jIH muS chaH

joH'a', yImev jIH muS chaH 'Iv muS SoH? 'oH jIH ghobe' grieved tlhej chaH 'Iv Hu' Dung Daq SoH?
LORD, don’t I hate those who hate you? Am I not grieved with those who rise up against you? Psalm 139:21

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Here we we come to an example of Psalms that make humans squirm - the imprecatory psalms. Imprecatory psalms are those which invoke curses upon enemies. (http://www.theopedia.com/Imprecatory_Psalms ) There are passages which may strike us, as CS Lewis said, as devilish, since they seem to revel in the great and horrible judgements they call down on their enemies.

On the other hand - these are words that certainly would catch the attention of a Klingon - after all, as far as we know, they DON'T have a word for to love, but they most certainly DO have a word, muS, for "to hate." (in fact that word has been pressed into services by Klingonists to make muSHa', to love. muS, to hate. plus the "undo" suffix, -Ha', gives muSHa'. so "I love you" becomes "qamuSHa'", literally I don't hate you.)

The Hebrew here is a very basic root, sawnay, and it appears over 130 times in the Bible, from Genesis to Malachai. And it's clear as you look at examples of it in use, that the Hebrew authors are expressing deep feelings, their hate, hate, HATE about the enemies of God:

• Psalms 97:10 You who love the LORD, hate evil. He preserves the souls of his saints. He delivers them out of the hand of the wicked.
• Psalms 101:3 I will set no vile thing before my eyes. I hate the deeds of faithless men. They will not cling to me.
• Psalms 119:104 Through your precepts, I get understanding; Therefore I hate every false way.
• Psalms 139:21-22 O LORD, don't I hate those who hate you? Am I not grieved with those who rise up against you? I hate them with perfect hatred. They have become my enemies.

Those are the tame ones - the Psalms don't skip over wishing great and detailed violence on those who oppose God.

There's a tension here - because those aren't the ONLY thing the Bible has to say about enemies, ours and God's.

• Exodus 23:4 "If you meet your enemy's ox or his donkey going astray, you shall surely bring it back to him again.
• Proverbs 25:21-22 If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat; If he is thirsty, give him water to drink: For you will heap coals of fire on his head, And the LORD will reward you.
• Matthew 5:44 But I tell you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who mistreat you and persecute you,

How do we reconcile these? One good piece of advice comes in the old adage, "hate the sin, love the sinner." That is, the Bible's message of redemption calls us to to always seek the redemption of the enemy, to trust the power God used to redeem US to be just as effective on those we count as enemies.

We're also reminded that seeking revenge is NOT our privilege or duty: Don't seek revenge yourselves, beloved, but give place to God's wrath. For it is written, "Vengeance belongs to me; I will repay, says the Lord." Romans 12:19

But one thing is clear through the Bible - whether calling curses or love down on our enemies - there is an agreement in one fact: there ARE enemies in this world. For all the "Good News" the Bible brings (and make no mistake, it brings GREAT Good News!), we err if we forget there is also BAD News. Something is wrong in the cosmos. We live in a sin shrouded world, a wonderful and good creation of God where something HAS gone wrong. That means there ARE enemies. There are things that need to be set right.

When we reflect on that, we may come closer to understanding these psalms - and understand the spirit that recognizes that we have to take sides - not to wreak God's wrath on evildoers, but to share the good news that He can and will set things right. If that's so, doesn't it make sense to be on His side?

joH'a', yImev jIH muS chaH 'Iv muS SoH? 'oH jIH ghobe' grieved tlhej chaH 'Iv Hu' Dung Daq SoH?
LORD, don’t I hate those who hate you? Am I not grieved with those who rise up against you? Psalm 139:21