Sin Degrades Nature

 Ramban (Vayikra 26:06) AND I WILL CAUSE EVIL BEASTS TO CEASE OUT OF THE LAND. When Israel observes the commandments, the Land of Israel will be like the world was at its beginning, before the sin of the first man, when no wild beast or creeping thing would kill a man, just as the Rabbis have said: “It is not the wild ass that kills, but it is sin that kills.” It is because of this that Scripture says, and the suckling child shall play on the hole of the asp, and similarly, and the cow and the bear shall feed … and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. For dangerous beasts only prey on human beings on account of the sin of man, because of which it was decreed upon him that he be a prey to their teeth, and preying was made a part of their nature so that they also prey on each other, as is well-known for having once preyed on man, they add to this tendency that of preying on animals so that they become more harmful. And so Scripture states, And he learned to catch the prey, he devoured men. Now at the time of the creation of the world, it is said of the beasts that He gave them the herb for food, as it is written, And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth wherein there is a living soul, I have given every green herb for food, and Scripture states, and it was so, meaning that such was the nature with which they were endowed forever. It was only afterwards that they learned how to prey, on account of human sin which causes death,