Inquiry:
Which came first in the creation account, beasts or mankind? Moses records in Genesis 1:25-26, “And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good. 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.” One chapter later, in Genesis 2:18-19 he writes, “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.”
Did Moses make a mistake in his writings? Is there a contradiction?
Response:
The questioner mistakingly assumes that both chapter 1 and chapter 2 are intended to give us a chronological account of creation. As one reads through chapter one, it becomes evident that indeed, this is Moses objective therein, to provide a chronology of creation. However, in chapter two, Moses is not concerned with chronology. He focuses on God’s greatest creation, man. He mentions things, not in chronological order, but rather with a view of their relationship to man. The garden was made for man to be placed there. The trees were planted for the benefit of the man. The animals were brought to the man for him to name them, for he would have dominion over them. Then finally, the woman was made for man, that he might have a helpmeet comparable to himself. The focus is not chronology, but rather the relationship of the things mentioned to man.
There is no contradiction.
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