In the day that the Lord God made the earth and the...

In the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens…when no plant of the field was yet in the Earth and no herb of the field had yet sprung up – for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the Earth, and there was no man to till the ground…but a mist went up from the Earth and watered the whole face of the ground...then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being… And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the East; and there He put the man whom He had formed… And out of the ground the Lord God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” Genesis 2:4-9 This statement clearly indicates that there was no plant before the creation of man.

There is another point in this statement, namely, that there is a tree of knowledge of good and evil. But we know that knowledge does not grow on trees; it comes through experience and learning. The first chapter has stated that the animal kingdom was created on the fifth day: “And God said, ‘Let the waters bring forth swarms of living creatures, and…