Eco-Judaism: Does It Exist? 5
as well as the mountainous and rocky areas within the Land of Israel. These marginal lands were dangerous and to be avoided.
The fertile natural world, which could be used for grazing or cultivation, needed to be conquered. Nature was as much an enemy as were other people. Aside from drought and the contrasting excessive rain, the tales throughout the Biblical period dealt with marauding wild animals such as lions(arye— panthera leo— Deut. 33:22; Jud. 14:18; Amos 3:8; 5:19, and numerous other references), leopards(namer— Panthera pardus— Hab. 1:8; Jer. 13:23), bears(dov— Ursus syriacus 1 Sam. 17:34; 2 Sam. 17:8; 2K. 22:24; Amos 5:19; etc.), wolves(ze’ev— Canis lupus— Gen. 49:27; Is. 11:6), foxes(shual— Vulpes palaestinus— Song 2:15), jackals(tan— Canis aureus— Is. 13:22, 34:13; Mic. 1:8; Mal. 1:3, etc.), hyenas(tzavoa— Hyaena hyaena— 1 Sam. 13:18), and packs of dogs(kelev— Canis familiaris— 1 K. 14.11; Ps. 22:17). There were rodents such as rats(akhbor— Rattus rattus) and mice(akhbor— Mus musculus — Lev. 11:29; 1 Sam. 6:4; 2 K. 22:14), which consumed huge quantities of grain in the field and after harvest, in addition to bearing diseases such as the plague. On a regular basis swarms of locusts (arbeh— Schistocerca gregaria— Ex. 10:4 ff; Lev. 11:22; Is. 33:4; Nah. 3:15 f; Job 39:20) devoured everything in their path. There were also many native insect pests such as grasshoppers(khagav— Orchelimum vulgare). In addition to insects, diseases afflicted agriculture, such as smut(shidafon— Ustilago hordei) which afflicted barley(Amos 4:9; Hag. 2:17) and bunt(botza— Tilletia caries— Job 31:40), black rot(beutzim— Guignardia bidwellii— Ts. 5:2-7), which also attacked grains. There were also noxious weeds, many of which cannot be identified, but which overgrew fields and vineyards(Is. 5:6). Constant wariness, as well as trapping(Jud. 15.4; 2 Sam. 23:20; Hos. 9:8; Is. 51:20); and hunting (Gen. 21:20, 27.3; Is. 2:24, 24:18; Jer. 48:44; Hos. 5:14) contained some marauders. Several species of wild animals were considered fit for human consumption(Lev. 17:13). Nimrod(Gen. 10:9) and Esau (Gen. 21:20, 25:28) were hunters, but as they played no role in the development of Judaism , the later rabbis pointed to them as negative examples, and hunting was rarely undertaken as a sport. In contrast to neighboring royalty, none of the Israelite or Judean kings created zoos nor did they trade in exotic species. Solomon certainly could have done so with the queen of Sheba; he had no interest in creating a“Hanging Garden” such as the ruler of Babylon.