This is the history of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, before any plant of the field was in the earth and before any herb of the field had grown. For the Lord God had not caused it to rain on 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.
And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.
It doesn't say ''this is the history of the heavens and the earth'', rather it says, ''these are the generation of the heavens and the earth...''.
The word used is
'towledah' which means generations, descendants, accounts of men and their descendants. There doesn't seem to be any word that directly translates to history.
The Lord had not caused it to rain, and there was no man to till the ground, in the garden he made, and place Adam in. The rest of mankind were going about their business outside.
Genesis then goes on to explain how they have children, and how those children have children, and from them all the peoples of the earth descend. They included "the father of those who dwell in tents and have livestock" and "the father of all those who play the harp and flute" and "the instructor of every craftsman in bronze and iron." Some of their descendants lived for a long time - Mahalalel lived over 800 years! - so good for them.
The bible states that all in all, Adam and Eve had seven children. Hardly the whole of mankind.
Also, when Cain was expelled, he received a mark, to which he was worried about what would happen when others saw him with the mark.
Also, he got himself a wife, and he developed a city (not a village, or town). How could this have happened if his parents only lived just short of a thousand years, and had only 7 children?
Genesis 1 describes a creation story. Seven days, starting from nothing, and at the end of those seven (actually six) days you have everything - people, animals, plants etc etc. Then on the seventh day God rested.
The very first line of genesis states: ''In the
beginning, God created the heavens and the earth''.
After the creation of mankind (both man and woman), God blessed and instructed them to be fruitful, multiply, and
replenish the earth.
''Plenish'' means to ''fill up'', so logically, ''replenish'' means to re-fill up. That doesn't sound as though that is the ''beginning''.
OK. So Genesis 2 is talking about what happened BEFORE he created Mankind in Genesis 1.
That's not what it is talking about.
I think you should look at it again carefully. Not with a Christian mindset, but objectively.
jan.