Eating Meat, Part 2

Originally, Adam and Eve were herbivores, as were all the animals. Genesis 1:29-30 makes this abundantly clear. Somehow the scheme of things changed after the Fall, when death entered the picture.

We know that animals were the first of God's creatures with "nephesh" to experience physical death. As mentioned in yesterday's blog, Genesis 3:21 implies that God himself killed some animals and made coverings for Adam and Eve out of their skins. The skins thus served as constant reminders of the proposition of Romans 6:23a: "For the wages of sin is death...."

Genesis 3:21 also seems to serve as the beginning of animals being used by humans as sacrifices for worshiping God. In Genesis 4:4, we read of Abel bringing to the Lord "fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock". Obviously, the use of animals in this way involved the intentional infliction of death upon them. It seems safe to assume that after the Fall animals also began dying for other reasons, such as disease, injury, or even "old age". Such deaths, combined with the hunger drive of living animals, are what most likely prompted the beginning of carnivorous activity. In other words, it stands to reason that flesh-eating began among the animals as scavenger-behavior rather than predation. At some point, predation emerged among some of the animals as the preferred means of acquiring food.

Predators roaming around looking for flesh to eat made the world a dangerous place, and not just for the animals, but for humans too. There are some hints that the Pre-Flood world featured animals killing humans as well as other animals. In the first place, Genesis 5 indicates that death among humans became routine by the time of the Flood. We know, based on Genesis 4, that at least some of the deaths among humans were not due to natural causes. Undoubtedly some were due to blood-thirsty animals seizing the opportunity to eat humans.

In support of this, Genesis 6:11 reports explicitly that one of the reasons why God sent the Flood is because the earth was "full of violence". It stands to reason that the "violence" included animal-against-man and not just man-against-man activity.

Finally, when the Flood was over, God specifically mentions the animals as ones he will hold accountable for the life of man (see Genesis 9:4-5). The assumption seems to be that animals had been just as involved in killing humans as had other humans.

The early verses of Genesis 9 also are where God lifted the restrictions on humans against the eating of animals with "nephesh". More on this tomorrow...