And God blessed them; and God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the heavens, and over every animal that moveth on the earth.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb producing seed that is on the whole earth, and every tree in which is the fruit of a tree producing seed it shall be food for you;
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
and to every animal of the earth, and to every fowl of the heavens, and to everything that creepeth on the earth, in which is a living soul, every green herb for food. And it was so.
On the sixth day God hands out food: seed-bearing plants and fruit to man, and every green plant to the animals, the birds and the creeping things. It pictures a world where nothing yet killed to live, and it raises hard questions about fossils, predators, and what changed.
The verse describes a diet. One writer draws the conclusion, and notes which creatures it names:
J. N. Darby"To every beast of the earth I have given every green plant for food." This would imply that animals were not carnivorous. There is a difference between cattle and beasts; but in that statement the cattle are left out; the "beasts" are what we call wild beasts. It is perfectly within God's power to have restricted them for the time, or to have changed them.
This diet belongs to a state that did not last. One writer marks what ended it:
William KellyMan still has his distinctive place in God's commission and plan; but it is in the state of innocence. After the fall came corruption and violence. Animal food was not permitted to man till after the flood. Herbs and fruit were given at first to man, and to the subject creation every green plant. Death was not in the Adamic earth till sin. True, Romans 5:12-21 goes no further than the human race, fallen under death through sin. But Romans 8:19-22 looks at "all the creation" as ruined through the fall of its head.
Did death exist before the fall? One writer limits Genesis to the world of which Adam is head, and leaves everything earlier open:
J. N. DarbySo I conclude that death was not in the creation of which man was the head until his fall. But scripture says nothing about what may have happened between the creation of the heavens and the earth and the forming of the present world out of chaos... So geologists may find as many fossil giants and sea reptiles as they please. They do not touch the statements of scripture one way or another, because scripture makes none about it. Death entered only into the creation connected with man, and by man's sin. Scripture states that, though it does not deal with what it meant for the beasts. Genesis 1:30 confirms it, for it gives the green grass to the beasts of the earth.
But lions do not eat grass. One writer meets that objection head-on:
J. N. DarbyScripture states plainly that herbs were given for food to the beasts of the field. This was not written out of ignorance, for lions were eating men in Moses' time. Moses wrote it with the deliberate intention of claiming a revelation, and so he contradicts the whole existing order of facts about animals... He declares that at first they were given the green plant for food. Scripture gives us to understand they ate that in the ark... It is a direct contradiction of universal experience, and claims to be a revelation. To say that it cannot be true is absurd.
The verse calls these creatures "everything that has the breath of life." An older translation reads "in which is a living soul." What then separates them from man?
Frederick W. GrantThe beast also is, and has, a living soul. Genesis 1:30 describes every beast of the earth, every bird of the air and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth as "everything in which there is a living soul." "Likeness" to God cannot be said of such a one as this, for God is not "soul," but "spirit," and the "Father of spirits." So man stands alone in relationship to God, because he has not only soul but also spirit.
After the flood God changed the terms, and set a limit:
The Bible TreasuryGod now first gave every moving thing that lives to be food for man (Genesis 9:3), as freely as He had first given green plants to beast and bird and reptile (Genesis 1:30). But He put a marked restriction on the blood... It was the life, and this God reserved for Himself.
This peace is not gone for good. One writer points to the day it returns:
W. W. FeredayCreation at large will be restored. No longer will the strong prey upon the weak. Even the wolf will dwell with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the kid, and the lion will eat straw like the ox (Isaiah 11:6-7)... When the sons of God are revealed, that will be the signal for the complete deliverance of all from the bondage of corruption (Romans 8:19-21).
- Gift. God feeds every creature from the ground: herbs and fruit for man, every green plant for the beasts, birds and creeping things.
- Peace. The verse implies animals did not eat meat, and that death had no place in Adam's world until sin.
- Loss. Man fell, and the creation of which he was head fell with him — Romans 8 views all creation as ruined through its head.
- Limit. Genesis speaks only of the world connected with Adam; on any earlier state, and on fossils, it makes no claim either way.
- Restoration. The same peace returns when the sons of God are revealed: creation goes free, and the lion eats straw like the ox.