The ancient Jews were peasant farmers. They had not concept of the country since there were no cities. Still, to a large extent uniquely in ancient literature they had a reverence for creation.
Their view of creation and of a single God gave them a different view of the world than their pagan neighbors. Nature was not divine as most believed in those days. There was no sun god or rain god for the Jews. Still nature was used as a symbol for the divine in the Psalms.
Nature was viewed as an achievement, not just a fact.
Unlike others, they knew that all creatures, even the dangerous ones, were created by God and relied on God for their sustenance. Lewis points out that anybody who has lived on the land and relied on it for food and needed protection against dangerous animals was not worried about kindness to animals.
He has an aside on the Egyptian pharaoh who was a monotheist, but was trampled by history.