Bible Contradiction? Were the Israelites to spare the trees in the countries they invaded?

For today’s post we will tackle the question the Skeptic Annotated Bible asked:Were the Israelites to spare the trees in the countries they invaded?

Here are the two answers which the skeptic believes indicate a Bible contradiction:

Yes

“Then you shall strike every fortified city and every choice city, and cut down every good tree and stop up all the springs of water, and spoil every good plot of land with stones.’”” (2 Kings 3:19)

No

“When you besiege a city for 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, so you shall not cut them down. For is the tree of the field a human, that it should ^[b]be besieged by you?” (Deuteronomy 20:19)

(All Scriptural quotation comes from the New American Standard Bible)

Here’s a closer look at whether or not there is a contradiction:

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