Seraph wrote:I think one could soundly read these as successive events and interpret it as though Adam was created long after mankind in general had already been created. Thus explaining why Cain didn't have to resort to incest.
Come to think of it, reading the first two chapters over I think one might be jumping the gun in assuming that the Bible says that Adam and Eve were the first to humans on the planet.
I agree Seraph. There are noticeable difference in Gen ch 1 & ch 2. I'll just highlight a few.
In Gen 1:24 God creates the cattle and beasts of the earth and the "creeping thing". I happen to believe these are wild animals. God claims he formed them from the earth. Then in Gen 1:26 God gives the order to create "man" which I believe is humanity.
However, in Gen 2:7 God "forms" man which I believe is 'the man Adam' but then in verse 19, Gen 2:19, God creates beasts and birds and brings them to Adam. I happen to believe the animals created in chapter 2 are domesticated animals, sheep chickens etc. Unlike those formed from the "earth", Hebrew erets, in chapter 1 these animals in ch 2 are formed from the "field", Hebrew 'sadeh', or country. Chapter 1 claims animals were created before man. Chapter 2 claims the opposite. The English word "formed" pronounced Yatsar in Hebrew, meaning to mould or form as a potter in Gen 2:7 is not the same as the English word created; create, pronounced Bara in the Hebrew in Gen 1:27.
In Gen 1:28 God tells humanity to replenish the earth, multiply and subdue it, but in Gen 2 he specifically takes this particular man and puts him in a garden. God doesn't tell him to go and replenish the earth. God doesn't bring the animals to humanity in ch 1 but certainly does to the man in ch 2. Conspicuously absent from this account is any mention of farming or tilling the ground.
In Gen ch 1 God gives "man" dominion over the fish, birds and beasts. In other words, they were hunters, gatherers and fishers. He does not give man dominion over the ground. That is, there were no farmers.
In Gen 2:5 however, it claims there was not a man to till the ground. If God had created Adam in Gen 1:26, 27 then there certainly would have been a man to till the ground. God didn't create the agriculturist or farmer in chapter 1 but does in chapter 2.
So how can they both be reconciled? You will find that in just about every commentary of the Bible about Gen 1 & 2, that the creation that follows Gen 1 in chapter 2 is a parenthetical insertion; simply a more detailed account of the creation of man we read of Gen 1:26. As long as people assume that, there will always be great difficulty in explaining how it is in chapter 1 that animals are created first, then man, yet in chapter two, man is created first then animals. The easiest way to reconcile it is, that both Gen 1 and Gen 2 are two complete seperate creations. Dr. Christian Ginsberg who compiled the Massoarah also claims that Genesis ch 1 is a continuation into Genesis ch 2 and that Gen ch 2 is not a parenthetical chapter.
So as for Cain, Cain's wife is mentioned after his dwelling in the land of Nod. Scipture claims it was his wife, not his mother or sister and that should not be overlooked it is so obvious. This woman could not have been a part of Adam's offspring, as she is not mentioned as one of Adam's daughters. Nor is her birth accounted for prior to Cain's exile. The fact is she was a part of the 6th day creation, separate from the Adamic seed line. That’s also why Cain was worried about others slaying him. What others? The others from the sixth day creation. I happen to believe that all the races ('ethnos' in the Greek), were created all at the same time on the sixth day; male and female (more than just two) He created them in Gen 1:27. So where did Cain's wife come from? From the descendents of the sixth day creation. There were lots of humans on the earth when Adam and Eve were created.
The Adamic seed line took place after the seventh day and was just God's way of showing that creation was completed on the seventh day. God didn't have to create the seed line through which Christ would come. Our Father did create that seed line or lineage because He knew that we all fall short and needed a savior whereby we may be blessed with forgiveness. That's why Jesus is described as the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world in Rev 13:8. Christ knew beforehand we would fail and just as He made us all be born into the flesh, He was born into the flesh as well, the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. (IMHO).