Are All Animals Good Food?

Are All Animals Good Food

Is all meat good for food? Did Jesus “cleanse” all meat? Did Peter’s vision prove it? What did Paul mean when he said that nothing is unclean “of itself?” Does it matter? Here are the Bible answers!

Do you enjoy good health? Consider the health of people around you. Most people eat what satisfies their taste buds instead of their bodies’ needs. The result is a world filled with people who are overweight, underweight, low in energy and plagued by disease. Some people do not even know what good health feels like. This should not be!

The vast majority of human beings are not taught to be careful about what or how much they eat. Their eating habits—mostly bad—were formed when they were young. Like babies, most people put anything into their mouths—then wonder why they lack energy and vitality. As a result, many spend much time and money seeing doctors because of sickness.

When comparing most people’s eating habits to those of grown-up babies, Herbert W. Armstrong, in his article Is All Animal Flesh Good Food?, wrote:

“Well, one might wonder if any of us has grown up! Most of us adults still seem to think that anything we can stuff in our mouths is good for food. About the only difference between us and the baby is that baby puts into his mouth whatever looks good, while we employ the sense of taste in deciding what goes into our mouths.

“Your stomach is your fuel tank. Your automobile’s tank is its stomach. You wouldn’t think of pouring just any old thing that will pour into the ‘stomach’ of your car. You know that your car was not made to consume and ‘digest’ fuel oil, water, milk, or kerosene.

“Yes, we are very careful what we ‘feed’ our automobile—and totally careless and indifferent about what we feed ourselves and our children!

“But did you know there are many kinds of poisons? Potassium cyanide will kill you very quickly. Some poisons will result in death within a few hours or a few days. But very few seem to know there are other poisons people mistakenly eat as foods which result in premature death after continuous usage for, say, ten, or thirty, or fifty years.

“The only difference between these poisons we falsely call foods and potassium cyanide is the relative number of minutes, hours, or years it takes to accomplish its mission.”

King David understood that his body was a marvelous piece of God’s creative genius when he said, “I am fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psa. 139:14). You are also “wonderfully made.” Since God made you, you should look to His Word for instruction regarding what kind of animal flesh He has made to enter your stomach—your “fuel tank.” You will discover that what meat you eat is not a trivial matter. It is much more important than you realize!

As with all Bible subjects, we do not find everything about meat in one place. God wants us to “search the scriptures” (Acts 17:11), and build a complete picture. We must consider all that the Bible says about eating animal flesh.

The Animals in Noah’s Ark

All Sunday School children have heard the story of Noah’s ark. You may know that both clean and unclean animals were taken into the ark. Together with his family, Noah was to take seven pairs of each clean animal and one pair of each unclean animal (Gen. 7:2).

What does the Bible mean by the terms “clean” and “unclean”? Does it mean an inherent property or quality of certain animals—or does it mean their physical cleanliness—their hygiene?

Noah understood the instruction—that there was a clear distinction between the two. It was not a distinction that he took upon himself to define. God had previously made it known to him, either by direct revelation or through one of His few faithful servants of earlier times. Noah’s great-grandfather Enoch had “walked with God” for 300 years (Gen. 5:22; Heb. 11:5, 13) and would have been aware of the distinction between clean and unclean animals.

Only eight people entered the ark with all the animals. Noah was told to take a supply of all kinds of food to sustain himself, his family and all the animals during their time on board (Gen. 6:21). A year and ten days after entering, they came out. Notice: “And Noah built an altar unto the Lord; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And the Lordsmelled a sweet savor” (Gen. 8:20-21).

This event reveals one aspect of God’s separation of animals into one of two categories. Burnt offerings, those “acceptable to the Lord,” were taken only from the clean category. In Genesis 4:1-26, we also see that Abel, a keeper of sheep, brought God an “acceptable” offering from the firstlings of his flock. Therefore, it can be concluded that lambs and sheep were considered clean.

Humans Permitted To Eat Meat

After Noah left the ark, God blessed him and his sons, and put the “dread of man” on every beast, bird and fish (Gen. 9:1-2). Next, when speaking of the entire animal kingdom, God said to Noah, “Into your hand are they delivered. Every moving thing that lives shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things. But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall you not eat” (Gen 9:2-4).

This is the first biblical record of God’s permission for man to use animal flesh for food. This instruction includes the forbidding of any consumption of blood. There is no evidence that God had previously either forbidden or permitted man to eat animal flesh. Neither is there any record of humans eating flesh. We are not told whether God gave any more specific instructions to Noah or his descendants about eating meat.

Many read Gen 9:3 and assume that God made all living things good for meat. But notice that it also sets the standard for measuring this: “even as the green herb.”

Using this phrase as authority, we can no more eat all types of meat than we can eat all plants, including poisonous ones. (Recall Genesis 1:30.) Noah had already taken seven pairs of clean and one pair of unclean animals into the ark because: (1) He needed food, and (2) he must have known the difference between clean and unclean animals. Had Noah eaten one of the unclean animals (pig, etc.), they could not have reproduced.

Notice that “by sevens” (Gen. 7:2) is plural, but “by two” is singular. The two does not have an “s.” There were only two of each unclean animal taken into the ark. The Moffatt Translation makes this clear: “Take seven pairs, male and female, of every clean animal, and one pair, male and female, of the unclean animals…”

On a side note, some people question whether human beings ate meat prior to the flood. Since we know that “All scripture is given by inspiration of God” (II Tim. 3:16), gaps in the Bible record can be for our learning. Speculation can sometimes be helpful when examining reliable historical records that are consistent with Scripture. However, correct biblical doctrine is never based on speculation.

Whether God’s servants ate meat prior to the flood is not stated in the Bible. Arguments can be presented to support both possibilities, but they are inconclusive. We should be concerned with what God does say that He requires—today!

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