1

. Translations of these verses have raised frequent questions. Many believe that Genesis 2:5–6 contradicts Genesis 1. They dismiss Genesis as inaccurate or conclude that there are two creation accounts, Genesis 1 and Genesis 2. (Item 3 on page 385 refutes those opinions.)

Other objections include the following: The creation of vegetation was described in Genesis 1:11–12, but Genesis 2:5 says there was no vegetation. Man was created in Genesis 1:27, yet Genesis 2:5 says there was “no man.” Furthermore, it says man must be present before plants could grow, but in Genesis 1, plants came before man.

These misunderstandings disappear when one realizes that “vegetation” in Genesis 1:11–12 is the Hebrew word deshe, meaning the plant kingdom. In Genesis 2:5, “shrub” (siach) and “plant” (eseb) are special kinds of cultivated plants. Following the latter two words with “ of the field” implies cultivation or farming of specific plants—not vegetation in general. Likewise, “beasts of the field” (Genesis 2:19–20, II Samuel 21:10, Psalm 8:7) are domestic animals, while “beasts of the earth” (Genesis 1:24–25) are wild animals. “Plants of the field” (cultivated plants) were probably not eaten until after the fall (Genesis 3:18). My understanding of Genesis 2:5–6, although not a translation, is:

Crops were not yet growing on the newly created earth. The Lord God had not sent rain, and man did not yet toil for food. [Hard labor came after the fall.] Heavy fog watered the earth.

2

. Oceans and other large bodies of water change temperature more slowly than land. Today, large temperature contrasts between the two generate strong wind systems high into the atmosphere. With less ocean water before the flood, these temperature contrasts, and the wind they generated, would have been weaker.

3

. Another factor that retarded preflood winds was aerodynamic drag from the extensive preflood forests.

4

. See Endnote 5 on page 354.