Genesis 9:1-3 - When did man start eating animals? (Part 2)
There are several arguments to be made, if one is to make the case that Genesis 9:3 is not the beginning of human carnivorism. Theologically, they include the following:
- Though sin can cause death, death is not sin
- God’s statements in Genesis 9:1-3 were not a worldwide change
- Adam’s descendants were eating meat already
Here is a good post to start with:Â
Problems with Interpreting the Flood - Part 4 - Partial RevelationÂ
I have dealt with #1 at length already. Here some good posts about it:
Genesis 2 - A recall of Genesis 1? No. It is Not.
Genesis 3 - The Fall of Man (Part 7)
Genesis 5 - Proof that Adam was born
For #2, I have written other posts describing the locality of the flood, but this is the main one:
By continuing the “local” interpretation of the Flood narrative, and the focus on Adam’s descendants versus all of mankind, it provides for an interesting read of Genesis 9:1-3…
  1 Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth. 2 The fear and dread of you will fall upon all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air, upon every creature that moves along the ground, and upon all the fish of the sea; they are given into your hands. 3 Everything that lives and moves will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.
In other words, Noah’s family is being told to fill the land upon which they stand… not the world per se, which is already subdued by mankind at large. Furthermore, it is only the animals coming off the ark which Noah and his family are concerned with, and so it is those animals that God is making fearful, and those animals (and their descendants) that God is providing Noah (and his descendants) for food.
For #3, I have not talked about this before. However, there is ample evidence for a situation that would make carnivorism quite conspicuous in its absence before the flood… a world described in Genesis 6:5, where people are evil and love to eat. Why do you suppose they love eating so much? Especially living on cursed ground? I suggest it is because, in their sin, they were eating the animals instead of caring for them!
Adam had been brought animals of all sorts to care for in Genesis 2. They were docile and helpful, but not a suitable partner. There is nothing about Genesis 2 to suggest a scope outside Adam, and ample scientific evidence for mankind throughout the rest of the world, killing and eating animals when Adam was alive… but not where Adam was. The scope of docile animals were within the realm and sphere of Adam’s influence, and that of his descendants. Though God only gave mankind the plants to eat, it would seem to me that they stopped toiling over the cursed soil when they realized how easy it was to kill and cook them.
Now, Genesis 1 is where God originally gave mankind plants, and I have said that mankind at that point was 200,000 years ago. However, noticed also that in Genesis 1, God told mankind to subdue the animals. This assumes there were wild and afraid. Plants were given as easy food; animals had to be subdued first. As for Adam, that was different. Adam was actually told to eat only the fruit of the garden, and this was obviously passed on to his descendants, who were acting in sin when they ate meat. For the rest of the world, it was not sin. In fact, there was no sin yet, because there were no prohibitions given to them in Genesis 1, only commands: multiply, subdue the earth. Scientifically, they did both!
And so it would seem any prohibition against eating animals (direct or implied) only apply to Adam and his descendants. Well, his descendants were most likely disobedient, and went form tilling the cursed ground to killing and eating the docile animals around them. Then, in Genesis 9:1-3, God changed it around. He made the animals afraid of even Noah and his descendants, and allowed them start eating them for food.