3 Like the green plants, I permit you everything. כְּיֶ֣רֶק עֵ֔שֶׂב נָתַ֥תִּי לָכֶ֖ם אֶת־כֹּֽל׃
As we continue to track Genesis 1 (starting with v. 28), it becomes clearer and clearer that Noah and sons are the new Adam & Eve — if you will permit me to overlay the Genesis 2 story on that in Genesis 1, where it really seems that multiple humans were created. Now the “green plants” of 1:30 are invoked — to move the fish, animals, and birds from Category: Humanlike to Category: Plantlike. For food purposes, at least, a duck is the same as a daisy.
In case you’re wondering whether I am pushing things a little too far, you should be aware that this phrase ירק עשׁב yéreq éśev ‘green plants’ occurs just twice anywhere in the Bible, in 1:30 and here in 9:3. Let’s refresh our memories about that longer passage at the end of Day Six of Version 1 of creation:
Gen 1:28 God blessed them, and God said to them: Reproduce, proliferate, and fill the earth and subdue it so that you control the fish of the sea, the birds in the sky, and every beast that creeps over the ground. 29 God said, “Now, I have given you all the plants seeding seed all over the earth and every tree that has in it tree-fruit sowing seed: they are yours to eat, 30 and to all the beasts of the earth, all the birds of the sky, and everything that creeps on the ground that has life in it, every green plant to eat.” And it was so. 31 God saw all that He had made, and wow! it was really good.
And here is what we have so far in Genesis 9. I’ll check off the matching items to make sure we don’t miss any:
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