Could Adam Have Named All Of The Animals In One Day?
Seven mathematicians were discussing the Bible and the question came up as to how many apples Adam and Eve ate in the Garden of Eden. Each math wiz gave their answer,
First man: I think there was only one apple in the Garden …
Second man: I think there were ten apples. Adam 8 and Eve ate 2. …
Third man: I think there were sixteen apples. Eve 8 and Adam 8 also …
Fourth man: I think all three of you are wrong. If Eve 8 and Adam 82, that would be a total of 90 apples …
Fifth man: You guys don’t know how to add at all. According to history, Eve 81 and Adam 82. That would be a total of 163 apples …
Sixth man: Wait a minute! If Eve 81 and Adam 812, that would make a total of 893 apples …
Seventh man: None of you guys understand the problem in the slightest. According to my figuring, if Eve 814 Adam and Adam 8124 Eve, that would be a total of 8,938 apples in the garden.
At that point all the mathematicians gave up!
But the question we are dealing with has nothing to do with apples, but animals. And the numbers we are looking at are not in the thousands, but in the millions. In particular, how could Adam name all of the creatures created on earth in just one day? As Oxford University zoologist Robert Mays writes, “At the actual level, we do not know within an order of magnitude how many species and animals we share the globe with: so far fewer than two million are classified and estimates of the total number range from under five million to more than fifty million.” But even taking the lowest figure of two million, how could Adam have done it?
The Bible says in Genesis 2:19-20, 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.
Time Factor – Adam did not have to go out and gather all the animals to be named, instead God brought them to Adam to be named (…and brought them unto Adam).
Total Factor – Adam did not have to name every single created animal, only a limited number of them were to be named (…and brought them unto Adam).
As one zoologists writes,
“The animals to be named (beasts of the field and fowl of the air) would eliminate about 98% of the total animals then in existence (no sea creatures or creeping things on the list). And of those 2% to be named, there would be only one specific type of each (kind), not the numerous species of each that we have today.”
So crunching all the figures together, it is estimated that the total number of animals brought to Adam by God for naming would have been around 2,500. And with a super brain like Adam’s – allowing for five seconds per beast or fowl – it would all be done in about three-and-one-half hours (even with a five minute break per hour).
The bottom line? And still leaving plenty of day six time for Adam to have a nap, wake up, and name one more creature neither beast nor fowl – woman!
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