The title “Do Not Seek Their Meat From God” is the allusion to a passage in the Bible. From Psalm 104:21, the verse talks about how lions with their power still need to feed themselves with God’s help. In the Bible, the original meaning is that creatures seek meat from God, who will provide every creature food regardless their power and strength. In this short story, however, Roberts tell readers that creatures should not seek meat from God because they actually have fierce competitions with each other, and God would not provide food directly if the creatures are not actively trying to struggle. For example, in the story, the environment is cold and does not provide food for panthers, so the panthers need to try very hard to seek for food to support them and their cubs. This is why the panthers “fierce with hunger” come to human’s “settlements of late had been making great inroads on the world of ancient forest, driving before them the deer and smaller game.” This is how and why the panthers find the human’s baby and try to go after their “meat.” The hunter, who doesn’t know the baby is his child, hears “a note in the cry that shook the settler’s soul. He had a vision of his own boy.” Therefore, he makes the decision to save the baby, and it is then he realizes he has saved his own child. Hunter’s humanity leads him to change his decision, or it would be his child eaten by the panthers and their cubs. Through the title “Do Not Seek Their Meat From God,” Robert’s allusion to the Bible shows the theme that the decision people have made in the competition can influence their survivability.
