Emboldened Animals
As I was reading through Parshat Eikev, I was struck by Deuteronomy 7:22.
וְנָשַׁל֩ יְהֹוָ֨ה אֱלֹהֶ֜יךָ אֶת־הַגּוֹיִ֥ם הָאֵ֛ל מִפָּנֶ֖יךָ מְעַ֣ט מְעָ֑ט לֹ֤א תוּכַל֙ כַּלֹּתָ֣ם מַהֵ֔ר פֶּן־תִּרְבֶּ֥ה עָלֶ֖יךָ חַיַּ֥ת הַשָּׂדֶֽה׃
Little by little God, your god, will drive away those nations from before you. You will not be able to destroy them quickly, for then there might be too many wild animals for you to contend with.
I found this fascinating because we had just witnessed this during COVID19. Here are two articles published during that time focused on that fact:
“With humans locked down, emboldened animals are taking back the planet amid coronavirus pandemic” from April 17, 2020
“With cities on lockdown, animals are finding more room to roam” from May 1, 2020
There was an eerie photo of a deserted Times Square that only had an animal in it (I forget which creature) during COVID19. People compared it to the Har HaBayit being overrun by foxes. I tried to find it now but couldn’t. (Maybe one of you can.)
It did seem odd, however. God is all-powerful. If He wanted to, He could clearly have ensured that the wild animals not be a problem while Bnei Yisrael eradicated the nations.
So I started to research. And luckily for me, my friend and fellow blogger for years, Matt Schneeweiss, focused on this as his Dvar Torah for this week. I’m going to post it below because I think it’s important and interesting.
Wait, what? God is going to help the Israelites miraculously defeat the mighty and numerous Canaanite nations, but He’s going to “take it slow” due to the threat of wild animals?! Just a few sentences earlier, Moses recalled the miracles and wonders of the Exodus, in which God summoned hordes of wild animals to descend upon Egypt. Now wild animals are suddenly a problem?
The medieval Talmudist, mathematician, and astronomer Ralbag (Gersonides, 1288-1344 C.E.) answers this question by invoking a fundamental principle about divine providence.
Even though God is in control and can do whatever He desires, Ralbag writes, “He will nevertheless seek out the most suitable [natural] causes possible, and He will not create a miracle unless necessity dictates it, for He doesn’t hate nature, since He is the One Who set it in order.”
“Thus, He will only oppose it at a time when it is necessary, and in the most minimal manner,” Ralbag continues. “It is for this reason that it was said, ‘Hashem, your God, will thrust these nations from before you little by little; you will not be able to annihilate them quickly, lest the beasts of the field increase against you.’ Even though God is able to destroy [their enemies] quickly and protect Israel from the beasts who increase upon them, He prefers not to do this, since it is possible to enable Israel to reach their goal in another way (i.e. defeating the Canaanites gradually).”
In other words, God is reluctant, so to speak, to interfere with nature, according to Ralbag. The universe and its laws are His creations. They carry out His will, exhibit His wisdom, and reflect His glory, as the Psalmist exclaims: “How great are Your works, Hashem; with wisdom You made them all!” (Psalms 104:24). For this reason, God will only abrogate nature when it is absolutely necessary, with the most minimal intervention possible.
In this case, He was willing to intervene in the war, since that was the only way the Israelites could defeat their enemies, but He was not willing to miraculously protect them from the animals, since the need for this could be obviated by slowing down the pace of the conquest.
Miracles make life more convenient for us, but God has other priorities.
I had a different takeaway- which was that even these nations that must be eradicated served a purpose, one that we needed to appreciate. Due to the fact that they were present, wild animals did not dare come into their territory. But when they were not present, wild animals would encroach- just as we saw during COVID.
And this reminded me of Tolkien.
Even though Bnei Yisrael have been tasked with killing out these nations, they must be do slowly. Why? Because these nations serve a purpose; they protect the rest of humanity from wild beasts. And similarly Gollum-by the time the story is done, he too will have served his purpose. Even those considered irredeemable are serving a function of some kind. This does not mean they do not deserve death. It just means that if it doesn’t come for them immediately, there may yet be something to appreciate in their continued existence.