God feeds his creation. Specifically, in this passage, he feeds the animal kingdom with the vegetable kingdom. And even more specifically, he feeds humans with seed-bearing plants and fruit-bearing trees; and he feeds the animals (all that has the breath of life in it) with every green plant.
Surprisingly to me, as I give myself time to ponder this passage, various issues begin to arise. Does this passage refer to a specific set of commands given by God to his creation that are definitive, prescriptive, and which have boundaries which must not be transgressed? For example, are humans meant to be vegetarians? And are animals also meant to be herbivores? Why would the writer of Genesis tell the story like this?
Scholars seem to agree that Genesis was probably written down during the Babylonian Exile, though the Genesis story would have been part of a very well established oral tradition spanning some 1500-2000 years. By the time it was written down, it was also a well-established fact and indeed, ritualistic custom, that both, animals were not all herbivores and humans were not all vegetarians.
So, why write it like it is?
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