Did God Allow Man to Eat Any Animal Flesh?
Did God allow us in Gen 9:3 to eat any animal flesh, as we desire? Man has absolute freedom of choice, which is not interfered with, and for this reason he can choose what he desires and can direct his activities to a given purpose. A man is free to choose, but he is not free of the consequences. In the issue of clean vs unclean food, there is a common mistake made when it is asserted that the Creator had changed His mind when in one place, He allows something and in another He forbids it. We will try to show that the question of clean vs unclean food is far from being trivial and hope to provide a clear answer below. It is therefore the object of this work to explain the Hebrew text of Genesis 9:3-4, which is not distinctly explained by some commentators, and expose certain misconceptions that still exist today. We will explain the matter for this in due course. For the purpose of this study and considering the unique standing of the subject, we will focus more particularly on chapters 3 and 9 of the Book of Genesis.
After the Flood, the Creator blessed Noach and said, “Be fruitful and increase, and fill the earth” (Gen 9:1). Then, He allowed the supremacy of man over the animal kingdom. This subjection of the animals to man was expressed in the manner of force, namely, by being hunted for food. Thus, the animals lost the voluntary subjection to man and were placed under his will (Gen 9:2), as we read further in Genesis 9,
Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. I have given you all, as I gave the green plants. But do not eat flesh with its life, which is its blood. (Gen 9:3-4)
The above words are understood thusly: Originally, the Creator told the first man to eat only plants, when He took him Adam and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and to guard it, and He said to him, “Eat of every tree of the garden” (Gen 2:15-16). Rabbi Mosheh ben Nachman, also known as Ramban, was a leading Torah scholar of the Middle Ages who authored commentaries on Torah and the Talmud. He raised a question in his commentary on the verses: If Adam was destined at first to exist forever, what purpose did his eating serve? And he provides the answer that Adam ate not out of necessity but for enjoyment. Later when the first humans ate from the forbidden tree, the Creator decreed, “and the ground shall bring forth thorns and thistles for you, and you shall eat the plants of the field (Gen 3:18). Hence, we deduce from this that the first humans and the generations after them were originally intended to be on a vegetarian diet. They did not know what a carnivore diet was. However, mankind sinned greatly in the face of the Creator, which led to the necessity of “resetting” the whole natural order of the existing world. The universal Flood came and wiped out all living beings of the land except for eight humans and selected number of animals to repopulate the earth. Because after the flood, all the herbs and fruit trees were destroyed and the vegetations lost their former nutrient strength, He granted Noach and his family permission to eat the flesh of animals. This permission was a part of the covenant the Creator made with mankind.
Rabbi Mosheh ben Maimon (Rambam, also known as Maimonides) in his fundamental work Mishneh Torah says that six precepts were commanded to Adam:
(1) the prohibition against worship of false gods;
(2) the prohibition against cursing God;
(3) the prohibition against murder;
(4) the prohibition against incest and adultery;
(5) the prohibition against theft;
(6) the command to establish laws and courts of justice.
Even though all of these commands were given to Adam, the prohibition against eating flesh from a living animal was added for Noach, as Genesis 9:4 states: “But do not eat flesh with its life, which is its blood”. Thus, there are seven commands for mankind to keep. “These matters, continues Rambam, “remained the same throughout the world until Avraham. When Avraham arose, in addition to these, he was commanded regarding circumcision”. The prohibition against eating animal flesh with its blood comes from the fact that, because the soul of the animal is in the blood, eating animal flesh with its blood is like eating its soul. Later, all these seven commands would be included in the Sinaitic Covenant for Mosheh and Israel to observe.
Now, as we stated above the statement in Genesis 9 is understood to mean that originally the Creator told the first man to eat only plants. But after the flood, mankind was permitted to eat every animal, namely, just as the green vegetation is permitted for the first man to eat, so are Noach and all generations after him given every moving creature to eat. This interpretation contrasts the Sinaitic Covenant and more specifically the commands that regulate in Leviticus 11 what food is. Thus, Genesis 9 and Leviticus 11 appear to express two contradictory views on the importance of food. How could the Torah switch its terms of reference and confuse its readers? Can we rethink this?
Controversy presents itself to the studious reader. The words of the Creator: “Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you”, have been grossly misinterpreted by theologians to the degree of distortion. The most pronounced example of this is verses such as Act 10:12-15; 1Ti 4:3-5; Rom 14:3, Rom 14:14, Rom 14:20; 1Co 10:23, 1Co 10:25-26, 1Co 10:31; Col 2:16, Col 2:21-22; 1Ti 4:3-4, have been understood to mean that Paul allowed his followers to eat whatever they desire, and whatever food they find in the marketplace, as long as they have their own “kosher” list.
Insight: There is a basic rule of interpretation. When there are clear and obscure passages in the Scripture, and they seem to contradict each other, the clear passage always explains the obscure one, not the other way around. Let us take this as an example. Paul says, “you can eat whatever is sold in the market” (1Co 10:25-26). This is an unclear passage; it does not define what food is, i.e., is pork considered food? The clear passage in Leviticus 11 however comes to explain it. Keep this in mind whenever these verses have been stated. The reason why we find this important to emphasize will be made clear further on. We now return to the text.
Evidently in Genesis 9:3, the Hebrew word כֹּל kol, which means “every, all, everything” raises the controversy that the Creator allowed man to eat any animal flesh by his will and thus to decide for himself which animal is “clean” and which animal is “unclean”, in the place of the Creator who created the animals. Thus, it will be clear to the reader that the perception of controversy is expressed by the word “every”. We should not however err and prematurely conclude from the words “Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you” that man is allowed to eat every animal flesh by his will. But we should read them in the context, namely that the Creator for the first time allowed man to eat animal flesh. But what kind of animal flesh is man allowed to eat? What exactly is being described here, and to what question are we answering? Had the Torah only written the word כֹּל kol, which means “every, all”, i.e., “all moving creatures that lives shall be for food for you”, we would have concluded that all kinds of animals are permissible for human consumption. But is it so?
The knowledge of one thing is acquired from its opposite. It is from the presence of one statement that knowledge can be gained of the other. It is widely accepted that the knowledge of opposites is all one thing. Hence, the statements “I have given you all [moving creatures] and “as I gave the green plants” are associated. Scripture here adopts a concise approach to connect Genesis 9 to Genesis 3.
The clarification comes with the inclusion of the conditional phrase “as the green plants”. Thus, the statement “I have given you all [animals], as I gave the green plants” limits the type of flesh permitted for consumption to that of the green plants. In other words, as the type of vegetation is limited for human consumption, so is the animal flesh. Where do we find such a distinction between edible and non-edible plants? We will rewind the time to Genesis 3, when the Creator said to the man,
Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, saying, “Do not eat of it”, cursed is the ground because of you. In toil shall you eat of it all the days of your life, and the ground shall bring forth thorns and thistles for you, and you shall eat the plants of the field. (Gen 3:17-18)
Here man was told that he was to eat the fruit of his labor all the days of his life, the plants of the field he was to eat, while the ground would bring forth also thorns and thistles. Therefore, our verse means, “Just as not all herbs are intended for human consumption so not all animal flesh is intended for human consumption either”. In other words, just as harmful or toxic plants are not fit for human consumption, so are animals such as swine, shrimp, etc. (See Leviticus 11).
And where it is said in the second part of the statement, “But do not eat flesh with its life” (literally, flesh together with its nephesh, “soul”), which simply means flesh that is still alive, because the soul in still in the body, i.e., in which there is still blood. This explicitly forbids eating live animals. This is also a prohibition against eating of a limb cut from a living animal; that was a pagan custom that is still practice among some Bedouins.
Suggested reading:
Life of the Flesh is in the Blood
Did Peter eat unclean animals in his vision?
Knowledge known to only a few will die out. If you feel blessed by these teachings of Time of Reckoning Ministry, help spread the word!
May we merit seeing the coming of our Mashiach speedily in our days!
This page contains sacred literature and the Name of the Creator. Please, do not deface, discard, or use the Name in a casual manner.