I read your article on Jesus eating meat<\/a>. You make the point that God gave plants to be eaten in the beginning. Then you state that was changed at the Ark. However, Abel was a keeper of sheep (Genesis 4:2) and he sacrificed the sheep with the fat (Genesis 4:4). Though it is not stated, it is inferred that they ate meat. Instead of saying that this was changed at the Ark, maybe you should say, by the time of the Ark it had clearly changed.<\/p>\n\tAnswer:<\/h2>\n
Since sheep are used for wool as well as meat, the fact that Abel kept sheep does not provide a necessary inference that the sheep were used for food.\u00a0Genesis 4:4\u00a0states that “Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat<\/i>.” However, we have no record of what Abel did with the portions that he did not offer to God, so once again we cannot draw an unavoidable conclusion in regards to the eating of meat.<\/p>\n
In\u00a0Genesis 9:3\u00a0we read, “Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. I have given you all things, even as the green herbs.<\/i>” God’s statement refers back to\u00a0Genesis 1:29\u00a0where God said, “See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food.<\/i>” Here then we know that vegetables were used as food prior to the Flood. Since God added animals after the Flood, it must be assumed that they were not given to man prior.<\/p>\n
Other commentators have reached the same conclusion:<\/p>\n
Adam Clarke<\/b>: “There is no positive evidence that animal food was ever used before the flood. Noah had the first grant of this kind, and it has been continued to all his posterity ever since.”<\/p>\n
John Wesley<\/b>: “Hitherto man had been confined to feed only upon the products of the earth, fruits, herbs and roots, and all sorts of corn and milk; so was the first grant, Ge 1:29. But the flood having perhaps washed away much of the virtue of the earth, and so rendered its fruits less pleasing, and less nourishing, God now enlarged the grant, and allowed man to eat flesh, which perhaps man himself never thought of ’till now.”<\/p>\n
Matthew Henry<\/b>: “Hitherto, most think, man had been confined to feed only upon the products of the earth, fruits, herbs, and roots, and all sorts of corn and milk; so was the first grant,\u00a0Ge 1:29. But the flood having perhaps washed away much of the virtue of the earth, and so rendered its fruits less pleasing and less nourishing, God now enlarged the grant, and allowed man to eat flesh, which perhaps man himself never thought of, till now that God directed him to it, nor had any more desire to than a sheep has to suck blood like a wolf. But now man is allowed to feed upon flesh, as freely and safely as upon the green herb.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: I read your article on Jesus eating meat. You make the point that God gave plants to be eaten in the beginning. Then you state that was changed at the Ark. However, Abel was a keeper of sheep (Genesis 4:2) and he sacrificed the sheep with the fat (Genesis 4:4). Though it is not…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[240,241,239],"class_list":["post-1374","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-diet","tag-food","tag-vegetarianism"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":36191,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-were-all-the-animals-feed-on-the-ark\/","url_meta":{"origin":1374,"position":0},"title":"How were all the animals feed on the ark?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 20, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi, I have a question about Noah's Ark that I recently stumbled upon. With all the animals that God brought to Noah for the Ark, how did the animal feces get thrown out? Did all eight people take care of all of that and take care of the animals\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":24585,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-isnt-cain-mentioned-in-the-genealogy-of-adam\/","url_meta":{"origin":1374,"position":1},"title":"Why isn’t Cain mentioned in the genealogy of Adam?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 20, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: If everything in the original Bible is true, why is Cain not mentioned once in the genealogy of Adam? If we look into the word superinfertation at the three latest I have seen in medical files is there perhaps a way that Cain could have been born just before\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":44206,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/you-misused-verses-in-did-jesus-eat-meat\/","url_meta":{"origin":1374,"position":2},"title":"You misused verses in “Did Jesus Eat Meat?”","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 17, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I was just reading\u00a0Was Jesus a Vegetarian? Did Jesus Eat Meat? on your website, and I came across this passage: \"It is true that in the beginning, mankind only ate vegetables (Genesis 1:29-30). However, this was changed when Noah departed the ark. \"Every moving thing that is alive shall\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":70843,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-animals-were-not-used-for-food-until-after-the-flood-where-did-the-skins-come-for-adam-and-eves-clothing\/","url_meta":{"origin":1374,"position":3},"title":"If animals were not used for food until after the flood, where did the skins come for Adam and Eve’s clothing?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 3, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi. I was researching a topic when I came upon your website. Before I ask the question, I just wanted you to know that I am not asking this to discredit the Bible or God. I understand that it can be challenging to understand some of the Scripture after\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1030,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/was-jesus-a-vegetarian-did-jesus-eat-meat\/","url_meta":{"origin":1374,"position":4},"title":"Was Jesus a Vegetarian? Did Jesus Eat Meat?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 1, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton On March 17, 1999, the Omaha World-Herald reprinted a hilarious article by Bill Broadway of the Washington Post. It seems the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) have launched a campaign to claim that Jesus was a vegetarian. Billboards stating \"Jesus was a vegetarian.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/scan0011-6-300x296.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":21911,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-can-animals-be-used-for-food-but-not-men\/","url_meta":{"origin":1374,"position":5},"title":"Why can animals be used for food, but not men?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 3, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: If\u00a0\"Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. 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