Of Hatred

“Whose hatred is covered by deceit, his wickedness shall be shewed before the whole congregation.” (Pr 26:26 AV)

 Hatred is both an out of control pandemic, but also falsely charged.  The wickedness here is the wickedness of not only hating but also pretending not to.  All one has to do is back up into the context to determine this truth.  According to Webster’s 1828 dictionary, hate is “to dislike greatly; to have a great aversion to.  It expresses less than abhor, detest, and abominate, unless pronounced with a  peculiar emphasis.”  In other words, hate is not as severe as detest or abominate.  Hatred is not necessarily wrong. David hated a group of people bent on wickedness (Ps 26:5; 31:6).  We are to hate wickedness and evil (Ps 45:7). And, God hates (Ps 11:5).  Yet, we are told to love those whom we once hated (Mt 5:43,44).  However, hatred has been elevated far beyond its meaning.  Today, of one fails to not only agree with you but also promote his opinions, you are labeled a hater.  In past generations, it seemed we could agree to disagree.  Today, that is almost impossible.  There is no such things as grace anymore.

Having said all that, there is a tact I would like to consider.  That is deep-seated hatred that is glossed over by insincere actions.  The above passage calls that deceit.  Solomon is not permitting his children to hate as long as it is out in the open.  Not at all.  What he is warning his future king of is insincere allies who will disguise their hatred for the Jewish people to live amicably or gain some advantage.  The point of this warning is not to instruct his children to vent their hatred.  Rather, to be aware because those that do hate will be manifested by their actions.  And these actions will be evident.  I wish to consider a more personal application to this verse.  The reason being is that we all harbor certain hatreds which no one knows of.  A few Sundays ago, I preached a message entitled One People, One Problem, One Peace.  The gist of the sermon was this fallacy that we are of different races.  Which we are not.  We are all of the human race.  Our problem is sin.  And our one peace is Christ.

What has happened is the curse of the tower of Bable is splitting us apart.  When mankind attempted to exalt itself up to God, God scattered us by giving us different languages and speech.  That is, He cursed us with different words and ways of thinking.  This created diversity in culture.  Our differences are not about pigmentation.  Our differences are differences in culture.  Our strife arises when we begin to think that our culture, in every way, is better than all others.  This is not so.  All cultures have good points and bad points depending on how they align with the Bible.  This hatred in our hearts arises because we begin to think our way of thinking or living is automatically better and just because another culture is different, it necessarily means it is wrong.  I experienced this first hand.  When a friend compared our different cultures in the way we might handle a specific situation, he asked, “What is wrong with people from your part of the world?”

There is good that can come out of every situation.  One of the good things that can come from our current national strife is an honest examination of our individual hearts.  This is something that is the responsibility of the individual and not the mob to force on the individual.  There is no one immune.  There is no right or wrong side.  Our common problem of bias has been handed down from one generation to the next since Genesis chapter eleven.  The only way we are going to survive is to live with the fact we are all different.  We will not survive by forcing submission to, conformity to, and promotion of our point of view.  Granted, truth does not change regardless of our cultural bias.  Sin is still sin.  God still exists.  Hell and heaven remain.  Jesus is still the only way to heaven.  And righteousness is still black and white.  But of the other things, we can examine the privacy of our hearts and assure they are not rooted in hatred covered by deceit.  Both must go.