Ok I got a question about day three in genesis 1.(please don't get offended)That is if the days atleast up to day 4 are long periods of time,how do you explain the plants popping up on day 3,it could not have been a long period of time because after a few days they would have died of from the lack of sun?This is a reason I have a problem with having those days as long periods of time.
In the first chapter of Genesis, the plants are created on the third day, and man is created on the sixth day. This creation story is concluded in Genesis 2:3, and a new creation story is begun in the following verse:
Genesis 2:4. This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made earth and heaven.
5. Now no shrub of the field was yet in the earth, and no plant of the field had yet sprouted, for the LORD God had not sent rain upon the earth, and there was no man to cultivate the ground.
6. But a mist used to rise from the earth and water the whole surface of the ground.
7. Then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.
8. The LORD God planted a garden toward the east, in Eden; and there He placed the man whom He had formed.
9. Out of the ground the LORD God caused to grow every tree that is pleasing to the sight and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. (NASB, 1995)
In this second creation story, the plants are not created until after man is created, and the reasons for the delay are stated in v. 5. Based upon these two very different accounts of creation in Genesis, and other internal and external linguistic and literary evidence, we know that Genesis 1-11 is a series of epic tales, sagas, myths, and/or legends that, over a period of many years, were edited and woven together giving them to us in their present form. In the first creation story (Genesis 1:1 - 2:3), we have six days that appear to be 24-hour days followed by a seventh day. In the second creation story, Genesis 2:4 2:25, we have only one day of creation (verse 4), and the order of creation is very different.
Moreover, in Genesis 1:1 2:3, God is spoken of as God (אלהים
; beginning in Genesis 2:4, God is spoken of as the LORD God (אלהים יהוה
. However, the ancient Jewish people believed that the proper name of God was too holy to be spoken, so they referred to Him as The Lord (אדוני
This practice was used by the early Christians, and in the New Testament God is spoken of by his title, Lord (κύριος in Greek) rather than by His personal name. In the Old Testament in the KJV, the NASB, and many other translations, we read the LORD (using all uppercase letters) where in the Hebrew text the personal name of God is used. In the Old Testament in the same translations, we read the Lord (using an initial uppercase letter followed by three lowercase letters) where in the Hebrew text the title of God is used. This is further evidence that we have in the first two chapters of Genesis two stories of creation that are not only very different from each other regarding their chronology, but also regarding their designation of God.