Arise, Kill, and Eat. - Acts 11:7
This 9 point buck was harvested on 11-14-05
Considering that I believe that God probably made man originally to be vegetarian, you may find it strange that I hunt and eat meat? But my belief that man was originally not carnivorous is only part of the story.
Before the fall of man, the only mention of food that God gives for man to eat is fruit and vegetables. God says in Genesis 1:29-30 "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground, everything that has the breath of life in it, I give every green plant for food."
Notice that even the animals are all vegetarian. In the original utopian Garden of Eden, there was no killing. Animals all ate plants and presumably lived in utter harmony. But sin brings death in the world and the earth is cursed because of man's sin. Weeds and thorns appear. Man's diet changes.
Genesis 2:16 says, "And the LORD God commanded the man, 'You are free to eat from any tree in the garden." As far as we know, fruits and seeded plants were the soul source of sustenance And by all indications the fruit from one tree in the Garden, the tree of life, led to immortality (Genesis 3:22).
After sin enters the world and the human body begins to slowly die, God commands a new diet. They could no longer eat from the tree of life in the Garden and "live forever." Part of the punishment for Adam & Eve was a change in their diet.
God said Adam in Genesis 3:17-19, "Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat of it,’ "Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return."
The Hebrew word for "plants" is eh'seb which means, "herbs, grass, or roots." Before the fall, man ate of the fruit of the trees and seeded plants. Now after sin, he is commanded to work by the sweet of hard labor to produce these herbs, grass, and roots. These vegetables are full of vitamins which help slow the aging process started with mankind’s sin.
You will notice, there has been no mention of eating meat. As far as we know mankind did not eat meat until after the flood. After the punishment of the flood, the world had changed again. Before the flood humans were living upward of 900 years (Genesis 5:27). After the flood, the length of men's lives was greatly reduced. Soon man would be lucky to make it over 100. But the pre-flood world was very different according to the Bible.
Before the flood there was a thick water atmosphere above the earth. Genesis 1:6-8 says, "Let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water.' So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it. And it was so. God called the expanse 'sky.'" There was the water of the oceans below and the water of a thick atmosphere above and they were separated by the sky. This thick pre-flood atmosphere would have stopped many of the suns harmful ultraviolet rays which cause aging. It would have had a greenhouse effect and turned the whole world into a tropical climate. It would also mean that the world would not know the four seasons nor would there be any rain. Rather the world would be watered by a heavy due.
Genesis 2:5-6 says, "For the LORD God had not sent rain upon the earth, and there was no man to cultivate the ground. But a mist used to rise from the earth and water the whole surface of the ground." Before the flood, there was not rain but the earth was watered with a "mist" or due. In this tropical paradise God had made, he placed man. But after sin, God cast them out of the garden and made them live by the sweet of their labor. But after mankind became so sinful, God chose to destroy the world with a flood. To flood the earth he used this thick water atmosphere, which he drops from the sky on the earth. It was the earth’s first rain.
Genesis 7:11-12 says, "In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights." Both water below and water above the earth flooded it. Now the eco-system of the earth would drastically change.
After the flood God explains to man that earth will not be governed by season’s right after he promises to never send another flood. Genesis 8:21-22, "...Never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done. As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease." Now that there is no longer any thick water atmosphere above the earth equally diffusing heat and moisture throughout the earth, the seasons begin and the world becomes even more inhospitable for man. Now we are bombarded by the suns UV rays and the lifespan of man is greatly reduced. It is also after the flood; God adds something new to mankind’s diet. Presumably because of the change in the earth after the flood, we have new dietary needs.
In Genesis 9:2 God says, "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. Everything that lives and moves will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything. But you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it."
Just as God had given green plants in the past, now he was commanding man to eat meat as well. However, you were never to eat meat with blood in it. That is repeated many times in the Bible including the New Testament (Acts 15:29). Notice, before the flood, animals did not fear man. But now that man would be hunting animals, God placed the fear and dread of man upon every creature that moves on the ground. God did this to protect animals from going extinct. If animals did not naturally fear us, they would be too easy to kill. I imagine Adams son Seth playing with a wolf and a lamb as child because they only ate plants and had no fear of man. Things have changed.
After sin, Adam and Eve realized their sin and knew they were naked. God had to make them robes of animal skin. (Genesis 3:21) This first fur coat was the result of man's sin. Blood was shed to cover their nakedness. This is a picture of what Jesus did for us. He died to pay for our sins so that we might be clothed in his righteousness. (See Galatians 3:26-27). But we see that the death and suffering of this fallen world is from sin.
In order for us to live, there is death all around us. I long for the day when we escape this world to live in a place where the wolf lays down with the lamb (Isaiah 11:6 & 65:25). Until then, I will obey God and eat meat. I must need it. I do not hunt for sport but to eat. I won't kill what I won’t eat. Most people eat meat. Most of us are sustained by the death of animals. They provide protean and other things we need to thrive. I long for heaven where there will be no more death (Revelation 21:4). Until then "Arise, kill and eat!"
