On God’s Side
Do I not hate those who hate You, O Lord? And do I not loathe those who rise up against You? Psalm 139:21 NASB
Hate– When is hate a virtue? You might reply, “When we hate sin.” But typically we add, “but love the sinner.” Ah, if it were only that simple. You see, the verb used here, śānēʾ, doesn’t make such fine distinctions. Just as Hebrew doesn’t disconnect body, mind and soul, so it doesn’t distinguish between the person and the action. What I do is who I am, one and the same. Therefore:
The term śāne hhas the same meaning in Ugaritic (UT 19: no. 2449). The verb śānē and its derivatives have the root meaning “to hate.” It expresses an emotional attitude toward persons and things which are opposed, detested, despised and with which one wishes to have no contact or relationship. It is therefore the opposite of love. Whereas love draws and unites, hate separates and keeps distant. The hated and hating persons are considered foes or enemies and are considered odious, utterly unappealing.[1]
David hates God’s enemies. He doesn’t simply hate what they do. He hates them. They represent all that is detestable to God. David amplifies this thought with the term qûṭ (“loathe”), a word with a rich history in the story of Jacob. Coppes notes, “Our root denotes the deep emotional reaction of the subject issuing in a desired repulsion (or destruction) of the object.”[2] This is the same word Rebecca uses to motivate Isaac to send Jacob away. Essentially she says that the marriage of Esau to his Canaanite wives revolts her, makes her ill and disgusted. The same things simply cannot happen to Jacob.
So, let’s ask again. When is hate a virtue? Now we can answer, “Whenever this emotional reaction occurs because God is not honored by someone or something.” That is a broad category. In fact, the Hebrew syntax emphasizes who falls into this category by placing “those who hate You” first in the sentence. The most important point of David’s verse is that there are people who act with disregard and dishonor toward God and these people make David sick to his stomach. As he says, he wants nothing to do with them.
Oh, that means he isn’t trying to evangelize them either. He simply wants to get as far from them as possible, and in his mind, this is the proper thing to do. After all, what they do is repugnant to God so why be around them at all? Is that what you think?
Topical Index: śānē, hate, qûṭ, loathe, Psalm 139:21
[1]Gerard Van Groningen, 2272 (1999). In R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer, Jr. & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament. 1999 (R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer, Jr. & B. K. Waltke, Ed.) (electronic ed.) (880). Chicago: Moody Press.
[2]Coppes, L. J. (1999). 1996 קוּט. In R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer, Jr. & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament(R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer, Jr. & B. K. Waltke, Ed.) (electronic ed.) (792). Chicago: Moody Press.
So one must ask the question;
Historically speaking, where does the notion of love the sinner come from Skip?
Perhaps it is an extension of the evangelical penchant to think of sin as something alien to us, as if it exists independently of us. That would make it a Greek concept, since Hebrew doesn’t have these sorts of distinctions. Perhaps then it is the result of Augustine’s “sinful nature” which was viewed as something alien that attached itself to human being at the Fall. We could investigate, but this we know for sure: Hebrew sees the person AS A WHOLE, not as parts.
This one has been niggling at me.
If “Hebrew sees the person AS A WHOLE, not as parts” is true, then could that have been why Yeshua said to Peter “get thee behind me, Satan”? If so: if we really are identified (kingdom subjects?) with whatever spirit we are currently cohabiting with, then I can see why we can also “be hid with Christ in God”. It is obvious to me that we were made to be ruled by a spiritual kingdom from beyond us, but it seems we could be considered ‘one’ (in our identity) with that kingdom, too.
As our true identity is to be found only in concert with the Holy Spirit, I can see why we lose our identity to the extent we are cohabiting with the other spiritual kingdom. Could Peter’s real identity – temporarily at least – been identified with Satan’s kingdom, as it was in that spirit that he was opposing the will of Yeshua to go and die? I think he was being treated as a pawn by both sides at that point. Yeshua loved Peter, but it seems He had to (temporarily) negotiate with the Adversary in Peter’s behalf.
I think God loves Satan, too, but hates (disagrees with) what he is doing. I, too, have not been able to find a ‘thing’ called “evil” to fight, but it is clear to me, from scripture, that there are spiritual realities we should not be associating with. If we can grieve the Holy Spirit into oblivion, I think it is also possible to change spiritual bed partners (quit adulterating ourselves – “becoming one with” – with other gods, or, ruling spirits), too.
I just looked back at your comment from yesterday. So many times we are unaware of whom we are representing by our words. My mind flips to the book of James and what he is saying in regards to the tongue/mouth. Very practical Christianity in the forming. But, we have to go a step deeper. Where do these words come from? Where did they originate within us before they are expelled from us? Jesus talked about out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. So then we have to go to the heart. Most of us live in denial as to what is in our hearts but it’s revealed by our words. Our attitudes are reflected in our words. I always say it’s easy to take your spiritual temperature, all you have to do is listen to what you are saying. Moaning and groaning. Complaining and bickering. Bitter words. Sour words. God wants to move down into the recesses of our hearts and make a difference. He is not content flitting around on the surface. God is a disruptive force. Intentionally. Why should we be surprised when we give him access and permission, “your kingdom come your will be done “, that we enter into conflict ?! And as Skip is saying In today’s word (31st) God is a surgeon! It all comes back to the heart, doesn’t it? How many have started on this journey and have turned back because the price was too high? The field is littered with dead soldiers. Couldn’t you wait with me, just one hour?
To ask the question “how does God hate?” is to answer the question “how must we hate?” So, how exactly does He hate? If separation is how you hate (expulsion from the Garden of the Presence; no direct communique) it is also not the sum total of it, for we also see that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us; put Himself in our place.
This is how love must ‘hate’ sinners, then. First, we must separate ourselves (Godly hatred) from the sin equation in others (“The god of this world comes, but he has nothing IN ME”); in other words, we must not be providing for the existence of sin in some way (as I tried so poorly to explain yesterday). HOWEVER, in the case of the Good Samaritan, I contend that both the persons who ignored the man in the ditch were still tied to the problem. They were NOT practicing godly separation because they were still hating the effects (contamination of sin) through justification (he deserved it) of the cause. The Samaritan was busy hating (and thus fixing) the CAUSE. But I digress.
Next, we must, to follow the pattern of our Saviour, “die”; or, sacrifice in some way, for others in the places they are stuck (sinning). Ok, this gets sticky. The worst of sinners automatically knows this is how love works, and they already instinctively know to appeal to the ‘good’ in us to do just that. How else does codependency thrive? To the extent we are still attempting to work our way to heaven (be good on our own power) I believe we are vulnerable to the siren call in sinners (dependents all) for codependents to prop them up in the name of love. This is false saving, where the drowning person just pulls us down with them. We have all done it – in the name of love, of course – because we have all attempted to love in the flesh. Flesh appeals to flesh, however, and so we can be used by sin; either in ourselves or others. Time to quit.
Hatred of evil is the only thing that actually lines us up with the sufferers of it: we represent true SEPARATION from the problem, which is strength. Thus, we represent safety: no contamination; no compromise with sin. That makes us safe to those stuck in trespasses and sins. They can take our hand of fellowship without fear and leave sin behind (hate it too, and hate what they are when they are attached in their (false) identity TO IT); safe in the strength of our perfect hatred (which is our protection as well as theirs) of the problem. So how do we hate those who hate God? Obey the injunction to “overcome evil with good”. To overcome a sinner is literally to convince them to switch sides: to overwhelm them with our love that is not afraid of the death they represent. In other words, we must not be afraid to oppose them to their face, like Paul did when Peter was out of line. Now that is true godly hatred! Halleluah!
I agree with both of you, love overcomes a multitude of sins oh, this doesn’t cover everything, yet it does overcome hatred. I was brought up with the idea that it’s not the person we hate it’s the spirit behind the person. But as I grow the person is connected to his actions. There must be a divorce. Of the inner man to the actions he produces. Galatians Gifts of very good categorical division between a spirit of man and spirit of God. 1 changes to the other. But the inside must change. The inner struggle becomes defeated and the spirit of God flows. And watch to produce the fruit of the of God.. I think it would be appropriate to say that the letter of the law kills, but the spirit of the letter of the law gives life. We need to know what battles to pick and fight. It might also be appropriate to bring it to mind carrying our cross. We are dead to sin but alive to God. And helping others carry their crosses.
Yes, but doesn’t this actually follow the usual, “Hate the sin, love the sinner” mantra that David seems to reject?
But the question becomes, Skip, whether David is being emotional right now (like you have pointed out in the past) or whether he is spouting divine doctrine?
I doubt David ever “spouted divine doctrine.” This is the view of Scripture that I try so hard to oppose. I think David is responding to the world as we would, and doing so with the ever-present awareness of God, something we might need to also do. But I don’t think David is a theologian, as we define theologian today. He doesn’t write doctrine. He writes poetry which we attempt to turn into doctrine. Usually mistakenly.
You say the Hebrew looks at the world from how it appears. To David, it appears that those who hate God must be hated, too, then. But is this how God treats us? Is this how the Ten Commands are written? Didn’t David try to “hate” Saul for 18 years before he realized that that is not how you go about it? It is clear that Saul hated him, but to act in kind does not solve the problem: it perpetuates it, right? In actuality, we know that David loved Saul very much the whole time. He made the mistake of validating Saul’s hatred of him by fighting back: by ‘hating’ him in return. Tail of the dog. Been there, done that. All I got was a t-shirt (to wipe my bitter tears with at the end), too.
Jonah tried to get away from Nineveh and that didn’t work out very well for him. Their actions were repugnant, yet YHVH wanted them to repent. I am finding people’s actions more and more grievous, but I’m finding myself more and more concerned for the consequences of their sin in their lives. I want them to repent. I believe the god of this world has blinded their minds and they don’t know what they are doing. The “shepherds” have led people far from the truth. David’s hatred seems so different from Yeshua’s compassionate response to sinners. I think each of us is guilty of disregard and dishonor toward God. If we define those who disobey the commandments as those who dishonor God, that would leave us hating everyone, including ourselves. This is something I struggle with. I would love to hear more.
I think that we come to this: when we read the Bible as the emotional responses of men and women to God’s interaction in their lives, we discover that they have as many ups and downs as we do, and this connects us to them and to their experiences of God. It doesn’t mean that everything they say is “doctrinal truth.” It means that they go through the same emotional upheaval and trauma that we do, and in it all, they discover God’s faithfulness. Maybe. 🙂
You are a breath of fresh air!
This is confusing to me to a certain degree. I am coming to a place where I am owning up to those negative aspects of my nature instead of denying them or splitting.I look at the hall of me, the good, the bad and the ugly. Instead of leaving these areas in the dark, I bring them forth into the light. The whole person stands before God. Even my goodness can be something that God hates because it stands against God. I take credit for the good and in the same way deny the evil. Romans 7:15-23. At the same time the Bible talks about the flesh warring against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh. The two are contrary. How do I hate that evil which is within me? Is the evil me, or is it something detached from me? Or is it just something I do? If it’s me, then I’m hating myself and no healing ever came out of hating.
I will send this even though it sounds a little bit crazy. Just processing thoughts.
If I view hate as the opposite of love it helps. If I keep the big picture in mind accepting that it is the Creators desire to restore “all” things, then hate has to line up with the overall message and not what David said only. A group of people (family) betrayed me terribly in 2015. The level of disgust I had for them changed when I aligned my will with Gods will… how did that look? I desired that no man perish. I still have no personal contact with them but I also have no desire to destroy them with my words or deeds. David’s words in psalm 73 have helped me throughout the years when I needed to process certain feelings and thoughts. What specifically stuck out to me was David coming to this conclusion about himself – “When my heart was embittered And I was pierced within [as with the fang of an adder], Then I was senseless and ignorant; I was like a beast before You. Psalm 73:21-22”
Of course, then you bring the whole aspect of loving your neighbor as you love yourself, So what role does the hatred part play? Well, I have to get to work. Check in later.
The simple answer is that hate cannot be the ‘opposite’ of love, Larry (C.S. Lewis goes into this), because if it were, God would not do it. Love is life; therefore the opposite is all forms of lifelessness. Hate is full of life: energy, motivation, direction, etc. Apathy is our real danger. You can change the course of a runaway horse: it is much harder to resurrect a valley of dry bones! Try working with people who just don’t care vs. those who still give a (anything).
Hate simply reorders the priorities of what comes first, second, etc. Some things just need to come dead last. They are only a problem (if they are) because we are putting them first (or ahead of more important things). Sin always wants to be first: that is what makes it sin, in fact. God owns all the real stuff. Sin is the negation of reality; therefore it is not actually a real thing. We need to change our relationship with all the things (including people) of reality according to their relationship with the Creator. Hate is the action of that re-ordering.
I think we struggle, like you say, with self love and hate, but, if you think about it, God also has a love/hate relationship with us, too. He wants us to put Him first. Anything else, He hates. So should we. But that is the ONLY thing we should hate (reorder) about ourselves!
God knows the insidiousness of evil.
He had to put it away (putting Adam & Eve out of
the Garden), and He immediately provided a Way back.
He knows full well those who dwell in evil learn to hate it
and resist it. And He certainly knows those evil-dwellers
will have a hell of a time trying to get out of it.
“apart from me you can do nothing.” Jn 15:5
So, He offers a way out . . . His supernatural Way.
Man’s desire to change is no doubt natural; but man’s
ability to “get there” lies in God’s wheelhouse. So . . .
“he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”
It’s the one way out of evil. His Way.
David expresses his thoughts as many today would be afraid to do. Maybe that is one of a few reasons we love him. This is puzzling to me in some ways. Wasn’t David one of God’s enemies at times? He had more than one wife. Wouldn’t that be intentional sinning on his part? I think Scripture is confusing when we consider these things. Paul tells us that adulterers won’t be part of the kingdom. But David was a man after God’s heart. It is confusing. Maybe David is expressing some self-hatred.
Or maybe the CULTURAL context of Scripture is often submerged in our fervent desire to make it all say that same thing. Maybe our idea of inspiration, that behind it all is the ONE God who is speaking, actually interferes with understanding the authors in their own time and culture.
I don’t really understand your response to my thoughts. I didn’t know Paul was the one who said David was a man after God’s own heart. But seriously we can’t admit that Scripture is confusing. I mean David did have more than one wife. How do we reconcile that with Paul saying adulterers won’t be part of the Kingdom. Just rhetorical. How do we reconcile with being obedient. And saying that he could be expressing self-hatred is a somehow not possible for him to think in his time and culture??
now you have me confused. Do you mean that we CAN NOT admit Scripture is confusing because to do so would unhinge our paradigm, or do you mean the Scripture is confusing and we need to admit that? And David, of course, was an adulterer but not with the 17 other women. He married them first so they were all wives before sex (although there were several odds things about some of those marriages). As for obedience, maybe we need to pay a lot more attention to the CULTURE and CONTEXT instead of reading all Scripture as if it were written for us yesterday.
You are saying that it was okay in David’s time to have more than one wife. I guess that is why the Mormons are okay with this. But surely David would have been familiar with the Genesis story and the command to not commit adultery. I don’t think my comments were about speaking to me today except to say that David wasn’t afraid to express his emotions. I think my comment about self-hatred is just as valid as your interpretation of who the enemies are that David is thinking about.
Can we maybe ask for a clear cut guide from scriptures that specifies what God hates. One thing I thought he hated was adultery until David became an adulterous. Then there are sins against the holy spirit that will not be forgiven… What are these sins?
Any one have an unambiguous list of exactly what God hates and which was confirmed by Yeshua…
I probably won’t be able to express myself very well but here goes…ask any modern denomination and I am sure they can give you a “list”. Doesn’t this attempt to stuff God back into a box yet again? List’s bring about a sense of fear of messing up. Is it not said many times over in scripture to not have a spirit of fear? To fear the Lord and keep His commandments yes but to have a spirit of fear in general?
Seems like the details are getting overwhelming and the day to day of living is marginalized. I understand that this study is difficult and confusing. Maybe we need to get on about the business of living and doing the very best we can always keeping in mind to honor God and leave the “lists” alone:-)
Well summarized… I was thinking in the line of Proverbs 6:16 – 19
As for not hating our enemies… Our enemies are not necessary hated by God.
Sounds right to me.
So how does this relate to what you wrote about “hating our enemies”, Matthew 5:43 – Necessary Conflict and Textual Emendation?
Skip, I do think your evaluation of the historical meaning of David’s writing about hating his enemies is very accurate, but I do not believe just because fallible David wrote about how he hated his enemies that it best illustrates the will of YHWH, who “desires that all men be saved” (1 Tim 2:4). Yeshua later taught a refined understanding of David’s fallible one, speaking with a greater authority of YHWH than David was given. David did hate his enemies, but Yeshua said:
Point well taken.
Well I got home from work and I was able to sit with today’s word little longer. Thinking about the word hate. Came to somewhat of a sweet understanding of hatred, maybe from God’s perspective. God loves us so much that anything that keeps us from him, his love, his joy, his fullness, stands in the way of anything that God desires for us. In this sense he would be a jealous lover. When you love someone you want the best for them and anything that distracts or keeps them from living in their inheritance would be cause for having a reaction of hatred for the thing that restricts. I thought about the verse out of Jude(23) where he says, “hating even the garment that is stained by sin”. To me, it speaks so clearly as to why God is stated as saying that he loved Righteousness and hated iniquity. WHY?? Because sin keeps us from the heart of God for us. He hates what we choose because it’s the very thing that keeps us behaving like orphans instead of sons and daughters . Maybe David had such a warrior’s heart he had a difficult time separating the sin from the sinner? If you think about the old testament in a number of places God told them to totally decimate/eliminate everyone and everything. There was no separating the sin from the sinner in that case . Fresh start, whole new cast! Look what happened in Noah’s day!
It makes me realize that God is not a killjoy restricting us from pleasures because he is a hard blank but he knows the affects of those things that we choose and stands in strong opposition to them in our lives.
Whom the Lord loves, he disciplines and scourges (ouch!) every son he receives.
What a blessing this whole thing is, thanks Skip!