Biblical Creation of the World
day three
Genesis 1.9-13
King James Version "And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so. And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good. And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good. And the evening and the morning were the third day."
New International Version "And God said, Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear. And it was so. God called the dry ground land, and the gathered waters he called seas. And God saw that it was good. Then God said, Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds. And it was so. The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning-the third day."
On the third day, God created the earth and vegetation. These verses, as it may seem to some, are strongly at odds with verse 5 of chapter 2, which states that there was no field herb yet on the earth. For a better understanding, let's quote them from 1 to 7.
Genesis 2.1-7:
(1) Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.
(2) And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.
(3) And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.
(4) 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,
(5) And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground.
(6) But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.
(7) And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
Let's establish one thing at the outset: just because it may seem like a contradiction to us, doesn't mean that it is in fact so. It would be incomprehensible for the author of the First Book of Moses to contradict himself and yet in such a short textual interval. Critics of the Bible do not understand this and often mindlessly attack this supposed contradiction. Those who are wise will understand.
It is also worth noting that animals that fed on vegetation would have starved to death, as if they had to wait for plants to grow from seed. They couldn't eat meat then, because at that time there was no death on earth yet, Adam and Eve had not yet sinned.
Interpretations regarding the creation of vegetation on the third day in relation to verse 5 of chapter 2
Redescription
This interpretation says that verses 4 through 7 of chapter 2 again, but in an abbreviated version, depict the creation of the world with the difference that they refer to man. Then verse 4 depicts the situation that took place before the creation of the plant world.
Cultivated vegetation
The commentary says that the vegetation depicted in chapter 2 in verse 5 refers to crops that were to be grown by man, while other plants were already developed. To a large extent, this interpretation overlaps with the former. The words "herb of the field" - forth grass" can be problematic, but it should be recognized that they are speaking of cultivated plants, not grass in the sense we think of it today.
Seeds
The interpretation is that the creation of vegetation on the third day indicates the creation of seeds from which only then did plants grow, not necessarily in a slow mode, but hastened at God's call, just as the Garden of Eden was quickly created.
