Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things.
Every moving thing ... meat for you. The third part concerns the means of sustaining life: man was for the first time, it would seem, allowed the free and unrestricted use of animal food. It has been stated in a previous part of the commentary (see the note at Genesis 1:29-31, pp. 9-22) that, in all likelihood, this was not the first grant of animal food, and that power to use it might be included in the general declaration made to Adam (Genesis 1:28); because it is difficult to conceive what could be the practical benefit to man of being invested with power "over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air," except that he was warranted to take them as means of sustenance. At all events, various considerations create a presumption that portions of the beasts offered in sacrifice were eaten; but as these were confined only to a few classes, which were considered 'clean,' prejudices must in the course of time have been entertained by religious people, like Noah and his family, against all other animals, as 'common' or 'unclean,' for food as well as for sacrifice. Here, then, an explicit declaration was made, that "every creature of God is good" (1 Timothy 4:4).
Every moving thing, х kaal (H3605) remes (H7431)], a word of extensive signification, pointing, not with scientific precision to any particular class, but used once for aquatic animals (Psalms 104:25), commonly for reptiles and the smaller mammals (see the note at Genesis 1:26; Genesis 6:20), and here for all inferior creatures. The use of this indefinite word, conjoined with a reference to "the green herb," was evidently designed to show in an emphatic manner the universality of the grant. But it is accompanied with a special restriction which deserves to be well observed.