Did God create the "grass, and herb yielding seed and .. fruit" before or after he created the "greater light" to rule the day and the "lesser light" to rule the night? (Genesis 1: 11 and 16)
And if so, how did the grass and fruit trees survive those two days with no sun?
As a serious, devout Christian, that is something I always wondered.
My point is that I would never presume to have all the answers as to how, when, and how long God took to create the earth and all the life there-in.
Suffice it to say that God uses many metaphors in the Bible, and I am not so presumptive as to insist I know which ones are literal and which ones are allegorical.
Since God is said to provide light in the eternal kingdom in Revelation, and he created light (...let there be light...) before he created the Sun and stars, I would think he himself provided the light for the plants. Also, how many plants die without 1 day of light, as the Sun and stars were created the next day? I think we forget to ask how reletivity plays into a 6 day creation. 6 days for whom? Maybe it depends on your perspective. All I really know is that I don't know much but I've never had a reason to doubt God.
I think the answer is that the ordering isn't important, particularly since the order in Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 contradict each other. The Ancient Hebrews weren't idiots. They could spot a contradiction when they saw it. The only explanation is that they simply weren't concerned with such petty details, which are there either as symbols or maybe just filler to keep the story interesting. The point was that God is the ultimate creator of all things.
There was "light" before the sun and moon were created. Read it carefully again and you see how it's worded.
And .. if there was "light" then the sun and moon were only created for our benefit - because God is light and life.