User talk:Davidbena/sandbox/Wild edible plants

To Jews, the laws bequeathed to them by their forefathers are immutable. The conceptual-jurisprudential question that is to be asked by students of International law is whether or not these laws pertain only to the inner circle of Jews when it comes to conquest by war, or can we say that these laws apply also to the Gentiles although they do not see themselves related to the Jewish law, as they have no access to it, nor do they have any say in the matter. In their view, they would be bound to these laws solely based on Jewish interpretation of the law. Can these Jewish laws be applied to persons who do not consider themselves subject to the laws of the Torah?

According to the Talmud (Sanhedrin 59a), the laws relating to a ‘beautiful captive woman’ apply only to the men of Israel, but do not apply to gentile soldiers. Moreover, Gentiles are not authorized to wage a war of conquest (Hebrew: ), meaning, before the act, they have no right of conquest. This is explained by Adin Steinsaltz as meaning, "permission has not been given to the Gentiles to make war for the sake of conquest, while this law concerning the ‘beautiful [captive] woman’ was said only with respect to a war where there was conquest [by Israel] (Deut. 21:1–ff.), and, therefore, the matter is permitted unto a fellow Jew, but prohibited unto a non-Jew."

Although the Gentile nations are not authorized to wage a war of conquest against another nation, still, if they should do so and take away lands belonging to another nation by force, they legally take possession of that captured territory. This is expressed in the Talmud (Gittin 38a), where it says, "Ammon and Moab were purified by Sihon" (Hebrew: ), meaning, their land was originally forbidden to Israel, but when Sihon came and took it, it was then permitted for Israel. Sihon acquired it by force and Ammon and Moab despaired of their claim and because they despaired, Israel came and legitimately took it from Sihon. By Sihon having taken away the lands from Ammon and Moab, this enabled Israel to take away the same lands from Sihon, which, previously, Israel was unable to do when the lands belonged to Ammon and Moab, as it is written: "Meddle not with them; for I will not give you of their land," etc. (Deut. 2:5-7, 9, 1). This, then, was the argument of Jephthah (Judges 11:13–22) when the Moabite king complained to him that Israel had wrongfully taken away lands belonging to Moab. Israel had not taken the land from Moab, but rather from Sihon.