RE: Dick Fisher's "historical basis" remains no less doubtful

>>>>>Jack wrote:
One thought I had about Genesis 2 is that it is just a description of the
beginning of agricultural society.

Look at all of the agricultural themes that run through Genesis 2:
2:5 no shrub of the field had yet appeard on the earth,...no plant of the
field had yet sprung up; the Lord God had not sent rain on the earth and
there was no man to work the ground...
2:7 And the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground..
2:8 Now the Lord God had planted a garden...
2:9 And the Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground
2:15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it
and take care of it.
2:20 So the man gave names to all the livestock,

Is the sixth day of Genesis 1 the description of hominid evolution? Please
see :
http://www.asa3.org/ASA/PSCF/1996/PSCF3-96Zimmer.html#Zimmer

And is Genesis 2 the description of the neolithic revolution? Did God gift
Adam, with agriculture? Is Adam in Genesis 2 historical or figurative? Is
Adam in Genesis 3, historical or figurative?

I think that it would be consistent, with the biblical description of Adam,
to put a real historical Adam at the start of agricultural society, but
there are clearly parts of Genesis 2 and 3 that have to be figurative.

Perhaps the pure historical narrative begins with Genesis 4?
>>>>>

I agree with your interpretation of Gen2. I however would note that I
believe that agriculture began not with Adam's creation but with the FALL
itself. When Adam and Eve decided to take of the fruit and in so doing, try
to become God's themselves, God sent us out to fend for ourselves going from
a time of hunter gatherer with bountiful (wild) harvests to desolation and
having to grow our own crops to survive. Even Christ said that the bird
worries not but has all it needs. We are obscesed with creating a better
life for ourselves yet one is available for the taking. We only need to
stop the race into the future and allow God to provide for us, as was his
intent.

Don P
Received on Thu Nov 18 23:50:29 2004