Table of Contents
1. Eden — The original diet God gave humanity
- Genesis 1:29 — “And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.”
Animals were also given plants:
- Genesis 1:30 — “And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.”
2. Israel in the wilderness — God providing a non-meat diet
When Israel left Egypt, God fed them with manna.
- Exodus 16:15 — “And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, It is manna: for they wist not what it was. And Moses said unto them, This is the bread which the LORD hath given you to eat.”
Later, when the people strongly demanded meat:
- Numbers 11:4 — “And the mixt multitude that was among them fell a lusting: and the children of Israel also wept again, and said, Who shall give us flesh to eat?”
The craving for meat brought judgment:
- Numbers 11:33 — “And while the flesh was yet between their teeth, ere it was chewed, the wrath of the LORD was kindled against the people, and the LORD smote the people with a very great plague.”
3. The restored creation — No killing or harming
The prophetic picture of the renewed earth shows peace in creation, with animals no longer killing.
- Isaiah 11:6-7 — “The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. ² And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.”
- Isaiah 65:25 — “The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent’s meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the LORD.”
Summary pattern seen in Scripture
- Beginning (Eden) — plant food given to humans and animals.
- Temporary allowance after the fall — meat permitted later (Genesis 9).
- Ideal life with God (prophetic future) — no harming or killing again.
Temporary Permission of Meat
1. After the Flood — survival permission
After the Flood the earth was devastated. Plant life had been destroyed and agriculture needed time to recover. In that context God allowed meat for survival.
- Genesis 9:3 — “Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things.”
But even in the permission a restriction appears immediately:
- Genesis 9:4 — “But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.”
This shows it was permission with limits, not a new ideal diet.
And also animals were before the flood separated between clean and unclean: so this permission was within the clean animals.
2. Israel in the wilderness — training a nation
When God formed Israel into His people, He gave a different system of food.
Instead of meat, He provided manna from heaven.
- Exodus 16:15 — “This is the bread which the LORD hath given you to eat.”
When the people insisted on meat because of craving, Scripture says the request was granted but not approved.
- Psalm 106:14-15 — “But lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, and tempted God in the desert. ² And he gave them their request; but sent leanness into their soul.”
And when they demanded flesh:
- Numbers 11:33 — “And while the flesh was yet between their teeth… the LORD smote the people with a very great plague.”
This shows a pattern often seen in Scripture: God sometimes permits what people insist on, even when it is not His ideal.
3. The original and final pattern
The Bible shows the ideal diet twice: at creation and in the restored earth.
Creation:
- Genesis 1:29 — “Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed… and every tree… to you it shall be for meat.”
Restoration:
- Isaiah 65:25 — “The wolf and the lamb shall feed together… and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock… They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain.”
The biblical pattern
- Creation — plant diet.
- After the Flood — meat permitted because of conditions.
- Wilderness — God tries to restore a simpler diet (manna).
- New earth — no killing again.
So the allowance to Noah was a concession to circumstances, while manna represented God guiding His people back toward a simpler provision from heaven.
Lifespan decline after permission of flesh diet
the Bible shows a clear decline in human lifespan after the Flood, which is the same moment when meat was first permitted (Genesis 9:3).
Scripture does not explicitly say “meat caused the decline”, but the timeline places the two events together.
Below is the biblical lifespan pattern.
Before the Flood (plant diet period)
People lived extremely long lives.
- Genesis 5:5 — “And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years: and he died.”
- Genesis 5:8 — “And all the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years: and he died.”
- Genesis 5:27 — “And all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred sixty and nine years: and he died.”
Human lifespan regularly ranged 900+ years.
After the Flood (meat permitted)
Immediately after the Flood God said:
- Genesis 9:3 — “Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things.”
But after this point the ages drop rapidly.
Examples:
- Genesis 11:10-11 — “Shem lived after he begat Arphaxad five hundred years…”
- Genesis 11:14-15 — “Salah lived after he begat Eber four hundred and three years…”
Soon afterward:
- Genesis 11:24-25 — “Nahor lived after he begat Terah an hundred and nineteen years…”
By Abraham’s time:
- Genesis 25:7 — “And these are the days of the years of Abraham’s life which he lived, an hundred threescore and fifteen years.”
Later, Moses describes the typical human lifespan:
- Psalm 90:10 — “The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years…”
So the pattern is:
| Period | Typical lifespan |
|---|---|
| Before Flood | 900+ years |
| Shortly after Flood | 400–600 years |
| Abraham era | ~175 years |
| Later history | ~70–80 years |
What the Bible shows
The Bible records three facts together:
- Original diet in Eden was plant-based (Genesis 1:29).
- Meat was allowed only after the Flood (Genesis 9:3).
- Human lifespan rapidly declined afterward (Genesis 11 onward).
Scripture presents these events in the same historical sequence, which is why it is impossible to dismiss this connection.
In the words of the Holy Spirit:
(Read full chapters by clicking the link of the “Source” after the quotes)
- “After the Flood the people ate largely of animal food. God saw that the ways of man were corrupt, and that he was disposed to exalt himself proudly against his Creator and to follow the inclinations of his own heart. And He permitted that long-lived race to eat animal food to shorten their sinful lives. Soon after the Flood the race began to rapidly decrease in size, and in length of years.”
Source 2: Chapter 41—Flesh Foods (Counsels for the Church)
God gave our first parents the food He designed that the race should eat. It was contrary to His plan to have the life of any creature taken. There was to be no death in Eden. The fruit of the trees in the garden, was the food man’s wants required. God gave man no permission to eat animal food until after the flood. Everything had been destroyed upon which man could subsist, and therefore the Lord in their necessity gave Noah permission to eat of the clean animals which he had taken with him into the ark. But animal food was not the most healthful article of food for man.
After the Flood the people ate largely of animal food. God saw that the ways of man were corrupt, and that he was disposed to exalt himself proudly against his Creator and to follow the inclinations of his own heart. And He permitted that long-lived race to eat animal food to shorten their sinful lives. Soon after the Flood the race began to rapidly decrease in size, and in length of years.
In choosing man’s food in Eden, the Lord showed what was the best diet; in the choice made for Israel He taught the same lesson. He brought the Israelites out of Egypt and undertook their training, that they might be a people for His own possession. Through them He desired to bless and teach the world. He provided them with the food best adapted for this purpose, not flesh, but manna, “the bread of heaven.” It was only because of their discontent and their murmuring for the fleshpots of Egypt that animal food was granted them, and this only for a short time. Its use brought disease and death to thousands. Yet the restriction to a non-flesh diet was never heartily accepted. It continued to be the cause of discontent and murmuring, open or secret, and it was not made permanent.
Upon their settlement in Canaan, the Israelites were permitted the use of animal food, but under careful restrictions which tended to lessen the evil results. The use of swine’s flesh was prohibited, as also of other animals and of birds and fish whose flesh was pronounced unclean. Of the meats permitted, the eating of the fat and the blood was strictly forbidden.
Only such animals could be used for food as were in good condition. No creature that was torn, that had died of itself, or from which the blood had not been carefully drained, could be used as food.
By departing from the plan divinely appointed for their diet, the Israelites suffered great loss. They desired a flesh diet, and they reaped its results. They did not reach God’s ideal of character or fulfill His purpose. The Lord “gave them their request; but sent leanness into their soul.” Psalm 106:15. They valued the earthly above the spiritual, and the sacred pre-eminence which was His purpose for them they did not attain.
Those who eat flesh are but eating grains and vegetables at second hand; for the animal receives from these things the nutrition that produces growth. The life that was in the grains and vegetables passes into the eater. We receive it by eating the flesh of the animal. How much better to get it direct, by eating the food that God provided for our use!
- “Cancers, tumors, and pulmonary diseases are largely caused by meat eating.”
- “Cancers, tumors, and all inflammatory diseases are largely caused by meat eating.”
- “From the light God has given me, the prevalence of cancers and tumors is largely due to gross living on dead flesh.”
- “The practise of eating largely of meat is causing diseases of all kinds,—cancers, tumors, scrofula, tuberculosis, and other like affections.”
- “People are continually eating flesh that is filled with tuberculous and cancerous germs. Tuberculosis, cancer, and other fatal diseases are thus communicated.”
- “Many times when meat is eaten, it decays in the stomach, and creates disease. Cancers, tumors, and pulmonary diseases are largely caused by meat eating.”
- Source 1: Ellen G. White — Pacific Union Recorder, October 9, 1902 “These Things Ought Not So to be”
- Source 2: Counsels on Diet and Foods, p. 383.4 (Ellen Gould White)
- Source 3: Testimony Studies on Diet and Foods, p. 79.7 (Ellen Gould White)
- Source 4: Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 17 (1902), Ms 24, 1902, par. 10
- Source 5: Spalding and Magan Collection, p. 251.3 (Ellen Gould White)
- Source 6: Pacific Union Recorder October 9, 1902, paragraph 9
- “Those who use flesh meat strengthen the lower propensities and prepare the way for disease to fasten upon them.”
- Source 1: Counsels on Diet and Foods, p. 390.3 (Ellen Gould White)
- Source 2: Testimony Studies on Diet and Foods, p. 66.6 (Ellen Gould White)
- Source 3: Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 18 (1903), Lt 200, 1903, par. 5 (Ellen Gould White)
- Source 4: Spalding and Magan Collection, p. 260.3 (Ellen Gould White)
- Source 5: Do You Eat Flesh?, p. 2.2 (Ellen Gould White)
- “They delighted in destroying the life of animals; and the use of flesh for food rendered them still more cruel and blood-thirsty, until they came to regard human life with astonishing indifference.”
- “A diet of flesh meat tends to develop animalism. A development of animalism lessens spirituality, rendering the mind incapable of understanding sacred truths.”
- “God gave our first parents the food He designed that the race should eat… God gave man no permission to eat animal food until after the flood.”
- Ellen G. White (Links to each source availalble here)
- Counsels for the Church, p. 228.1 — Ellen G. White
- Counsels on Diet and Foods, p. 81.3 — Ellen G. White
- Counsels on Diet and Foods, p. 373.1 — Ellen G. White
- Spiritual Gifts, Volume 4a, p. 120.3 — Ellen G. White
- Testimony Studies on Diet and Foods, p. 62.1 — Ellen G. White
- Testimony Studies on Diet and Foods, p. 125.6 — Ellen G. White
- To Be Like Jesus, p. 312.4 — Ellen G. White
- The Review and Herald, April 2, 1914, paragraph 9 — Ellen G. White
- I’d Like to Ask Sister White…, p. 127.3 — Ellen G. White
- A Critique of the Book Prophetess of Health, p. 82.4 — Ellen G. White Estate
- Ellen G. White (Links to each source availalble here)
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