e criminally burdened the Church on this subject.

12. In this passage, then, the power of man is increased and the brute
beasts are committed to him, even unto death. They fear man and flee
him under the new order, running counter to the experience of the
past. Adam would have been averse to killing even a small bird for
food. But now, since the promulgation of this Word, we know that, as a
special blessing, God has furnished our kitchens with all kinds of
meat. Later on he will also take care of the cellar by showing man how
to cultivate the vine.

13. These are sure proofs that God no longer hates man, but favors
him. This story bears witness that, as God's wrath, once aroused, is
unbearable, so his mercy is likewise endless and without measure when
it again begins to glow. But his mercy is the more abundantly
exercised because it is the very nature of God, while wrath really is
foreign to God; he takes it upon himself contrary to his nature and
forced thereto by the wickedness of men.

V. 3. _Every moving thing that liveth shall be food for you; as the
green herb have I given you all._

14. Here a question arises. In chapter 7, 2, Moses showed the
difference between clean and unclean beasts; here, however, he speaks
of all animals, without any distinction. Did God, then, permit man to
use also the unclean animals for food?

15. The statement as such is general: every moving thing that moveth
upon the earth. There are some who believe that men at the time of
Noah made no distinction between clean and unclean animals as regards
food. But I hold a different opinion. For since such difference had
been established before that time and was carefully observed in the
Law afterward, I believe that men used only clean beasts for food;
that is, such as were offered in sacrifice. Hence the general
declaration must be understood with a modification: Everything that
liveth and moveth, of clean beasts, is to be food for you. For, in
general, human nature loathes serpents, wolves, ravens, mice, and
dormice, though certain tribes may be found who relish even these
animals. The fear and terror of man is upon all beasts of the earth,
because he is allowed to kill them; but it does not follow that man
uses them all for food. It is probable that Noah ate clean beasts
only; and only clean beasts, he knew, were acceptable to Jehovah in
sacrifice.

16. But there is another thing hard to understand. How can it be that
the terror and