How long do you think it would take to name all the animals?

[Bookends]

Genesis 2
[SUP]19 [/SUP]Out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name. [SUP]20 [/SUP]So Adam gave names to all cattle, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper comparable to him.

If Noah took a pair of every animal on earth aboard his ark, then that boat must have been big indeed! For the number of different kinds of animals, or species, is higher than you’d ever imagine.
The class of animals that human beings belong to, the mammals, includes close to 5,000 species. The number of birds is over 15,000. There are more than 3,000 kinds of snakes, and 300 kinds of turtles.
The mollusk family, which includes sea animals like the clam, has more than 100,000 members, while the lobster and crab family has over 20,000. There are some 15,000 species of protozoans, or one-celled animals, but the record for the number of different species is held by insects, with well over 750,000!
The best estimate is that there are at least three million different kinds of animals on earth!
How Many Different Kinds of Animals Are There? | Big Site of Amazing Facts ®

1. I take it from a straight literal reading that animals of the sea aren't included in this naming process. But just because they aren't mentioned is that reason enough to exclude them?

2. How many beast of the field and every bird of the air was there? These verses seem to suggest that there was variation of kind from the start.

3. Does beasts of the field include insects?

4. Would Adam have enough time in a 24 hour day to name all these animals?

5. When did God command Adam to take care of the garden? Day 6?

To interpret all Scripture in a wooden literal fashion, God would have had to create Adam, command Adam to name all the animals in at least a 23.99 time period before God put Adam to sleep to make Eve. And possible within this time frame Adam had the time to take care of the Garden.

 

[enoch1nine]

I wouldn't have a problem if he was alive for thousands of literal years naming every single one,
or if he did it in much less and only named all the ones he knew about.

Likewise with noah, I don't have a problem with the idea that it was the humanly populated "world" as noah knew it vs. the entire literal earth, and the idea that he only took pairs of animals he knew of.
Wouldn't make his deliverance any less miraculous or any less of a lesson.

 

[starfield]

I doubt that Adam's task was to provide a comprehensive taxonomy; he did not name all the animals (such as marine organisms) but only three groups: the cattle, the fowl of the air, and every beast of the field, so it was probably accomplished in 24 hours.

 

[crossnote]

Not all Hebrew writing is chronological either.

 

[Bookends]

I doubt that Adam's task was to provide a comprehensive taxonomy; he did not name all the animals (such as marine organisms) but only three groups: the cattle, the fowl of the air, and every beast of the field, so it was probably accomplished in 24 hours.

Ok, but their are approximately 10,000 types of birds of the air (and this is a liberal number). If Adam named 1 bird per minute, it would take aprox. 7 days. Lets say he named one bird per 10 secs, 6 birds per minute, 1440 minutes in a day, that's 8,640 birds named in one day without a bathroom break. This is not including all/every the beasts of the field yet. I think we are stretching it beyond the breaking point.

That's ok though, we all have come up with something to rational away the problems in our theories. I appreciate your attempt at answer 3 of my 5 points/questions. So either every bird of the air doesn't mean what it says in that some birds were excluded, or each day is not a 24 hour day.

 

[Bookends]

The KJV makes even hard to exclude everything else.

[SUP]19 [/SUP]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.

 

[Bookends]

Not all Hebrew writing is chronological either.

Oh, but of coarse we couldn't say this regarding the 6 days of creation in Gen. 1.

Thanks for your answer however. What about the other questions I put forward?

 

[Bookends]

I wouldn't have a problem if he was alive for thousands of literal years naming every single one,
or if he did it in much less and only named all the ones he knew about.

Likewise with noah, I don't have a problem with the idea that it was the humanly populated "world" as noah knew it vs. the entire literal earth, and the idea that he only took pairs of animals he knew of.
Wouldn't make his deliverance any less miraculous or any less of a lesson.

So are you saying that Adam could have named all the animals through out his life time before and even after Eve was created? I could buy that, however the rendering of the text makes it sound like Adam was perplexed and wondering why all the animals had mates, but he didn't.

 

[Tintin]

You do realise there were far fewer species of animals back then, yes?
There probably weren't even the common dog or cat, just their larger cousins, the wolf and the lion. So, I believe Adam could've named them all in a very short period of time.

Ok, but their are approximately 10,000 types of birds of the air (and this is a liberal number). If Adam named 1 bird per minute, it would take aprox. 7 days. Lets say he named one bird per 10 secs, 6 birds per minute, 1440 minutes in a day, that's 8,640 birds named in one day without a bathroom break. This is not including all/every the beasts of the field yet. I think we are stretching it beyond the breaking point.

That's ok though, we all have come up with something to rational away the problems in our theories. I appreciate your attempt at answer 3 of my 5 points/questions. So either every bird of the air doesn't mean what it says in that some birds were excluded, or each day is not a 24 hour day.

 

[ChristianGuy0]

The number of birds is over 15,000. There are more than 3,000 kinds of snakes, and 300 kinds of turtles.
The mollusk family, which includes sea animals like the clam, has more than 100,000 members, while the lobster and crab family has over 20,000.

What if he just named the whole kind? So if he said "Bird... Snake... Turtle", that in itself covers 18,800 listed in that quote. And we still do that today (Use the world turtle to reference all turtles). Maybe he just named them by their overall kind.

AIG responded to a similar question if you are interested in a bigger look at it.

Either way, I trust the word of God over my own fallible understanding on this issue.

 

[Bookends]

You do realise there were far fewer species of animals back then, yes?
There probably weren't even the common dog or cat, just their larger cousins, the wolf and the lion. So, I believe Adam could've named them all in a very short period of time.

Yes, this is possible, but the text does render some distinctions within the kind...All Cattle, every bird of the air. Thanks for your answer brother. But the text also seems to suggest that Adam studied them before he named them in verse 19. So doubt it took 10 seconds to name each animal, but enough time to analyze the creatures design, movements and behaviors.

 

[megaman125]

Ok, but their are approximately 10,000 types of birds of the air (and this is a liberal number). If Adam named 1 bird per minute, it would take aprox. 7 days. Lets say he named one bird per 10 secs, 6 birds per minute, 1440 minutes in a day, that's 8,640 birds named in one day without a bathroom break.

10,000 is a modern number resulting from lots of microevolution. I don't believe there were 10,000 back then. Even if there were, why do you feel based on the text that Adam would have to name each one individually like that? "That's a Great North Atlantic Pelican," "That's a Great South Pacific Pelican." I don't see that. I see it more like "That's a pelican, next," and not so much at naming animals the way we name them today, making distinct names for tiny differences.

Also, lol at the thought of taking 1 minute to name something. It really doesn't take that long. How long do you really think it takes to point and something and say, "That's a bat?" 10 seconds is more reasonable, 1 minute is just lol.

 

[Bookends]

What if he just named the whole kind? So if he said "Bird... Snake... Turtle", that in itself covers 18,800 listed in that quote. And we still do that today (Use the world turtle to reference all turtles). Maybe he just named them by their overall kind.

AIG responded to a similar question if you are interested in a bigger look at it.

Either way, I trust the word of God over my own fallible understanding on this issue.

The text seems to me to suggest that there was some variations to begin with, "all cattle, every bird of the air". How much it varied is unknown. But another problem arises from theory is this: when did a stork turn into a chicken? When did a Lion turn into a cat? Is their a fossil record showing this change in variations?

 

[Angela53510]

On the contrary, I think there were more species. If you look at relic forests in the Brazilian jungles, there are literally millions of uncatalogued flora and fauna, many of them disappearing at an alarming rate, with deforestation, flooding of basins to create hydro power etc.

But I do not think Adam was naming on a species level either. Maybe Genus, Family, Phylum or even Class. That would really cut the numbers down to something manageable. And not to say he did it all in one day? He could have started on creation day, and then finished after the day of rest? Just a thought, no scriptures to back that up.

 

[Tintin]

Naturally they would have to come from the same or similar animal family. I don't think a chicken would come from a stork. I'm not sure when it happened but I believe more species are represented today than back then (save for the species that are long/or recently extinct).

The text seems to me to suggest that there was some variations to begin with, "all cattle, every bird of the air". How much it varied is unknown. But another problem arises from theory is this: when did a stork turn into a chicken? When did a Lion turn into a cat? Is their a fossil record showing this change in variations?

 

[Bookends]

Naturally they would have to come from the same or similar animal family. I don't think a chicken would come from a stork. I'm not sure when it happened but I believe more species are represented today than back then (save for the species that are long/or recently extinct).

Tintin, do you realize that the guy (C.S Lewis) you quote in your signature affirms and asserts of old earth creationism? Not that it matters much, I just thought it interesting and that maybe you should know.

 

[Nautilus]

well considering there are still discoveries of new species there is no way adam named all of them. or if he did the names werent important enough to stick.

 

[Bookends]

well considering there are still discoveries of new species there is no way adam named all of them. or if he did the names werent important enough to stick.

I would say discoveries of old species, wouldn't you? Just because we didn't know of them doesn't mean we can assert that Adam didn't know of them.

 

[amdg]

Genesis 2
[SUP]19 [/SUP]Out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name. [SUP]20 [/SUP]So Adam gave names to all cattle, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper comparable to him.




1. I take it from a straight literal reading that animals of the sea aren't included in this naming process. But just because they aren't mentioned is that reason enough to exclude them?

2. How many beast of the field and every bird of the air was there? These verses seem to suggest that there was variation of kind from the start.

3. Does beasts of the field include insects?

4. Would Adam have enough time in a 24 hour day to name all these animals?

5. When did God command Adam to take care of the garden? Day 6?

To interpret all Scripture in a wooden literal fashion, God would have had to create Adam, command Adam to name all the animals in at least a 23.99 time period before God put Adam to sleep to make Eve. And possible within this time frame Adam had the time to take care of the Garden.

Also another thing to consider. How were all of these creatures in walking distance for Adam. Was the Garden its own biosphere or did the desert dwelling, arctic dwelling, etc. species just happen to be chilling there for some reason?