Q: When did the creation take place? And what about the "gap theory"?

A: As shown in the article, Old Testament Timeline, by counting back using the chronological information provided in the scriptures, it is clear that the six days of creation took place sometime around 4000 BC. For the most part, it is simply a matter of looking up the verses and doing the addition and subtraction to arrive at the time of the creation. There are some minor questions discussed in the article, that different chronologists may disagree about, but most still come up with the creation being within 100 years or so of 4000 BC.

While accepting that most of the creation described in Genesis took place around 4000 BC, still some Christians believe that the original creation of heaven and the earth described in Genesis 1:1 was much longer ago than 4000 BC. Many of these Christians believe that there must be a large time gap between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2, and that Genesis 1:1 describes a previous creation that was destroyed and then left in the state described in Genesis 1:2. Genesis 1:1-2 says, "1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. 2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters." Beliefs about the characteristics of this alleged previous creation vary quite a bit, but they generally include some type of life, whether dinosaurs, other animals, or beings similar to humans, living, dying, and eventually being destroyed by God as a result of sin. After that the earth was allegedly left in the state described in Genesis 1:2.

Does the Word of God allow for such a time gap between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2? No. There are at least three reasons why the scriptures leave no room for such a time gap:

1. All things created in six days: The Bible says in Genesis 1:1, "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." On this topic, Exodus 20:11 specifically says, "... in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day ...." See also Exodus 31:16-17. That is about as straight-forward and clear as it can be stated. How much time did God take to make heaven and earth and the sea and all the creatures that are in them? Four billion years? One hundred thousand years? No, six days!

2. No death before Adam's sin: Paul wrote in Romans 5:12, "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned ...." There was no death before Adam sinned. Death had not yet "entered into the world".

Paul also wrote in Romans 8:19-22, "For the earnest expectation of the creature (creation) waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now." When Adam sinned the whole creation fell under the curse and was placed under the "bondage of corruption". So none of the dinosaurs, or any other animals, could have died prior to Adam's sin. All of the fossils of dead animals that are found are from creatures that have died since Adam's sin.

3. Earth and man both created "in the beginning": As we saw above, Genesis 1:1 says, "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." When responding to the Pharisees' question about divorce, Jesus said in Mark 10:6,"... from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female." See also Matthew 19:4. So the creation of Adam and Eve was "in the beginning", when "God created the heaven and the earth", not billions of years or even thousands of years after God created heaven and earth.

Thus, the Bible makes it quite clear that the creation of heaven and earth took place only about 6000 years ago, some time around 4000 BC.

This is so straight-forward, that it should be plain to all students of God's Word. But for those who are still unsure, below, I address a couple of Bible passages that are sometimes errantly taught to be supportive of gap theories.

First, some read Genesis 1:2 and say that it would not make sense for the creation to have ever been in such a state, so incomplete. But by definition, it was incomplete until it was complete. And we have clear examples of things being in incomplete states at different times during the creation week. Consider that prior to the sixth day, the elements that would make up the physical body of Adam were the scattered dust of the earth. That's pretty incomplete. Even the dust of the earth was covered by water until the third day (Genesis 1:9). And prior to the fifth day, the seas had not brought forth fish, and so forth. The creation took six days, and it was not complete on day one or two or three, et cetera but after the sixth day, when "the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them" (Genesis 2:1). Prior to that, they were incomplete.

Another Bible passage that is often mistakenly used by those who believe there is some type of time gap between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2 is Jeremiah 4:23-26.

In Jeremiah 4, God is speaking to Israel (4:1), because of their sin against God, about how Jerusalem (4:14) would be invaded by the Babylonians around 600 BC. He says "my people is foolish ... wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge." This is Jeremiah 4:22, the verse immediately preceding the 23-26 passage. Verse 25 reveals that the birds have not died, but they have simply "fled". The people also have not all died, but fled, as verse 29 says. And why? ... not because of a global catastrophe, but because of the "horsemen and the bowmen" (verse 29). And to where? ... "into thickets" and "up upon the rocks (hills)".

In the book of Jeremiah, the word "Israel" occurs 126 times, "Judah" 181 times, "Jerusalem" 108 times, "Zion" 17 times, and "my people" 43 times, for a combined total of 475 occurrences. And each of those terms occur in Jeremiah chapter 4 a total of 16 times.

It would be against the principles sound Bible study to pull the four verses of Jeremiah 4:23-26 out of the simple and straight-forward context of the surrounding verses and chapters about the land of Israel being invaded and to say that verses 23-26 refer to the entire planet at a time thousands of years before the nation of Israel even existed. It would be hard to find a more obvious example of taking something out of context.

Besides this, in Genesis 1:2, there is no dry land. The earth is still covered with water and dry land does not appear until the third day (Genesis 1:9). In contrast, Jeremiah 4:23-26 speaks of many aspects of the dry land including mountains, hills, wilderness, and cities.

Birds do not appear until the fifth day in Genesis, but Jeremiah 4:23-26 says the birds had "fled". Of course birds cannot flee before they are created.

Some see the words, "without form and void", used to describe the "earth" in Jeremiah 4:23 and the similarity to Genesis 1:2, and think they must be referring to the same thing. First, the word "earth", as used here, does not imply the entire planet, but is translated from the same Hebrew word, "erets", that is most commonly translated as "land", but sometimes "earth", "country", or "ground". Also, the same Hebrew words "tohu" and "bohu", translated "without form and void" here, are also used in Isaiah 34:11. But there, they are translated in KJV as "confusion" and "emptiness". "But the cormorant and the bittern shall possess it; the owl also and the raven shall dwell in it: and he shall stretch out upon it the line of confusion, and the stones of emptiness." The context in Isaiah 34:11 is when God pours out His fury at the end of the future tribulation. So the usage of "tohu" and "bohu" does not imply any association with the creation account. They are used to describe conditions on the first day and conditions after the Babylonian invasion and conditions during the future tribulation.

[Besides the occurrences of tohu in Jeremiah 4:23 and Genesis 1:2, tohu also occurs in 18 other places in the old testament, and in each case, it is translated as something other than "without form".]

For these reasons, it is not at all reasonable to believe that Jeremiah 4:23-26 has anything to do with the creation account in Genesis. It is a prophecy about Israel being invaded by the Babylonians because of their sin against God.

Q: When were all the heavenly beings created, including the angels and Satan?

A: The last verse of Genesis chapter 1, verse 31, says, "And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day." Moving right into chapter 2, Genesis 2:1 says, "Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them." In modern English, we may not be that accustomed to the word "host" being used in this way. In Genesis 2:1, "host" is translated from the Hebrew word "tsaba", which is used in scripture to refer to armies or large numbers of people or heavenly beings (Nehemiah 9:6). So Genesis 2:1 tells us that all the heavenly beings, including the angels and Satan (and all of the earthly beings), were all created during the six days of creation that were detailed in Genesis chapter 1. This is also clearly stated in Exodus 20:11 which says, "... in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is ...."

One might then wonder when during the six days were the heavenly beings created? Genesis chapter 1 does not appear to specify which day, but Job 38:4-7 would seem to imply that they were created on the first day, by indicating that they were present when God created the earth. God said to Job, "Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding. Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it? Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof; When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?"

Genesis 1:1 says, "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." Note the order. It does not say, "the earth and the heaven". Perhaps that sequence is important, and the host of heaven (all of the heavenly beings) were created with the heaven or just after, but before the earth, and on that same day, the first day.

Q: When when did Satan first sin against God?

A: In the Q&A on when the heavenly beings were created, we saw from Genesis 1:31 - 2:1, Exodus 20:11, Job 38:4-7, and Genesis 1:1 that Satan and all the other heavenly beings were created during the creation week of Genesis 1, on the first day. Of course, Satan's first sin occurred some time after his creation on the first day, but we can also narrow that down further.

Since Satan tempted Eve in Genesis 3, speaking lies about God, it is clear that Satan's sin came prior to the temptation of Eve.

We can also see from scripture that Satan's rebellion occurred after the creation week. Genesis 1:31 says, "And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good ...." Now would God look at every thing, including a rebellious and sinful Satan and all the one third of the angels that followed after him in the rebellion and say it was "very good"? Thus it seems clear that Satan had yet to sin and there was at that time no sin in all of heaven or earth, all of creation. Therefore God looked at every thing and rightly called it "very good".

Further evidence of Satan's rebellion occurring after the creation week is found in Ezekiel 28:12-15. Amid this passage prophesying the fall of the King of Tyre, who claimed to be a god, verses 12-15 seem to go beyond that human king to speak of Satan, saying, "12 Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the King of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord God; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. 13 Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the saphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created. 14 Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee."

No human being could possibly fit the description found in Ezekiel 28:12-15. Ever since Adam sinned, no person has been in the garden of Eden, and certainly not the human King of Tyre, nor was he ever a cherub, anointed or otherwise. Ever since Adam sinned, all people have been born with the sinful nature. So no person has since been perfect in their ways until iniquity was found in them. For these reasons, these verses are commonly thought to refer to Satan, rather than a human king.

Note that this passage says to Satan, "Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God" and "Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee". Thus it is apparent that Satan had not yet fallen prior to the garden, and that Satan's first sin occurred after God planted the garden in Eden.

Genesis 2:7-8 says, "7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. 8 And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden: and there he put the man whom he had formed." So God did not plant the garden in Eden until after Adam was formed and after the week of creation. Therefore, the fall of Satan occurred after the creation week when man was formed and after the planting of the garden in Eden and before Satan tempted Eve in Genesis 3:1.

We do not know how much time passed between God planting the garden in Eden and Satan tempting Eve. It was during this period that God put Adam in the garden, Adam named all the animals and birds, and God made Eve out of Adam. The next time marker we have is where Genesis 5:3 says that Adam was 130 years old when Seth was born.

Prior to that, enough time had passed for Eve to have given birth to Cain and to Abel (Genesis 4:1), and for them to have grown up and for Cain to have killed Abel. All of that could have happened in as little as 20 or 30 years, leaving a lot of time before that, but it could have taken much longer, filling up most of the 130 years. We are not told.

So how long was that time window between the planting of the garden in Eden and Satan's tempting of Eve, the time window in which Satan's fall occurred? It is possible that it was very short, as little as only a few days, but on the high end, it could have been as long as several decades.

Q: Is the earth under the bondage of corruption because of Satan's sin or Adam's sin?

A: God gave man (Adam) dominion over all the earth and all the creatures (Genesis 1:26). "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth." And we know that all humans came from Adam.

Paul wrote in Romans 8:19-22, "For the earnest expectation of the creature (creation) waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now." Also, Paul wrote in Romans 5:12, "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin ...." So we see that when Adam sinned, the whole creation fell under the "bondage of corruption".

Even though Satan sinned before Adam sinned, it was Adam who had dominion over the earth and its creatures. So the earth and all the creatures of the earth and air and sea did not become subject to the bondage of corruption because of Satan's sin, but because of Adam's sin.

Q: Who is the Creator?

A: There are several Bible passages which clearly state that Jesus Christ is the creator of all things. For example, Hebrews 1:1-3 says, "God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person ...."

A few verses later Hebrews 1:8-10 says, "But unto the Son he (God) saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands ...." Here, God is calling Jesus Christ "God" and accrediting Him with the creation of heaven and earth.

Likewise John 1:3 says of "the Word", Jesus Christ, "All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made."

Paul writes in Ephesians 3:9, "And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ ...." Then in Colossians 1:14-17, Paul says of Jesus Christ, "In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins: Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist."

Q: What about the origins of dinosaurs? Were they pre-Adamic? If not, did they get into the ark? It would seem that they clearly did exist at some time.

A: Yes, they certainly did exist. They, like all other land creatures, were created on the sixth day (Genesis 1:24-25), the same day as Adam, approximately 6000 years ago. So technically, you could say they are "pre-Adamic", but only by a few hours at the most, not by 60 million years. I am aware that many Christians (and the vast majority of unbelievers) believe that dinosaurs lived much longer ago than that. But I see no way for that view to square with the Word of God. Here is why:

Paul wrote in Romans 5:12, "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned ...." There was no death before Adam sinned. Death had not yet "entered into the world".

Paul also wrote in Romans 8:19-22, "For the earnest expectation of the creature (creation) waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now." When Adam sinned the whole creation fell under the curse and was placed under the "bondage of corruption". So none of the dinosaurs, or any other animals, could have died prior to Adam's sin. All of the fossils of dead animals that are found are from creatures that have died since Adam sinned.

The dinosaurs did not become extinct during the great flood either. Genesis 7:14-15 says, "They (the 8 people), and every beast after his kind, and all the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind, and every fowl after his kind, every bird of every sort. And they went in unto Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh, wherein is the breath of life." So if any dinosaur species were still around at the time of the flood, then two of that species would have been brought onto the ark.

Of course some would contend that the ark would not have been able to hold them all because of their great size. But consider that we know that crocodiles which can grow to 20 feet, are only about a foot long when hatched. If that same 20:1 ratio were applied to the brontosaurus, we see that hatchlings may have been only around 4 feet long. So space on the ark would not have been a problem at all.

So what possibilities does that leave?

1. The dinosaurs could have all become extinct prior to the flood.
2. The dinosaurs could have all become extinct in the years after the flood.
3. Some could have become extinct before the flood and some after.

In my article, Creation Science and Evolution Myth I wrote, "After such a catastrophic flood, we would expect to find vast numbers of dead animals and plants, all over the world, buried in rock formed by flowing water. That is exactly what we find. Many dinosaur graveyards have been found containing the skeletons of thousands of dinosaurs together, with their bones aligned in a uniform direction, indicating they were all killed together in one massive water flow." So the scientific evidence points toward the great flood itself being the cause of the vast majority of the fossils that are found on the earth today.

And since according to Genesis 7:14-15, all creatures with breath of life were represented aboard the ark, then for nearly all the species for which we have fossils today, there were representatives of that same species were on the ark. Those which became extinct, must have done so sometime after the flood. We do know that the environment on earth was changed tremendously as a result of the flood. Perhaps these changes did not favor them. This would seem to point to either possibility number 2 or number 3, which were mentioned above.

Another consideration is that reptiles continue to grow throughout their lives, never really reaching a full size. Perhaps the great size of reptiles is because life-spans were so long before the flood. For that matter, many of the mammals were greatly oversized as well. These are also discussed in the Creation Science and Evolution Myth article. We do know that fossils of 50 foot long crocodiles have been found which are virtually identical to modern crocodiles except for the size. The tyrannosaurus may be called the king, but I don't see one of them messing with a 50 foot long crocodile. Perhaps certain dinosaur species never became extinct at all, but are just so small now that we do not recognize them as dinosaurs.

Q: How could anyone look at all of God's beautiful and majestic creation and still believe that there is no God?

A: They can't. Now I know that some readers may being thinking, "What about atheists? Atheists do not believe in God." But actually, that is backwards. The truth is, "God does not believe in atheists." He basically says so in Romans 1:19-20, "... that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse ...." So we all know that the eternally powerful God exists, simply by seeing all of the things that He has created. This passage continues in Romans 1:21-22, "Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were they thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools ...." Later in this same passage, verse 32 says that they rebel even though they are "knowing the judgment of God". There are many people who refuse to honor the One they know to be God as God. But there really is no such thing as an atheist. There are only people who claim to be.

Psalms 19:1-4, "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard. Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. ...."

Q: Genesis 5:5-31 shows that most of the people before Noah's flood lived to be around 800 to 900 years old. How can that be possible, when in our time, very few people even live to be 100?

A: There are two major factors in play here, our biology and our environment. God created Adam as a perfect man, with no physical short comings. It took many generations for physical deficiencies to work their way into the gene pool of mankind.

But the larger reason for long life spans before the flood was probably because the environment on earth was totally different from the environment that we live in today. For one thing, it did not rain before the flood. Genesis 2:5-6 says, "... God had not caused it to rain upon the earth ... But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground." After the flood, in Genesis 9:9-17, God promised not to destroy all flesh with water again and gave the rainbow as a sign of His covenant. This is confirmation that it did not rain on earth before the flood. Otherwise, the rainbow would not have been a new thing.

Another major environmental difference was that the earth had a canopy of water above the atmosphere that may have helped shield out harmful radiation and made for a more tropical climate around the globe (Genesis 1:7). The existence of the canopy probably had many other major impacts on life on earth, but the flood changed all of that. At the flood, the waters of the canopy were allowed to fall to earth, and the water under great pressure beneath the earth was released (Genesis 7:11). So the pre-flood environment was totally different and would have impacted mankind in ways we would cannot even imagine. But great longevity was apparently the norm before the flood. The average life span of man right after the flood was reduced by about half, and declined further rapidly in the generations that followed (Genesis 11:10-32).

Q: Was Eve made from a rib taken out of Adam?

A: Genesis 2:21-23 says, "And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man." (KJV)

The Hebrew word translated "rib" in verses 21 and 22 is most often translated as "side" and second most often translated as "chamber". So I can see how some may disagree as to exactly what it was that was removed from Adam. From Adam's words in verse 23, it seems clear that whatever was removed from him to make the woman included both bone and flesh. So a rib would meet those requirements, and a rib is on the "side" of the body. Also, it appears that the vast majority of other English translations say "rib" as well.

Q: During the global flood in the days of Noah, were the fish and other aquatic life protected aboard the ark?

A: Genesis 7:21-23 says, "And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man: All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died. And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven; and they were destroyed from the earth: and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark."

Notice that every living thing on "upon the face of the ground" including the birds were killed. This passage also says "... in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died." This seems to exclude marine life, since they are not of the dry land, nor do they breath through nostrils. As for whales and dolphins, even if one were to count their blow-hole as a nostril, they still do not live "upon the face of the ground". Also, Genesis 7:14-15 does not seem to include marine life. Therefore, it appears that the fish and other aquatic life were left in the waters, and that great number of the species were able to survive the flood.

It is possible that the tremendous stress of this event resulted in the extinction of many aquatic species, or perhaps God may have protected them from extinction. Whatever the case, it seems clear that those aquatic species did not have any representatives aboard the ark.

Now some might question whether the different species could survive the salinity levels of the water during the flood. But it is difficult to say what the salinity levels of the ocean would have been just before, during, and just after the flood. We must also realize that species adapt to changes in their environments to survive. Some aquatic species today are very specialized, and sensitive to changes in salinity. But that does not mean that their ancestors thousands of years ago were. Other aquatic species today, like the salmon, go from fresh water to salt water and back again with no problem. Another example is the schools of fresh-water black-belt cichlids in Central America which can move from one river system to the next by swimming a few miles through the ocean in the salt water along the coastline. So the ancestors of today's fish and other aquatic life survived the flood outside of the ark.

Q: Where did Cain get his wife?

A: Since all people are descended from Adam and Eve, Cain's wife had to be a near relative, most likely his sister, or possibly a niece, the daughter of one of his siblings. We know from Genesis 5:4 that Adam and Eve had daughters too, not just sons, "And the days of Adam after he had begotten Seth were eight hundred years: and he begat sons and daughters ...." We must also realize that Cain lived about 2500 years before God gave Israel the dispensation of the law of Moses, which prohibited the marrying of near relatives (Leviticus 18:6-16). So at that time, it was not a sin. For another such example, see Genesis 20:12, where Abraham explains that his wife Sarah was also his half sister.

Some Bible students may also become confused by incorrectly assuming that all scripture is written in chronological order. Generally, most of the events in the Bible are chronological, but sometimes God records events in a different order. For example, Genesis 35:27-29 records the death of Isaac, which happened when Jacob was 120 years old. Later in the text, Genesis 37:2 begins telling the beautiful story of Joseph. The story begins when Joseph is only 17. This was 12 years before Isaac died, when Jacob was 108. Why did God choose to record the death of Isaac earlier? Perhaps He did it to keep it from showing up in the middle of the story of Joseph, and being a distraction from the subject at hand. Whatever God's reasons were, the events in the Bible are not always recorded in the precise order in which they took place.

Some may incorrectly assume that all of the daughters of Adam were born (Genesis 5:4) after the time when Cain knew his wife (Genesis 4:17). So they mistakenly conclude that there were no women on earth for Cain to have married. But the Bible does not say when the daughters of Adam were born. It seems only logical that some them were old enough for Cain to have married, and the scriptures in no way indicate otherwise.