Dick,
You wrote: "all" and "every" are used repeatedly throughout the OT where you
know it is in a restricted context. ... Further, you and I both agree that
the flood was local. You don't interpret Gen. 7:14 to mean that "every
beast," and "all cattle," and "every creeping thing " were loaded on the
boat, or that "all flesh" died in the flood. Be consistent.
I am, of course, aware of the sometimes limited way in which the Hebrew
language uses the words "all" and "every." But I do not find that sometimes
limited usage to be relevant in this case. This case is different from the
cases you referred to. For in the cases you mentioned we know for a certainty
that "all" could not possibly have meant "all." But in this case we do not
know that.
God did not limit the trees from which the people referred to in Gen.1:29
could eat from. And we have no reason to believe that He did so, unless we
assume that Genesis 2 is retelling another version of the same creation
account. But that is only an assumption, and very possibly an incorrect one.
(You know what they say about those who "assume" things.) If we do not make
that assumption, an apparent contradiction between the two creation accounts
exists which forces us to consider the possibility that they are describing
separate events.
Mike
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