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A chapter earlier, Genesis 2:19-20, we learn there were birds and beasts of the field and every living creature for Adam to name:
| "And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air, and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them; and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him."
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The scriptures never have been presented as a scientific journal, documenting specific observed, measured, and monitored biological activity. There was no such thing as a scientific journal when the scriptures were first written. The scriptures do not present biological systems in a manner which is relates to the taxonomies of modern scientists. If anything, biology is presented in a manner related to those biological systems a shepherd would most interact with and act upon; i.e. thorns, thistles, herbs, beasts of the field, and fowl of the air. And for whatever reason, there are some inconsistencies in the Bible accounts of biology. For instance, Genesis 2:20 tells us Adam did not have a help meet, yet Genesis 1:27-30 states:
| "So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth." And God said, "See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food. Also, to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food"; and it was so."
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As we read these words today, it appears as if time is mixed up in the Bible. After all, Genesis 2:20 comes after Genesis 1:27, and so it is easy to interpret this scriptural order as a temporal order.
Why should we think God's ways are our ways, or that God thinks about time the same way we do? Especially since God has been around for a long time.3.179 Consider how Paul teaches us it is weak and beggarly to observe days and months and seasons and years.3.180 Or consider The Revelation of John, where we are taught there should be time no longer.3.181 In fact, Isaiah is explicit in stating God's ways are not man's ways, and God's thoughts are not man's thoughts.3.182
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paradoxes