Genesis 9:3
Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything.
English Standard Version (ESV)
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This verse reveals a significant shift in humanity's diet and relationship with the animal kingdom. God not only permits animal consumption but explicitly grants it as a provision, implying a new need or perhaps a diminished fertility of the earth after the flood, making animal protein a more essential sustenance than before.
Following the catastrophic flood that wiped out all life except for Noah's family and the animals on the ark, God re-establishes His covenant with humanity and all living creatures. This new decree grants humans permission to eat meat, a privilege not explicitly given before, while also laying the groundwork for future laws and establishing the rainbow as a sign of His promise never to destroy the earth with a flood again. This chapter details the re-peopling of the earth and God's commitment to His creation, setting the stage for all subsequent human history.
God's provision for humanity shifts dramatically after the Flood. What does this change signify?
A Shift in Provision
Before the Flood, humanity's diet was exclusively plant-based, as stated in Genesis 1:29: "And God said, ‘Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food.’" This was a perfect provision for a perfect world.
However, after the devastating Flood, God expands this provision. Genesis 9:3 declares, "Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything." This signifies a significant expansion of what is permissible for human consumption. The post-Flood world, altered by the catastrophe, required and was given a broader range of sustenance.
Why the Change?
The commentaries suggest several reasons for this shift:
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With this new grant of food comes a profound statement about humanity's authority and its limits.
Authority Over Creation
Genesis 9:2 states, "The fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth and upon every bird of the heavens, upon everything that creeps on the ground and all the fish of the sea. Into your hand they are delivered."
This verse, immediately preceding the allowance of animal food, highlights a significant shift in the human-animal relationship. While humans were given dominion in Genesis 1, here it's explicitly stated that animals are now delivered into their hand, marked by a new 'fear' and 'dread' of humans.
The Weight of Dominion
This dominion is not a license for exploitation but a mandate for responsible stewardship. The commentators emphasize:
What assurance does God provide that He will never again unleash such destructive judgment?
God's Unfailing Promise
While Genesis 9:3 grants permission for eating animals, the broader context of Genesis 9 is the establishment of God's covenant with Noah and all living creatures (Genesis 9:8-17).
This covenant signifies God's promise never again to destroy all life on earth through a global flood. The rainbow is established as the visible sign of this covenant.
A Sign of Grace
The commentaries highlight:
This covenant is crucial because it assures humanity of God's continued presence and His commitment to sustaining life, even in a world marked by human sin and ecological change.
c. 2350 BC— this verse
The Great Flood
A cataclysmic flood sent by God to cleanse the earth of its pervasive wickedness, sparing only Noah, his family, and pairs of animals in an ark.
c. 2350 BC
Post-Flood Renewal
God establishes a new covenant with Noah and all living creatures, symbolized by the rainbow, promising never to destroy all life with a flood again.
c. 2350 BC
New Dietary Laws Granted
God expands the human diet to include animal flesh, in addition to the green plants previously provided, marking a significant change in human sustenance.
c. 2350 BC
Prohibition of Eating Blood
A crucial restriction is placed on the new diet: humans are forbidden from eating flesh with its blood (life), underscoring the sanctity of life.
c. 2350 BC
Command Against Homicide
God institutes a strong prohibition against murder, declaring that human life, created in God's image, is to be protected, with severe consequences for shedding blood.
This passage establishes the original diet of humanity as exclusively plant-based, providing context for the expanded permission given to Noah.
Deuteronomy 14:3-21Similar to Leviticus 11, this passage reiterates the dietary laws for Israel, highlighting the specific restrictions that would later apply to God's chosen people, which are absent in the post-Flood grant to Noah.
Acts 10:13-15Peter's vision in Joppa demonstrates God's dismantling of the clean/unclean distinction for food, showing a progression from the Noahic covenant to the New Covenant where all is considered clean.
1 Corinthians 10:25-26This passage directly quotes Psalm 24:1, stating that all food is lawful for believers under the New Covenant, echoing the expansive permission granted to Noah after the Flood.
clarkeGenesis 9:3: "Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things."
Every moving thing - shall be meat - 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. It is not likely that this grant would have been now made if some extraordinary alteration had not taken place in the vegetable world, so as to render its productio…
calvinGenesis 9:1-29: "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.
Et timor vester et pavor vester erit super omnem bestiam terrae, et super omne volatile coeli, cum omnibus quae gradiuntur in terra, et omnibus pi…
This verse reveals a significant shift in humanity's diet and relationship with the animal kingdom. God not only permits animal consumption but explicitly grants it as a provision, implying a new need or perhaps a diminished fertility of the earth after the flood, making animal protein a more essential sustenance than before.
Following the catastrophic flood that wiped out all life except for Noah's family and the animals on the ark, God re-establishes His covenant with humanity and all living creatures. This new decree grants humans permission to eat meat, a privilege not explicitly given before, while also laying the groundwork for future laws and establishing the rainbow as a sign of His promise never to destroy the earth with a flood again. This chapter details the re-peopling of the earth and God's commitment to His creation, setting the stage for all subsequent human history.
Following the catastrophic flood that wiped out all life except for Noah's family and the animals on the ark, God re-establishes His covenant with humanity and all living creatures. This new decree grants humans permission to eat meat, a privilege not explicitly given before, while also laying the groundwork for future laws and establishing the rainbow as a sign of His promise never to destroy the earth with a flood again. This chapter details the re-peopling of the earth and God's commitment to His creation, setting the stage for all subsequent human history.
"Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything." — This verse reveals a significant shift in humanity's diet and relationship with the animal kingdom. God not only permits animal consumption but explicitly grants it as a provision, implying a new nee…
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