Hate can be righteous or unrighteous

Scripture Read: Esther 3:5-6 When Haman saw that Mordecai neither bowed down nor paid homage to him, Haman was filled with rage. ⁶ But he disdained to lay hands on Mordecai alone, for they had told him who the people of Mordecai were; therefore Haman sought to destroy all the Jews, the people of Mordecai, who were throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus.   

Application: I find the meaning of word “rage” most enlightening:

חֵמָה (ḥē∙mā(h)):  Venom, snake poison, i.e., the fluid by-product of a snake that causes injury and/or death, possibly as an extension of heat as a feeling in the body when one is injected with the poison (Dt 32:24, 33; Ps 58:5);  Anger, wrath, fury, rage, i.e., a very strong feeling of displeasure, hostility, and antagonism, usually in relation to a wrong, real or imagined, as an extension of the heat and burning feeling one can have when one is emotionally worked up and in strife and turmoil (Lev 26:28)^[1]

This kind of rage is a poison to our soul. When dealing with a poison we must be very careful because it can infect us as easily as anyone else. Whether it be legalism or holding on to our rights – both paths lead to the wrong direction. Because hate is a most dangerous emotion, we have to see it for what it is and act accordingly. Hatred of evil is a good thing. The scripture tell us to “hate what is evil” (Rom 12:9) So not all hate is wrong – but because it is such a strong emotion we must identify immediately what is the object of our hate and why? The more we hate sin the more our lives will desire to live righteously. That is a very good thing. When we see a person do evil – we must be quick to separate our emotions toward the action and the person – If we do not we will not be able to love that individual enough to hope and pray for a way to share the good news of forgiveness with him. Most hate is not from a righteous heart, because we are sinners by nature. This is when this emotion is so deadly. It breeds disdain, envy and revenge. Driven by hatred humans have done many terrible things, even in Your name Lord. Though You did not give approval Lord, You have still received the blame. What we fail to understand about this emotion is that, it takes on a life of it’s own. When we think we are in control it stealthily has become the master and it is driving us. One of the worst lessons about hate is found in this book, I call it “the Haman principle”. Note the progression of hatred: It was not good enough for Haman to destroy only the one that offended him, this emotion spread like the disease it is, desiring all Jews to die.  Father, as we begin seeing the trap Haman layed for himself, allow us to look in the mirror and see if we are harboring hatred for our enemies or people we struggle with. Enable us to see Christ, help us overcome this evil with good. Spirit of God open our eyes to see these dangerous behaviors and let us flee from them!

* Meditation Questions: When you feel rage and hate what do you do? How do you process righteous feelings of hate toward evil? When we hate evil what is the danger? What about when you deal with feelings of hate that you know are evil? What do you do? What’s the difference to being tempted to hate and sinning by hating?

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[1]
Swanson, J. (1997). Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains : Hebrew (Old Testament) (electronic ed.). Oak Harbor: Logos Research Systems, Inc.