[mad_as_he$$]

I can give you my answer to that question which is the creation story is a myth or at the very best a fable. Most stories in the Bible - especially the OT are written to make some point that the author thought or believed man needed to hear from their perspective and idea of what God was telling them.

It is also possible that the Earth existed as it a body that had life that God considered not suitable and just flushed to start with new stuff. The creation story leaves out as much detail as it gives. So I do not know who's time line it was. There are flaws in almost every interpretation. The reason I asked the ancient language question is because it is clear that ALL Bible stories have been tweaked for effect by translators over the centuries.

[Rippin]

You are right that the ancient scriptural texts we have to hand show evidence of translator tweaking etc. However, the stunning thing that many scholars have missed because they are so busy trying to debunk traditional views, is that the very techniques (textual criticism, linguistic analysis etc.) used to debunk, can be used to establish something astonishing.

http://www.aroumah.net/agora/rendsburg01-politics.php