“Surely thou wilt slay the wicked, O God: depart from me therefore, ye bloody men. For they speak against thee wickedly, and thine enemies take thy name in vain. Do not I hate them, O LORD, that hate thee? and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee? I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies. Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting,” Psalm 139:19-24.
In a day when the essence of man’s ‘religion’ is to sanctimoniously declare that they ‘love everyone and hate none’, it is somewhat startling for such to encounter words as these from holy David the king, of whom the Lord said: “I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfil all my will.” (Acts 13:22).
Hatred plays a vital part in true religion. The Lord Jesus Himself commended the believers in the Ephesian church. “But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate,” Revelation 2:6.
The Lord declared the same hatred of sin in the Old Testament age. “Howbeit I sent unto you all my servants the prophets, rising early and sending them, saying, Oh, do not this abominable thing that I hate,” Jeremiah 44:4. The Lord has not changed in His attitude, His hatred of sin. We, who would be like the Lord, must share in His hatred of evil!
It is hard for the blinded liberal theologians and their apologists to get round these words. They may quibble about the phrase in our text and claim that David was giving vent to sinful emotions, but they cannot say that of the One “Who knew no sin,” 2 Corinthians 5:21.
Yes, there are things that the Christian must hate.
The word ‘hate’ in our text is a Hebrew word which is translated in our Authorised Version of the Bible by the English word ‘hate’ 136 times, by ‘enemies’ 3 times, by ‘enemy’ 3 times and by ‘hateful’ once and some 146 other words of the same character, (‘hating’, ‘hateth’ etc.)
It is true that we are to ‘hate’ no one. “Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart: thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour, and not suffer sin upon him,” Leviticus 19:17.
“He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now,” 1 John 2:9.
“Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him,” 1 John 3:15.
However, there is no contradiction between the words of David in the Psalm we are looking at and the words just quoted. They dwell together most amicably when rightly understood! (more…)
Christian group blocked from holding conference at Cambridge college
Sir,