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Deuteronomy 20: Discussing Both War and Saving Our Planet

Faith Over Fear

By Ilana Stein

Deuteronomy 20 is considered the “section of war” of the Hebrew Bible, where the Children of Israel are commanded how to go to battle – and how not to. This chapter discusses war and peace, morale and sustainability, fear and faith.

While Deuteronomy may be discussing war in the real sense, there are many lessons in this chapter for those who fight for the planet – there are challenges and forces to be confronted and to “go to war” for.

The War to Save Our Planet

When you go to war against your enemies and see horses and chariots and an army greater than yours, do not be afraid of them, because the LORD your God, is with you, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. (Deuteronomy 20:1)

Any army that had horses and chariots in the Ancient Near East was bound to be the most powerful. The verse is speaking to the people, telling them to trust in God, no matter how intimidating the enemy, and “the Lord your God delivers”. The land of Egypt is mentioned here as the place where slavery was the norm, and where consumerism ruled.

Today, even if the foes are big industry with lots of money causing climate change, and even if there are many people in the developed world with habits that produce much waste and many greenhouse gases, the text tells us that God is our partner who will help us save ourselves from ecological destruction. We only have to act.

Finish What We Begin

Then the officers shall speak to the troops, as follows: “Is there anyone who has built a new house but has not dedicated it? Let him go back to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man dedicate it. Is there anyone who has planted a vineyard but has never harvested it? Let him go back to his home, lest he die in the battle and another harvest it. Is there anyone who has betrothed a wife, but who has not yet married her? Let him go back to his home, lest he die in the battle and another man marry her.” (Deuteronomy 20:2-7)

Fascinatingly, even for an important war, the officers speak up for those have begun something important and allow them to leave in order to complete it.

Many people and groups begin projects or actions with great excitement, but do they follow through? How many nations signed the Glasgow Climate Pact – and how many will finish what they have begun?

Fighting Climate Change Anxiety

The officials shall speak to the people further and say, “Is there anyone fearful and fainthearted? Let him go back to his house lest the heart of his comrades flag like his.” (Deuteronomy 20: 8)

More and more, the news about climate change has led to many people experiencing high levels of “climate change anxiety” and even being overwhelmed by despair. In our globalized world, people can affect each other rapidly to become “fearful and fainthearted” – something that Deuteronomy 20 understands well when it comes to its battles.

So too, in order to fight climate change with confidence, we need to practice self-care before we move forward with the fight.

Instead of fear, we should approach the battle with hope, as David Attenborough said at COP26:

We must use this opportunity to create a more equal world, and our motivation should not be fear, but hope.”

Begin with Terms of Peace

When you come near to a city to fight against it, make its people an offer of peace. And it shall be, if it makes you an answer of peace and lets you in, all the people present there shall serve you with forced labor. If it does not make peace with you, but would join battle with you, you shall besiege it (vv. 10-12).

When encouraging industries to take steps towards solving climate change, it is best to start with making peaceful suggestions and dialogue.

Only if these “peaceful” measures do not work, one can move on to protesting and boycotting.

You Shall Not Destroy Trees

When you shall besiege a city for a long time in order to capture it, you shall not destroy its trees by wielding the ax against them. You may eat of them, but you shall not cut them down. Are trees of the field human to withdraw before you into the besieged city? Only the trees which you know are not trees for food you may destroy and cut down, you may cut them down for constructing siege works against the city that is waging war on you, until it has been reduced (vv. 19-20).

Once again, the verses are discussing war, but there is much more to be learnt from them.

Wasteful Destruction

Eco Bible Volume 2 explains the concept:

The rabbis of the Talmud understood these verses to be communicating a general prohibition against needless destruction—against destroying directly or indirectly anything that may be of use, including wasting energy, clothing, water, money, and more.

One type of waste rampant in our society is the waste of food. According to the US Department of Agriculture, “In the United States, food waste is estimated at between 30-40 percent of the food supply wasting over $160 billion per year as well as valuable water and land resources” (US Department of Agriculture, “Food Waste FAQs,”).

Less than three percent of this waste is recovered and recycled. While some of this food waste is inedible, part of it is good food discarded by restaurant diners who ordered too much. People throw away edible leftovers from refrigerators in homes. Confusing expiration dates on food leads to disposal while the food was still actually safe.

The Talmudic sage Rabbi Ishmael taught: If the Torah warns us not to destroy fruit trees, then we should be even more careful about not destroying the fruit itself. This applies to all food, not only the fruit of trees. Wasting food wastes money, energy, and water, and harms the environment. Disposal, alone, of wasted food costs about one billion dollars annually in the US. In garbage dumps and landfills, decomposing food waste produces methane, a potent greenhouse gas. Also, fossil fuels, water, and land were required to produce this food. One study examined the energy embedded in wasted food from agriculture, transportation, processing, food sales, storage, and preparation. It concluded that this energy “represents approximately 2 percent of annual energy consumption in the United States.”

Food waste occurs at many stages, including on farms, in transport, and at stores and restaurants. In terms of food consumption at home, buying and preparing too much food and letting the leftovers spoil in the fridge may violate this precept against wastefulness. One practical action is to become mindful of how much food we buy and put in our refrigerators. Another is to finish the food we refrigerate, including by sharing with others if we have too much to use.

Rabbi David Rosen explains: “The Torah prohibition of wanton destruction is of enormous importance with regards to the imperative to change our lifestyle, our diet, and to save our planet and of our environmental responsibility. All God’s gifts—material gifts—should be valued and should not be wasted. So wastage is in simple terms a sin, according to Judaism, it is a desecration of the material blessing that God has provided for us.”

Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch (19th century) explains in very strong language that the command not to destroy is “the most comprehensive warning to human beings not to misuse the position which God has given them as masters of the world and its matter through capricious, passionate, or merely thoughtless wasteful destruction of anything on earth.” He further states, “If … you should regard the beings beneath you as objects without rights, not perceiving God Who created them … then God’s call proclaims to you, ‘Do not destroy anything!’ Be a mensch! Only if you use the things around you for wise human purposes, sanctified by the word of My teaching, only then are you a mensch and have the right over them which I have given you as a human … However, if you destroy, if you ruin, at that moment you are not a human…and have no right to the things around you. I lent them to you for wise use only; never forget that I lent them to you. As soon as you use them unwisely, be it the greatest or the smallest, you commit treachery against My world, you commit murder and robbery against My property, you sin against Me! … In truth, there is no one nearer to idolatry than one who can disregard the fact that all things are the creatures and property of God, and who then presumes to have the right, because he has the might, to destroy them according to a presumptuous act of will. Yes, that one is already serving the most powerful idols—anger, pride, and above all ego, which in its passion regards itself as the master of things.”

By not wasting food, we can produce ecological, social, financial, and spiritual benefits. The verses that introduce this commandment describe a war against an external enemy. But the rabbis make clear that we wage the real battle within ourselves. By strengthening our ability to avoid waste, we become holier, stronger people. This strength can help us to approach other spiritual and environmental challenges. The changes we make in our own lives ripple outward to our families, communities, nations, and planet.

* Featured image source

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