Genesis 2:18-20

Genesis 2:18-20

When these events occurred Eve had not yet been created. God creates some additional animals in front of Adam so he could see God do it. God then has Adam name each kind of animal. This naturally raises the question of “Could Adam have named all these animals in one day?”


It has been estimated that Adam would probably have only needed to name some 2,500 kinds of animals. However to allow for some unknown kinds lets make it 3,000 kinds of animals so at one every five seconds Adam could have finished the task in 4 hours and 10 minutes.

All Animals Originally Vegetarians

Genesis 1:29-30
29 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.
30 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.


Commentary
These verses indicate that man and all animals on the Earth were originally vegetarians.

Created Kinds

Genesis 1:20-23

20 And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.

21 And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

22 And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.

Commentary
At this point God created all sea life and flying animals. The Hebrew word translated fowl in verses is `owph. `owph is a general term for flying creatures including birds, insects, bats, and even pterodactyls. The Hebrew word translated as whales is tanniyn and includes not only whales but also serpents, sea monsters, and also dinosaurs.

The implication of these verses is that in day five God created all sea life including aquatic mammals, aquatic reptiles, fish, crustations, mollusks, and other invertebrates both living and extinct. He also created all birds, insects flaying mammals and flying reptiles both living and extinct.

Both the sea and flying creatures are said to reproduce after its kind. This is an expression of the observed biological principle that organisms reproduce the same type of organism. It also involves the concept of “Created Kinds”.  These Created Kinds are the descendents from the same original ancestors. While they are often confused with species, they are now known to be more equivalent to family or in some cases genus.