Hatred

This is an important one.  There are some verses that use “hatred,” or some form thereof, in ways that can be potentially confusing, especially to newer Bible students.  For example, Christ said, “If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14:26)

Yet we also find, “So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself.” (Eph 5:28)   Yahshua Himself said, quoting the commandments, “Honour thy father and thy mother; and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” (Mat 19:19)

The absolute predestination people also get confused by statements that read, “Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.” (Rom 9:13)  This can cause a stumbling block for those interested in understanding free will, because this statement is made about those individuals even before they were born. (verse 11)

Understanding the New Testament properly often (I might say always) involves understanding the mindset of the authors, and this means knowing what they knew about the Scriptures.  For example, in Romans 9:13, Paul actually precedes that statement about Esau and Jacob by saying, “As it is written…” He is quoting from the Old Testament, and this passage specifically, spoken to Jacob (the nation of Israel): “‘I have loved you,’ saith Yahweh. Yet ye say, ‘Wherein hast thou loved us?’ ‘Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?’ saith Yahweh, ‘Yet I loved Jacob, and I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness. Whereas Edom saith, ‘We are impoverished, but we will return and build the desolate places,’ thus saith Yahweh of hosts, ‘They shall build, but I will throw down; and they shall call them, Gaboul Rishah [The Border of Wickedness], and, The people against whom Yahweh hath indignation for ever.” (Mal 1:2-4)

Paul is using this passage (there is none other like it in the Bible) to explain how a people (not individuals) are chosen despite any obvious lack of merit.  It is not at all speaking of Esau as an individual being “hated,” because Esau was rejected based upon character, and actions based upon that character, not upon some arbitrary pre-birth factor.  We read that he, “sold his birthright. For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.” (Heb 12:16, 17)  The author there is not warning individuals about being Esaus from birth, but about “following peace,” walking in sanctification and “Looking diligently” that we remain in faith.  If Esau was “hated” for some arbitrary reason, or some reason known only to the Almighty, this advice would be meaningless – we are told to avoid developing the character that Esau developed, becoming “profane” in nature. (Heb 12:15, 16)

Going a little further, in that context “loved” merely means chosen or selected, and  “hated” merely means rejected as the recipient of a particular blessing.  This is especially true when speaking of the rights of inheritance (as would be the case of Israel, who is the “inheritance” of the Almighty. (Isa 19:25, Jer 10:16)

We can illustrate this by looking at the original instructions regarding inheritances, which the Bible itself applies spiritually to the nation of Israel: “If a man have two wives, one beloved, and another hated, and they have born him children, both the beloved and the hated; and if the firstborn son be hers that was hated, then it shall be, when he maketh his sons to inherit that which he hath, that he may not make the son of the beloved firstborn before the son of the hated, which is indeed the firstborn.  But he shall acknowledge the son of the hated for the firstborn, by giving him a double portion of all that he hath, for he is the beginning of his strength; the right of the firstborn is his.” (Deu 21:15-17)

Now if a man literally “hated” one of his wives, as we would use the term today, he could easily disinherit her by putting her away. (Deu 24:1)  Abraham did exactly this with Hagar and Ishmael (his actual firstborn), and he was not in violation of divine principle – and she was indeed called his “wife.” (Gen 16:3, 21:12)  But here we see that the theoretical man in question retained both wives, favoring them both, but he “preferred” one over the other, and would wish to benefit her children particularly, as Jacob himself did, to the detriment of certain aspects of his family life. (Gen 37:3, 4)

Similarly, it is only if we do not “prefer” (not actually hate, as we would say today) our earthly families over Christ’s service that we are safe from temptation in that regard.  Satan will assuredly seek to use friends and family against us to take us out of the Way, in many cases without their direct knowledge.  It is only if the love of Christ is supreme in a person’s heart that he can be an effective evangelist to those emotionally close to him without being undone spiritually by the Tempter’s efforts.  Does everyone understand this?