History of Eating

From Eden to Eden


It appears that the first food sources for Adam and Eve, were trees that were planted eastward in Eden. Adam and Eve, as well as their food sources were placed in a garden which was planted eastward, (southeast) in the land of Eden. Moses 3:8-9 states it like this:

“And I. the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there I put man whom I had formed.”

“And out of the ground made I, the Lord God, to grow every tree, naturally, that is pleasant to the sight of man; and man could behold it. And it became also a living soul. For it was spiritual in the day that I created it; for it remaineth in the sphere in which I, God created it, yea, even all things which I prepared for the use of man; and man saw that it was good for food. And I the Lord God, planted the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and also the tree of knowledge of good and evil.”

It appears from these verses that the Lord planted trees, as the food source for Adam and Eve. This is confirmed in Moses 3:15, where the Lord states:

“And I, the Lord God, commanded the man, saying: Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat. But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it...”

From these verses it appears that the food source for Adam and Eve was the fruit of the trees, exclusively, whether it was good fruit or bad – they were both from trees. There probably are two reasons for this rather restricted diet:

1. Since Adam and Eve were immortal, their bodies did not require protein for the continued reparation of muscle and bone. All they required was a food source for energy. Fruit would have easily met that requirement.

2. When eating fruit from trees, you are not required to kill anything. The tree is not killed, as only the fruit is consumed. If the fruit is not eaten, it will ultimately fall from the tree and then decay. So, given these circumstances, a person of the high standing of Adam and Eve, were not required to kill anything to maintain life.

Revelation 22:2 tells us that during the millennium the Tree of Life will be returned to earth and that it will bear twelve different manner of fruits, and that the tree will “yield her fruit every month.”

Once Adam and Eve were cast out of the garden, the scriptures mention two additional kinds of foods. In Moses 4:24-25 the Lord indicates that man can now eat herbs and the products of herbs, bread:

“Thorns also, and thistles shall it bring forth to thee, and thou shalt eat the herb of the field. By the sweat of they face shalt thou eat bread...”

Moses 5:1 now implies a progression of Adam’s habits. Not only does he begin to till the earth, but also to have dominion over all the beasts of the field...” He is still eating fruits, herbs and bread, but domesticating some animals. Those of the field, (not the jungle).

Many years after this, it appears that Adam’s children began to ”...tend flocks…” (see Moses 5:3). It was during this time period that Adam was commanded to offer sacrifices to the Lord, (the firstlings of the flocks). Whether these flocks were used just for sacrificing, or also for food, we are not told. But we do know at some point, they were used for food. So fowl are now being used for food, but there is no mention of mammals being used for food. Not yet.

It appears that the Lord at some point instructed the descendents of Adam that they could eat the flesh of some beasts, but not others. In Geneses 7:2 Noah is instructed to take seven each of clean beasts and two of unclean. Mankind was now able to eat almost everything, except certain classes of beasts.

After the flood was over, the Lord gave additional instructions about what could be eaten. In Genesis 9:3 he states:

“Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you;...”

Over a thousand year period of time, man went from eating fruit, to herbs, to bread and then tilling the earth for other foods. Finally they began to eat fowl, and then clean beasts, and toward the end of this 1,000 years, were allowed to eat all beasts.

It is my assumption that as we enter the millennium, we will begin to reverse this process. And I suspect it will take us the whole 1,000 years to get to the point where Adam began, to eat only the fruit of trees.
I also anticipate that we will receive instructions to apply the directives given to Adam and his posterity, in a reverse order. I assume that Celestial people do eat, but they only eat things that do not require the killing of any living plant or animal.
by Jerry Ainsworth 22 February, 2002