B
BerhaneSelassie
Guest
A certain controversial Catholic apologist, who does believe in 7 -24 hour days, explain the vegetation objection the following:
This objection can be answered by focusing on the particular words used in Genesis 2 that are not used in Genesis 1. Genesis 2:5 refers to the “shrub” (x;yfi) of the field, but this word does not appear in Genesis 1:11-12 or 1:29-30. Genesis 1:11-12 refers to the “herb” (bf,[e) and the “tree producing fruit” (yrIP. hf,[). Hence, the first distinction between Genesis 1:11-12 and Genesis 2:5 is that the former indicates only two kinds of vegetation, whereas Genesis 2:5 adds a third kind. Apparently, the two plants of Genesis 1:11-12 served as food for Adam and Eve in Genesis 1:29-30.
There is a second distinction. Genesis 2:5 specifies that “not every herb of the field had yet sprung up,” which would mean there were some that had sprung up on the third day of creation, and some which sprung up on the after the sixth day of creation.
[/quote]There is a third distinction. Genesis 2:5 says the “shrubs” and “herbs” had not yet produced tsemach (xm’c.yI), contrasting with dashah (av,D,) of Genesis 1:11-12. The former refers to a budding for the next generation, while the latter refers to an original sprouting of the first generation of fruits. Hence, Adam and Eve’s food, on the first day of their creation, was the original fruit of the two plants in Genesis 1:11-12, while the “shrubs” and the budding plants would have to wait until the appropriate time.