Genesis account of birds BEFORE land animals?

[catherine]

I always believed that for all the uncertainty and differing opinions of the Genesis creation account, that at least the 'order' of things appearing was in line with evolution, or the fossil record. It's been pointed out to me that in Genesis it mentions 'birds' coming before land animals, and science has it the other way round. Can anyone help me with this??

[Cross.eyed]

This is from The King James version by Thomas Nelson Publishers.

Gen. 1:20 And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.

The Hebrew word for "moving creature" is sherets which is defined as swarming, creeping things.

Gen. 1:21And God created great whales and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

My guess on this; it is possible the "moving creature" could be either land or water bound.
In verse 21, it seems possible that aquatic life and land animals were created simultaneously, but this may be a stretch on my part.

I hope this helps.

[catherine]

Thanks Cross.eyed,

It is a possibility. I'll continue to investigate....

[Anonymiss]

By these "birds" perhaps God was referring to the pterosaurs, and that large land mammals didn't start to form until later (which science has confirmed). Also, by the time the first true birds emerged - the first true mammals were all small "creeping" things.

[dayage]

catherine,

I hold to an old-earth creation position (day-age), but not evolution.

Day five is dealing with creatures of the air and sea, not land animals. From an old-earth perspective land animals were there, but are not the focuse. Birds are a part of this day as can be seen in another creation account Ps. 104:12, 17.

On day six God does speak of land animals (mammals), but puts them into three catagories. Large mammals that are easily tamed, large land mammals that are not easily tamed and small land mammals. Man is also created on this day and told to rule over these animals. The fact that you have domestic and wild is a sign that these were mammals that would live with humans. That means that they were probably creatures created within the last 10 million years and lived long enough to see humans. Things like mammoths, wolves, skunks, etc.

You can see examples of all three groups in Ps. 104:11, 14, 18, 20-21.