Perspective: Is Hatred Ever Right?

Developed from part of a Sunday School lesson delivered at Bethel United Methodist Church on November 28, 2010.¹
I share these thoughts, hoping they are of help to someone else.


Is Hatred Ever Right?

Scripture:

Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my thoughts.
See if there is any wicked way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.

Psalm 139:23-24 (NRSV)

Heal my heart and make it clean
Open up my eyes to the things unseen
Show me how to love like You have loved me
Break my heart for what breaks Yours
Everything I am for Your Kingdom's cause
As I walk from Earth into Eternity

From "Hosanna" by Brooke Frasier

Recently the Bible study book used by my Sunday School class featured lessons about the Psalms. At first I was not too enthusiastic about this. After all, how was I supposed to teach a whole Sunday School lesson about a Psalm? A lesson about a Bible story? I can handle that. A lesson about the teachings of Jesus? Definitely! A lesson about parables? Those are my favorite! A lesson about a Psalm? No way! Psalms are usually self-explanatory, so what is there to explain or discuss? What would I do with Psalm 100, for example? "Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth." Should I discuss the importance of singing?

I came to find out that teaching about a Psalm is not too different from teaching about anything else. As always, the Bible study book gave me a good starting point; God helped me to prepare the rest of the lesson; and the discussion questions took up most of the class time.

Recently, I was blessed with the opportunity to deliver a lesson about Psalm 139. Written by King David, this particular Psalm contains a number of well-known and beloved Bible verses and passages about God's close, personal involvement with humanity.

The psalmist begins with some words about God's perfect knowledge of each of us:

O LORD, You have searched me and known me.
You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
You discern my thoughts from far away.
You search out my path and my lying down,
and are acquainted with all my ways.
(verses 1-3)

The psalmist then continues with thoughts regarding God's constant presence with us:

Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Or where can I flee from Your presence?
If I ascend to heaven, You are there;
if I make my bed in Sheol², You are there.
If I take the wings of the morning
and settle at the farthest limits of the sea,
even there Your hand shall lead me,
and Your right hand shall hold me fast.
(Verses 7-10)

The psalmist then praises God for the thought and care that He put into our creation:

For it was You who formed my inward parts;
You knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are Your works;
that I know very well.
(Verse 13-14)

Toward the end, though, David decides to go off on a tangent, and the Psalm takes on a much darker tone:

O that You would kill the wicked, O God,
and that the bloodthirsty would depart from me -
those who speak of You maliciously,
and lift themselves up against You for evil!
Do I not hate those who hate You, O Lord?
And do I not loathe those who rise up against You?
I hate them with perfect hatred;
I count them my enemies.
(Verses 19-22)

And this was such a beautiful Psalm! Why did David have to go and ruin it with all that stuff about killing and hatred? There are verses that I honestly wish were not included in the Bible, and these are four of them. The author of our Bible study book must have felt the same way, as she decided not to cover this part of the Psalm in the lesson. As I prepared to deliver this lesson, I decided that it was necessary to wrestle with these verses as well.

So what are we supposed to learn from this part of the Psalm? Are we supposed to have the same attitude as the psalmist? Are believers supposed to hate the people who reject God and choose not to follow His ways? Are we supposed to pray for the deaths of those who do evil?

We all know that there are people who share David's sentiment. Without giving any names, there is one "church" in particular that is notorious for its members' hatred. The members of this church infamously travel the country protesting at the funerals of those they consider sinful. They brandish spiteful words on mockingly colorful signs and sing hateful songs, adding to the pain of those who are grieving. They admit to rejoicing when people die because they view it as God's righteous judgment on the wicked. They use Bible verses like the ones above to justify their beliefs and their actions.

There is something very dangerous about basing one's entire belief system on a handful of Bible verses. The passage above, like all Bible passages, must be read while taking the rest of Scripture in consideration. If we do so, I believe that we will see that the hatred that David expresses is not what God wants for us.

One of my favorite stories in the Bible is the story of Jonah. God sends the prophet Jonah to the city of Nineveh to warn the Assyrians of their coming destruction. The Assyrians were a very cruel people, and they were the hated enemy of Israel. Jonah himself had advised the king of Israel in his campaign against them. Jonah hated the Assyrians, so he was initially reluctant to go to Nineveh. With a little prodding from God and a whale, he finally does go. When the Assyrians repent of their ways, Jonah becomes angry that God decides to spare them from destruction. God has to remind Jonah that the Assyrians too are His creations whom He loves.³

The same God whom David is worshiping with this Psalm is the same God who sent Jonah to minister to the Assyrians.

I believe that the teachings and actions of Jesus Christ also have a lot to say about love and hatred. In the Sermon on the Mount, Christ said, "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven..."⁴ Christ said that for us to be children of God, we are to love not only our neighbors but also those who are our enemies. When Christ was executed on the cross, He followed His own command, praying, "Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing."⁵ Christ prayed for the forgiveness of those who were treating Him so cruelly and unjustly.

The same God for whom David wrote the Psalm loved us enough to die for us "while we were still sinners."⁶

Taking such acts of God into consideration, it is evident that God does not want us to hate those who reject Him but to love them. We should not pray for the deaths of evildoers, but we should pray that they come to repentance.

I would like to propose that this part of Psalm 139, in which David boasts perfect hatred for the enemies of God, is not an example of the correct attitude to have or the correct theology to affirm. Instead, I believe that it is an honest admission of David's spirituality at the time. I have come to believe that some of the Psalms are examples of honest prayers. When we pray we should be completely honest, with God and with ourselves, about what is really on our minds and in our hearts. Sometimes this means admitting ugly things like "God, I am angry with you," or "God, I really hate this person."

David finishes this Psalm with a request:

Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my thoughts.
See if there is any wicked way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.
(Verses 23-24)

David follows up his admission of hatred for the enemies of God with an appeal to God to search his heart for evil and to lead him. Though David is totally devoted to God, he knows that he is not perfect and that he is dependent on God's grace. He knows that he needs for God to purge the evil from his heart and to lead him in the "way everlasting," the way of righteousness. David is asking for what is sometimes called God's sanctifying or transforming grace.

Though I initially felt that David ruined an otherwise beautiful Psalm with his talk of hatred and death, his closing request brings a beautiful sense of irony to the Psalm. If David is truly earnest about God searching his heart, if David truly wants to be transformed by God, he must let go of the perfect hatred that he boasts for the enemies of God. This would mean learning the lesson that God sought to teach Jonah. This would mean sharing the love for God's enemies that Christ showed when He gave His life on the cross.

No matter where we are on our spiritual journeys, each of us needs for God to come into our hearts, to heal our brokenness, and to transform us into the people He created us to be. We need to follow David's example, not in his admitted hatred, but in his honesty in prayer and in his willingness to be transformed and led by God.


Notes:
1 - The basis of my Sunday School lesson was:
Carol J. Miller. "God Is All-Knowing", Adult Bible Studies Fall 2010. Cokesbury.
All referenced verses from Psalm 139 are taken from the New Revised Standard Version.
2 - Death. Hell is used in some versions.
3 - Book of Jonah
4 - Matthew 5:43-45a (NRSV)
5 - Luke 23:34 (NRSV)
6 - Romans 5:8


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