The Meat to Eat

This post is in response to an email I received from my friend.  I hope it is a blessing to you as you prayerfully read through the verses given.

"But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear: "

1 Peter 3:15

Friend's Email

> Genesis 9:3
> 
> 3 Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the
> green herb have I given you all things.
> 
> EVERY Living thing that moveth... If you take your Eden Diet, I'll
> take the one that God mentions HERE!

My Response

Hi *Friend*... I'm absolutely horrible at responding to emails quickly... I should keep 1 Peter 3:15 in mind!

Okay, so Genesis 9:3 was when Noah and his family got off the ark after what would have been about one hundred fifty days.  God declares that "Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things."  I guess the best thing to look at would be how they responded to this command.  However I would first like to point out something that happened before the flood.

1.  Genesis 7:1-2 "Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female: and of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and his female. Of fowls also of the air by sevens, the male and the female; to keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth."

Before the laws were officially recorded regarding what animals are clean and unclean (for this was later given to Moses in Leviticus 11), God gave this instruction to Noah.  Like with the Sabbath, there is evidence that God's people were keeping these laws before Moses recorded them in any of his books five to six hundred years later.

So anyway, God directly commanded Noah to take seven of each the clean animals onto the ark while taking unclean animals only in pairs.  This shows the value of the clean animals both for the Sanctuary service and for food.

2.  As touched on in the last point, clean animals were used in the Sanctuary service because they typified Christ's suffering for our sins.  In the first five verses of Genesis 4 we see talk about "acceptable" sacrifices.  Abel offered a lamb which you may recognize as the symbol for Christ (John 1:29) and it was this offering that was acceptable unto the Lord as we see also in Exodus 13.

3.  Over time, God allowed more and more things to be included in the diet of man.  God's original plan was a world without sin.  He thus created a diet that would suite the sinless couple in Eden.

Genesis 1:27-30 "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.  And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.  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. "

God is clear that the "meat" intended for humans was not flesh, rather, it was herbs, fruits and nuts.  He even begins to mention all of the animals over which Adam and Eve had dominion then proceeds to say that the green herb is their meat, not these beasts that they were to care for.  In the Bible gateway site, type in "meat" and an enormous amount of verses will be listed.  Some of these will relate meat to the sacrifice of loaves, others will refer to cake and a few will say that it is actual flesh-food.  Meat can be otherwise translated "meal" in most cases.  It is simply food.

4.  Genesis 3:6  "And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat." 

Right from the beginning we also see dietary restrictions in not being permitted to eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.  It was of course a test to test the couple's loyalty to and love for God but it also dealt with appetite.  1 John 2:16 says  "For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world."  These three things are the ways in which Eve transgressed.  She wanted to taste the fruit for it had promise of satiating her appetite's desires, the fruit was good to look upon and it promised that she would be elevated to the level of being a god equal to the Almighty.  From this and other verses (Ps. 78:18,30 for example) we see that God places restrictions of diet on us.

5.  After sin, God permitted man to eat not only fruit, nuts and herbs but also the "herb of the field" (Genesis 3:18)

Okay, now for the main points...

1.  God wants us to be healthy!  Read 3 John 1:2. 

2.  Furthermore, God wishes that we glorify Him in everything we do. "Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God." 1 Corinthians 10:31.  Even these activities are to be done in a way that will uplift people's minds to God.  1 Peter 2:9 says "But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: "  God always intended that His followers remain distinct from the people of the world.  If Christians watched and did the same things as everyone else and if their habits of conversation, lifestyle and eating were no different than that of the world watching them, people would think little of their God.  (Romans 12:2-3; Ezra 10:11; 2 Corinthians 6:17)  Looking at the History with ancient Israel we see how God made them distinct from all nations around them.

3.  Exodus 15:26  Shows a conditional promise.  "And said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the LORD that healeth thee."  God promises health to those who obey these commandments and statutes.  It would make sense that He is, in part, referring to the health laws that the people had been instructed to keep.  It is natural that if you obey the laws of health given by the all-knowing Creator, you will be healthy.  I invite you to read these guidance rules given in Leviticus 11:1-21.  It always astonishes me how specific God is regarding what is clean and unclean.  This was, of course, at a time where the people did not have access to the variety of fruits, vegetables, seeds, nuts, etc. that we now do.  Jesus ate fish because there were limited resources and it was permitted in God's law thousands of years earlier that they could eat clean animals (in this case, fish with scales).

In closing, I direct you to 1 Corinthians 3:16-17 "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are."  God wants to dwell in us but He cannot if we are defiling our body.  As defilement I would count anything from tattoos to indulgence of appetite and unpermitted food.  It is His will that we respect our bodies.  This body is not mine.  (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)  It is the Lord's and I will treat it as He originally intended me to because I have opportunity to do so.  

 I would also like to use Paul's words to make my finishing statement. Romans 14:3 says  "Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not; and let not him which eateth not judge him that eateth: for God hath received him."  Know that I do not judge you for eating meat.  It is your own choice and God convicts every man on different points at different times (Romans 12:4-6).  I do however believe that it is non-the-less important to search out this topic for Paul says in that same chapter (Romans 14:21) "It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak."  While meat-eating is not salvational, (verses 17 and 20) it is important to not be ruled by lusts but to let the Spirit guide our life and our choices.

God Bless!

-Diana

For further study, John the Baptist is a great example of diet and lifestyle.  Study through the a topic often referred to as "The Three Elijahs" to show how we are meant to live in these last days.