Bible Study Part 3: Noah and the Flood (Gen. 5-10)

This portion of Scripture contains a great deal about animals, of course. Most people know the story of Noah's ark and I have certainly read it many, many times. However, I had never read it for the sole purpose of gleaning insight about man's relationship with animals especially in the context of eating. This passage contains a great turning point in that relationship as we will see.

In Genesis 6:7 God announces that he will "blot out" men, animals, creeping things, and birds because He is "sorry that [He had] made them."  Noah, however, finds favor in God's sight, and he is chosen to be the human vehicle by which mankind will be preserved along with animals. God commands him to build a great ark for his family (his wife, three sons and their wives) and several of each animal. Genesis 6:19-21states, "And of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every sort into the ark to keep them alive with you. They shall be male and female. Of the birds according to their kinds, and of the animals according to their kinds, of every creeping thing of the ground, according to its kind, two of every sort shall com in to you to keep them alive." Then the passage continues, "Also [emphasis mine] take with you every sort of food that is eaten, and store it up. It shall serve as food for you and for them." It would appear, then, that the animals that made it on to the ark were not a part of the food stores. The pairs of unclean animals could not be eaten, obviously because there would be no way to continue the species with only one male or one female, however, in Genesis 7:2 God commands Noah to take "seven pairs of all clean animals." And yet Scripture makes no mention of Noah using them for food, and for good reason.

After the flood subsides Noah and his family emerge and he makes an enormous offering of some of every clean animal and bird. This is the second recorded instance in Scripture of man killing animals (Abel's offering in Genesis 4 being the first). After the offering God charges Noah and his family to "be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth" (Gen. 9:1). Then Scripture continues, "The fear of you and the dread of you shall be 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. Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything. But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood." And there we have it. God clearly states at this point that animals are given to man for food. Man's relationship with animals was forever changed after the flood.

I think it is important to note that, at least to this point in the history of mankind, God has given animals to man for food, for clothing, and for giving back to God in the form of offerings. There is no mention of man killing animals for sport, for the fun of it.