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What the Genesis account says about meat eating is a subject of interest in relation to the Watchtower organization’s blood doctrine. How these two subjects intertwine is addressed in the article Watchtower on Taking In Meat.[1]
Among Jehovah’s Witnesses there is scarce knowledge of the range of perspectives held by biblical commentators on the subject of whether humans ate meat prior to the biblical post-flood era.
Jehovah’s Witnesses primary source of biblical education comes from the Watchtower organization. This organization has frequently repeated one perspective on pre-flood meat eating, that prior to the flood God-fearing persons did not eat meat.[2] But the Watchtower organization has done little—if anything—to relate reputable biblical commentary to the effect that pre-food worshippers of God probably ate meat, and further that they had permission to do so.
Why the Watchtower organization is mum on the range of biblical commentary regarding pre-flood meat eating is easy enough to see. If worshippers of God were already eating meat—and with permission—prior to the Noachian Decree then notions of blood being a sacred material in God’s view flies out the window. This would be a problem for Watchtower’s blood doctrine which is highly premised on a notion that blood as a substance is held sacred by God.
The dearth of knowledge among Jehovah’s Witnesses on this point prompts sharing a few of the many sources expressing the pre-flood Genesis account contains no prohibition against antediluvians eating meat, and some arguing the biblical text of Genesis 1:28 granting man dominion over animals made it lawful for humans to use animal meat as food:
◄ Babylonian Talmud (c. 375-499 CE): Abel's sacrificing fat of a firstling of his flock represented a peace offering, which means Abel ate meat.[3]
◄ John Calvin (1554): Regarding eating of animal meat, John Calvin believed the Noachian Decree only restored to men what had been taken away that they might again have that which had been excluded.[4]
◄ Samuel Bochart (1692): Argues that Genesis 1:29 represents permission to eat animals as well as plants, and that Abel would not have offered sacrifice to God of something he thought was impure to eat.[5]
◄ Donald MacDonald (1856): Taught that carnivorous animals existed long before creation of man, and nothing of Genesis precludes the idea that there might have been humans requiring sustenance by animal food.[6]
◄ John Quarry (1866): The unlimited grant of dominion of every living creature implied man's natural right to employ animals for all possible uses, including eating them as food.[7]
◄ Canon Spence and Joseph Exell (1881): The best supported opinion of Genesis 9:3-4 is that animal food was permitted to humans before the fall into sin and that the Noachian Decree renewed that permission.[8]
◄ Charles Ellicott (1882): Argues the text of Genesis 1:28 giving man dominion over animals made it lawful for humans to use them as food.[9]
I hope readers find the above reference material helpful.
Marvin Shilmer
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References:
2. The Watchtower, December 15, 1961, p. 766.
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