Genesis 1:27-31 The Sixth Day Part Three

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

Now comes the controversy. It says here that G-d created man, man and female and he told them to multiply and replenish the earth. This was on the sixth day of creation. My question to you: Is this Adam and Eve or Mankind in general? Some believe this is Adam and Eve. They rationalize thier position by declaring that chapter one is a generalized verson of creation and chapter two is a more specific version. Let's follow this line of thinking to it's end and determine it's ramifications.

First G-d tells Adam and Eve to be fruitful and multiply. Did they obey? No they didn't. It wasn't until after the fall and their banishment from the garden did they begin to have children. Therefore, their disobedience would have been thier first sin, not giving in to Satan in the garden as the bible teaches. This is strike one against this verse being just Adam and Eve.

Then, of course is the "generations" comment in Genesis 2:4, which appears to support this position.

These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens,

This appears to be saying that which follows, the Adam and Eve account, is happening on the third day, just before the herbs and the plants of the field sprung forth out of the ground. This would mean that G-d created Adam on or before the third day.

It is a fact that the Adam and Eve account in chapter two includes the fall and their banishment from the garden. If chapter two fits neatly into the sixth day, then verse 31 should be a problem for you.

And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

I doubt it very much if G-d would have created Adam and Eve, watched Satan successfully tempt them and watched them fall from his grace and call it very good. I'm sorry that's not going to happen. That's strike two and three and you're out of here.

So what's the alternative? Well... Let's try this on for size. G-d created mankind, man and female, and told them to be fruitful and replenish the earth. Either on that day or back on the third day, G-d planted the garden of Eden, created Adam and Eve and put them in it. The fall did not occur until after the sixth day, possibly on the seventh day when G-d was resting or later. Sounds confusing, eh? I'll elaborate further on this in chapter two, but first we need to also address the the Hebrew word, "maw-lay", translated here as replenish.

Replenish? Replenish means to fill up AGAIN. If you believe that Adam and Eve were the first ones, then you have to have a problem with this. Why would G-d tell mankind or even just Adam and Eve to fill the earth AGAIN if there weren't anyone on the earth before them? Did G-d misspeak? We all know the answer to that one. This begs the question, "Who was on the earth prior to Adam and Eve or mankind? Is it possible that there was a pre-adamic civilization as we have discussed before?

If I can keep you a little longer, I would like to address the rest of day six. I promise it won't take long.

And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.

Here G-d gave mankind the fruit of the land to eat, not the meat of animals. Yes, initially, G-d set up mankind to be vegetarians. However, this was changed in Genesis chapter 8. At that time, mankind was allowed to eat either meat of the vine or meat of the animal with kosher restrictions. This was modified in the book of Acts to what is is today. Mankind is allowed to eat anything that is beneficial to him. Go out and have a good steak.