ORIGINAL FOOD OF MAN.
CHAPTER I.
EVIDENCE FROM THE WRITINGS OF MOSES AND FROM TRADITION.
Καὶ εἶπεν ὁ Θεός, Ἰδοὺ δέδωκα ὑμὶν παντα χόρτον σπόριμον σπεῖρον σπέρμα, ὅ ἐστιν ἐπάνω πάσης τῆς γῆς· καὶ πᾶν ξύλον, ὃ ἔκει ἐν ἑαυτῷ λαρπὸν σπέρματος σπορίμου, ὺμῖν ἔσται είς βρῶσιν.—Gen. i. 29.
[Note 2. "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."
The reader will bear in mind that the word "meat" often occurs in Scripture as synonymous with food. T.]
1. Information respecting the Original Food of Man is necessarily included within very narrow limits; but all accessible sources are decidedly in favor of its having been derived from the vegetable kingdom. Sacred and profane authors unite in representing the progenitors of our race as frugivorous. At a subsequent period, they are stated to have fed upon plants of a more herbaceous character; and at a still later period, they are recorded as having become "riotous eaters of the flesh" of other animals. These periods are also characterized by different states of innocence, virtue, justice and happiness; and correspond to the golden, silver, brazen, and iron ages of the poets.
2. Moses, after describing, with great force and beauty, the progress of creation, and finally the production of (אדם)[1] Adam, or man, thus proceeds: "And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed
- ↑ Gosenius, and other Hebraists, do not consider אדם as the proper name of the first man, but as an appellative referring to the race of mankind.
