense which matches that in the Hebrew. Bible translators try very hard to do a one word for one word translation whenever possible. There is no "one word" that conveys the Hebrew verb at that point. It would take a short phrase to convery the idead of a completed action, such as "had already made".

So the order is, animals first, man second, parade them by third, and woman last.

We all know Adam was made near the end of the day, not at the beginning. After all, he was made just a little before Eve. (LOL)

Answer 2

In Genesis 1, beasts were created before man.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In Genesis 2, man was created before beasts.

Genesis 1 gives the order of creation chronologically. The wording in Genesis 2 may seem odd, but this is what is suggested by the original Hebrew:
In 2:18, God says He will 'make' a help meet for Adam. The word used for 'make' is the Hebrew 'asah', which means 'to appoint'. If He was speaking of creating a help meet for Adam, the word would have been 'banah' (the word used when it says God 'made' Eve).
2:19 says, "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.". According to the original Hebrew, this could very well mean that God had previously created the beasts and fowl, and was now bringing them to Adam. A lot of critics point out the word 'and' at the beginning of this passage, which suggests a specific order of events. But no word for 'and' appears in the original Hebrew passage. I will concede that the English translation does seem to suggest a contradiction of Genesis 1, but what the author of Genesis 1 wrote did not contradict Genesis 2. Not a contradiction.

Answer 3

no reason to animals came first in the time of the 6 creation periods. as with all things each to its season critters had to "bear fruit andMultiply" to and to people in distances some might think the critter came after the people because in the fullness of time the critters had to get where the muggles were

Answer 4

Man was given the animals for his consumption and was told to tend them, so they must have come first. Or perhaps they both came together in the world? The hebrew word for day (the seven days of the creation) is ambiguous.

Answer 5

There is no confusion; animals were created before man. In the design, God created man and had him name the animals then only to realize that he did not have a suitable companion. Thus, He (God) created woman.

But to more than a few out here in cyber answer land, this is all a fairy tale.

Answer 6

Don't know which Bible you've read, but the one I read says Animals came first. Also I've been to other types of churchs (baptist, pinacostal, catholic ect..) and they say the same also. What Bible are you reading anyways?

Answer 7

at least, the Bible i've read it says that first had came people:Adam and then Eve
after that animals

Answer 8

I think your first answer is correct, that the animals came first.

Sandy

P.S. Doesn't really answer the chicken-egg question, does it?

Answer 9

Single celled amoebas that in time over millions of years evolved into early plant and animal life..read DARWIN...get EDUCATED!!

Answer 10

Design flaws...