As we read the account of creation in Genesis chapter 1, there is one unusual command that God gives to Adam and Eve that is hard for us to understand. Let’s read what the inspired writer says.
“And God said, Behold I have given you every herb bearing seed; which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so” (Genesis 1:29-30).
God here appears to limit the first people to a vegetarian diet. He also limits all beasts, fowls and creeping things to eating nothing but plants. The Scripture here is very clear as to exactly what was being commanded. Man and animals are to eat as food nothing but plants.
The word “meat” in the original Greek is ‘oklah,’ it is used 18 times and is defined as ‘food, eating, devour and consume’! It would appear that God wants only fruits and green herbs eaten as the source of nutrition. The very next time that this word is used is also very important to this original command. Let’s read that use also.
“And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth. And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered. Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things” (Genesis 9:1-3).
Now, after the flood that destroys everything outside the ark, God commands that all animals are approved for man’s food needs. It also indicates that there would be a change between man and animals; they would now dread and fear man. It would appear that prior to the flood, the world was a very peaceful place. The animals did not fear man, and had no reason to, as man did not hunt and eat them for food.
How is this possible that all animals ate nothing but plants — lions, tigers and bears — all plant eaters? What about Tyrannosaurus rex and the other carnivorous dinosaurs? It stretches our imagination to envision how that could be possible. But God said it, and that settles it, whether we can believe it or not.
If we accept this, then it helps to answer some objections raised to the biblical account. How could Noah keep all of the animals on the ark without eating each other? The dinosaurs would have done just fine on the ark, because even a baby T rex was a plant eater and did not fear or dread man. How did Noah gather up all of these mortal enemies? They were the best of friends before the flood so they would have been happy together.
The world that God created was indeed a paradise, until sin entered in. Indeed, today some of the world’s greatest carnivores are perfectly content with a diet of plants for a short period of time. Let’s take God at his Word and believe what he has told us. Indeed, with God nothing is impossible. Let’s not try to seek an explanation that we can understand, because WE CAN’T understand everything God has done!
[Editors Note: Every external evidence to the Bible that calls for a Divine Designer as opposed to happenchance confirms the biblical account of origins and strongly denies atheistic evolutionary theory. Brother David P. Everson’s ongoing series on external evidences continue to promote faith in God and in his Holy Word, the Bible. I hope that you are enjoying these articles as much as I am.]