וַיְהִי בְּשַׁלַּח פַּרְעֹה אֶת־הָעָם וְלֹא־נָחָם אֱלֹהִים דֶּרֶךְ אֶרֶץ פְּלִשְׁתִּים כִּי קָרוֹב הוּא כִּי אָמַר אֱלֹהִים פֶּן־יִנָּחֵם הָעָם בִּרְאֹתָם מִלְחָמָה וְשָׁבוּ מִצְרָיְמָה׃
“Now when Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although it was nearer; for God said, ‘The people may have a change of heart [become regretful] when they see war, and return to Egypt.’”
It is hard not to see this verse through the lens of everything going on in this moment and I think it is particularly important to parse out this piece of text, in several different ways, for that reason.
When the people were finally freed from Egypt, God did not take the shorter way around because a newly freed people might have a change of heart (lit. become regretful) upon seeing war and turn back to Egypt — the implication being that war is so horrifying, so scary, so traumatic that Israel would choose the harshness of slavery over the mere SIGHT of war. So much of the Torah is dedicated to the pursuit of peace, the pursuit of justice, and the pursuit of a society dedicated to the care of the widow, the orphan, and the most vulnerable. There are times when war is justified and even necessary. The Torah acknowledges this and guides Israel in these ways; And yet, the bottom line is that any war that’s deemed just or necessary must be fought with the expressed purpose of ending war altogether. Such that our blood-drenched swords and spears can be repurposed for plowshares and pruning hooks, fulfilling the prophetic vision that “nation shall not raise up sword against nation and that they shall study war no more.”