Deuteronomy 20:19,20
“When you besiege a city a long time, to make war against it in order to capture it, you shall not destroy its trees by swinging an axe against them; for you may eat from them, and you shall not cut them down. For is the tree of the field a man, that it should be besieged by you? “Only the trees which you know are not fruit trees you shall destroy and cut down, that you may construct siegeworks against the city that is making war with you until it falls.”
The Lord gave dominion to Adam and Eve over the earth. “God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” (Genesis 1:28). God wanted the to spread out and fill the earth.
God says to subdue the earth. They were to make it habitable. They were to use earth’s resources in a responsible manner. Today’s passage speaks of the use of trees in war. Their fight wasn’t against the trees. They were to spare fruit trees. Non-fruit baring trees could be used for war efforts.
People have abused nature throughout history. Some still due. One of the purposes of government is to be responsible with natural resources. There are extremes. Some want no growth. This group usually puts nature above humans and says our influence has been bad. Developers want to overdevelop. The responsible path is in the middle.
The movie industry presently portrays humans as having a bad effect on nature. Avatar and Spirit are two examples. Children get the sense that we have been out of control and harsh with nature. In some cases this is true. However, this isn’t a balanced view. It’s more indoctrination.
Lord, thank You for Your wonderful creation. Help us to be responsible in managing it.