What is the true purpose of animals?

Question

I'm no vegetarian, and I enjoy my fair share of steak. The idea of vegetarianism always intrigued me, because in my eyes animals are to be eaten by humans for nourishment.

Obviously animals serve a purpose, because God Himself told Noah to collect a male and female of each species and create an ark large enough to sustain them all for the 40 days and 40 nights during which the flood took place.

So, my question is, has the purpose of animals ever been explicitly stated in the bible? If so, what is it?

Answer 1

In Genesis 2: 18-22, it states that animals were created to be companions for man, but that none of them was found worthy to be a true companion the way Eve was.

It's interesting to note that God said to eat "of every tree of the garden" but nothing about eating flesh. But after the Fall introduced mortality to the world, the Lord made for Adam and Eve coats of skins, and from the first generation they began to tend herds and offer sacrifices "of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof" (Genesis 4: 4), presumably by God's command.

Also, in Isaiah 65: 25, we're told that during the Millenium,

The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent’s meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the Lord.

So even animals will stop feeding on each other, and nobody (presumably including humans) will "hurt or destroy" them.

Answer 2

The animals, like all creation, were created for the "Glory of God" (Psalm 19:1-3). Col 1:16 says "all things have been created through him and for him" (emphasis mine).

Further, Isaiah 45:18 says, "For this is what the LORD says— he who created the heavens, he is God; he who fashioned and made the earth, he founded it; he did not create it to be empty, but formed it to be inhabited" (emphasis mine). So there seems to be some intentionality to the creation of animals in that it pleases God to create life abundantly - it does seem that where-ever life can subsist it does exist within this universe.

Also, after the flood, the animals were given to mankind for food (Gen 9:1):

¹ Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth. ² The fear and dread of you will fall on all the beasts of the earth, and on all the birds in the sky, on every creature that moves along the ground, and on all the fish in the sea; they are given into your hands. ³ Everything that lives and moves about will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.

As Mason has pointed out, this will change in the next creation.