Before presenting the two schools of thought on this issue, I will quote the biblical text that will be referenced by each viewpoint. After presenting the views, I will express my opinion.

• "And God gave them his blessing and said to them, Be fertile and have increase, and make the earth full and be masters of it; be rulers over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing moving on the earth. And God said, See, I have given you every plant producing seed, on the face of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit producing seed: they will be for your food: And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the air and every living thing moving on the face of the earth I have given every green plant for food: and it was so" (Genesis 1:28-30 BBE).
  
• "And to Adam he said, Because you gave ear to the voice of your wife and took of the fruit of the tree which I said you were not to take, the earth is cursed on your account; in pain you will get your food from it all your life. Thorns and waste plants will come up, and the plants of the field will be your food; With the hard work of your hands you will get your bread till you go back to the earth from which you were taken: for dust you are and to the dust you will go back" (Genesis 3:17-19).
  
• "And the Lord said to Noah, Take all your family and go into the ark, for you only in this generation have I seen to be upright. Of every clean beast you will take seven males and seven females, and of the beasts which are not clean, two, the male and his female; And of the birds of the air, seven males and seven females, so that their seed may still be living on the face of the earth. For after seven days I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, for the destruction of every living thing which I have made on the face of the earth" (Genesis 7:1-4).
  
• "And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth. And the fear of you will be strong in every beast of the earth and every bird of the air; everything which goes on the land, and all the fishes of the sea, are given into your hands. Every living and moving thing will be food for you; I give them all to you as before I gave you all green things" (Genesis 9:1-3).

VIEW #1

God created mankind as vegetarians, giving them "every plant producing seed" and "every tree which has fruit producing seed" for food (Genesis 1:29). In fact, even the animal kingdom ate exclusively from the green plant, including the dinosaurs (v 30). Yes, that means that Tyrannosaurus Rex was a vegetarian.

After the Fall, God cursed the ground because of Adam's sin and said, "The plants of the field will be your food" (Genesis 3:18). He also told Adam, "With the hard work of your hands you will get your bread" (v 19). Here, God added the "plants of the field" to Adam's diet. These plants probably included roots, pods, bark, leaves, seeds, and grain.

We can only speculate as to when animals began to kill and eat each other. It could have been after sin was first introduced into the world and mankind, along with the animal kingdom, was forever cast from the Garden. It most likely occurred after the Flood, when God sanctioned the eating of meat and the animals began to "fear" and "dread" man (Genesis 9:2-3).

After the global deluge of Noah, God gave "every living and moving thing" as food in addition to the original diet of "all green things" (v 3). The only food authorized by God until this point was from the plant kingdom; therefore, the pre-Flood diet was vegetarian.

VIEW #2

Consider that God calls animals clean and unclean before the Flood in Genesis 7. What reason is given under the Mosaical Law for the clean and unclean designations? It was for eating purposes. One can easily assume that since the designations are given pre-Flood and that Noah knew what He was referring to, that man ate meat before the Flood.

There seems to be a close parallel between Genesis 1:28-29 and Genesis 9:1-3. The word "dominion" in the first passage is a broad word. It is not just having "rule over." One might wonder if "eating" is also included in the word. This is in the Garden. Once man is thrown out of the Garden, sacrifice would be necessary. Maybe at this point God gives them laws similar to some of what He gives the Israelites at a later time.

Noah and the animals were together on the ark. For a year they lived together and did have a vegetarian diet. Noah did not eat any of the animals while on the ark and they did not fear him (in fact they came willingly to him for placement on the ark). In Genesis 9 God now tells Noah that the animals will fear him once again. They are delivered into his hand. The same type of dominion that Adam had is now once again given to Noah. This argument introduces doubt as to whether the pre-Flood diet was exclusively vegetarian.

MY OPINION

Just because Noah already knew the difference between clean and unclean animals when he received them into the ark does not prove that he and his fellow antediluvians ate meat. After the Fall, sacrifices became necessary. It is likely that God only approved the sacrifice of clean animals before the Flood as He would also stipulate later in the law of Moses. Those who lived before the Flood (antediluvians) might have known this difference since they needed to perform sacrifices for forgiveness. We will discuss more about sacrifices next month.

Clearly, Noah and his family did not eat meat on the ark. He had not been given permission to do so and it would have entirely defeated the purpose of preserving these animals, which, I would argue, would also apply to the time immediately following the Flood.

Did "dominion" over the animals in Genesis 1:28 include eating them? God told Adam and Eve to be "masters" of the earth and "rulers" over the animals. This language does not suggest "eating" them. I disagree that Noah was given "the same type of dominion" that Adam had. The language is clearly different after the Flood when God told Noah that "the fear of you will be strong in every beast." He said "will be," not "will be again."

Although God cursed the serpent and caused "enmity" between it and mankind, I can find no other evidence that animals ever feared men before the Flood. Nevertheless, I recognize that it is possible. I suppose that animals may have feared men since sacrifices were required, but God's commandment in Genesis 9 does not suggest this.

Divine intervention was necessary to get the animals into the ark and preserve their lives. God probably gave them a migratory instinct so that they would travel to the ark when it was ready. He might also have given them a hibernation instinct so that they would require less food on their yearlong voyage aboard the ark. If animals did fear men before the Flood, then it would have also been necessary for God to miraculously remove that fear to guide them into the ark. If this were true, I believe that God would have said "the fear of you will be strong [again] in every beast of the earth and every bird of the air."

Taking Genesis 9:2-3 literally, we can easily see that God changed His commandment from the Garden to the Flood. He now tells Noah that the relationship with man and animals will change. The animals "are given into your hands" and "the fear of you will be strong in every beast" because they "will be food for you." The last phrase strongly suggests that this commandment is different from the first. Here, God compares His two commandments, "I give them all to you as before I gave you all green things." Man went from vegetarian to omnivore in a few sentences.

He commanded that "every" living thing, along with plants, could be eaten (Genesis 9:2-3). It appears here that God gave Noah and his family permission to choose any creature for food. Remember that God sent seven pairs of each clean animal and only one pair (a male and female) of the unclean animals to reside on the ark (Genesis 7:2). If Noah and his family ate even one of any unclean animal, that species would immediately become extinct (assuming that breeding only occurred after the animals were set free).

God put these animals under Noah's care in order to preserve each kind from the catastrophic deluge. After releasing these animals from the ark, God gave Noah permission to eat "every" animal. I firmly believe that Noah would have left the unclean animals to breed and populate before even considering them for food. He had plenty of clean animals to eat and offer for sacrifice.

Just as God commanded Adam and Eve in the Garden, He commanded Noah and his sons to "be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth." Part of replenishing the earth after the Flood would have been to preserve the animals from extinction. Again, I believe that Noah's family did not eat the unclean animals until they were established, if ever.

He was certainly within his rights to eat them into extinction. Is this what happened to the dinosaurs? Did this permission only apply after the unclean animals had bred enough to establish a population? Did he ever eat unclean animals? I don't know. We are not told.

The language in Genesis 1:29 and 9:2, however, gives us a clear demarcation of lifestyles. In addition to "all green things" God gave mankind "every living and moving thing" for food. Unless I'm missing something, which is entirely possible, the text clearly illustrates that mankind was given a vegetarian diet from the Garden to the Flood. They were not given permission to do otherwise until after the deluge. Look at the statistics below to see the prevailing opinion.

Read the Ask the Nutritionist column to learn more about how God intended us to eat. Also, check out the archived articles from the Article of the Month. Check out my recipe page, too!

Kenneth E. Loy, Jr., CN