Does Hate Have a Purpose?

Day one hundred and three

Everyday, for three years, I prayed for the students in my seminary class.  It created a really cool bond between us.  They knew that every morning I would pray for them individually and that I had grown to love them more for it.  When I no longer taught the class I continued to pray for them, but with time it became more of a group prayer instead of individually. Lately I've been thinking a lot about that class, many of the young men are preparing for missions and the rest of them are either in college or working.  I realized that they still need my prayers, they are facing some of the most important decisions in their lives, plus the challenges and temptations of the world, they need the blessings more than ever.  So my prayer this morning was dedicated to each individual in my seminary class, may they know that they are very loved and that the Lord is with them.

Exodus 1

One of the themes of this chapter is hate.  The Egyptians clearly have a strong disliking for the people of Israel, enough that they make them slaves and later command that any male babies born are to be killed.  I wondered if the Israelites felt the same way about the Egyptians.  A passage in the Old Testament Institute Manual shed some light on this:

"Their bondage (the Israelites) certainly was not all on the negative side. It too served a good purpose.  The cruelty of the taskmasters, the hatred that existed between the Hebrews and the Egyptians, and the length of the trying servitude fused Jacob's children into a united people...The hatred felt towards the Egyptians prevented intermarriage between the Hebrews and their neighbors.  To reap the benefits of the Abrahamic promises, Israel had to remain a pure race, and the Lord used this means to achieve it..." (Peterson, Moses, pp. 27-30).

Leave it to God to make a positive out of a negative!  Now I was intrigued, does hate have a purpose?  From this quote it appears the answer is yes.  What else do the scriptures tell us about hate?

"To every thing there is a season, and a  time to every purpose under the heaven...A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace." (Ecc 3:1,8)

 So when is the time to hate and how does the Lord feel about hate? 

In Proverbs 6:16-19 we are given a list of things that the Lord hates:

"These six things doth the Lord hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him:

A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood,

An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief,

A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren"

These things would be considered sins and therfore it makes sense that the Lord would hate them.  There is a purpose to hating sin, we are less likely to sin ourselves.   

It is God that puts enmity between us and Satan:

"And I will put enmity thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel" (Gen 3:15; Moses 4:21) 

Enmity is defined as deep-seated, often mutual hatred (web dictionary).  This sounds similar to the Egyptians and Hebrews feelings.  What purpose is there in enmity?  Satan is an enemy of God and therefore an enemy of those that love God.  If there is enmity between us and Satan, we are less likely to become like him.

The Psalmist tells us:

"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"  (Psalms 139: 21-22)

It appears that hating those that hate God has a purpose too, to unite us with God. We have to choose a side righteousness or wickedness, if we choose righteousness, then we hate wickedness (Ps 45:7; Heb 1:9).

There is a pattern to these verses, do you see it?  It's not about hating people that hate us, but hating those things (sins and the wicked) that are enemies of God.  The Egyptians cause their own grief because they are mistreating God's chosen people, not a wise move on their part. Yet God uses that hatred for a wise purpose, to prepare His people.  We will see this pattern of God's people suffering throughout the scriptures and each time He will deliver them and their faith is increased.

We see another example of this in Deuteronomy 28. The Lord is trying to teach the people about obedience in this chapter. The lesson is: obedience leads to blessings and disobedience leads to:

"Therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies which the Lord shall send against thee, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things: and he shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck, until he have destroyed thee." (v 48)

The Lord will use the opportunity to humble His people so that they are teachable. If we know that there is a puprose behind hate how should we feel about it?

"But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;" (Matt 5:44)

That's right we are to learn to overcome our hate, which leads us to love, which in turn leads us to be closer to God.  So one purpose of hate is to teach us to love, who saw that one coming? It sounds a lot like the law of opposition comes into play here (2 Ne 2:11, 15).  And with the law of opposition involved it leads to a discussion on agency, justice, mercy, obedience, etc.  Wow!  I had no idea that I would be led to such deep thoughts in my study of hate.  I'm sure I've only touched a small portion of the lessons that could be learned from this topic.   

What it all comes down to for me is:  If I am having feelings of hate towards something or someone I need to ask myself what am I supposed to be learning from this experience.  The process of overcoming those feelings will teach me to grow and then I can be closer to the Lord.  If I can do that, then I am even becoming a little more like God and learning to make a positive out of a negative!