Apognophos wrote:
By the way, you might be interested to know that the word translated "had formed" in vs. 19 is most often translated as simply "formed", which means that there is no clear indication that the action was performed before that point in time when he was bringing them to Adam. I suspect most translators who chose the pluperfect "had formed" were conscious of the contradiction with the fact that animals were supposed to be formed before this, and were trying to smooth it over. Whereas the form of the verb "to form" that is used in vs. 19 is the same as in vs. 7 when God "formed" Adam, so there's no reason to translate it differently unless the translator is sure of 'what the writer meant'.
Interesting. And, as you said, most likely trying to obscure the contradiction.