Esau Have I Hated by Skip Moen, D. Phil. See my enemies who are many and with outrageous hatred despise me. Psalm 25:19 Robert Alter translation Despise – Buried in the Hebrew text is a powerful repetition not evident in Alter’s translation (but clear in the ESV). “Hatred” and “despise” are from the same Hebrew root, sane. To hate describes an emotional reaction of repulsion. In this state, a person wishes only to keep distant from the offense or the offender. Hate entails distance. It is just the opposite of love which brings about the desire for closeness. When the word is used in the Tanakh, it is often associated with idolatry, opposition, aversion and ill-will. In this regard, the verb describes a reaction rather than a causative action. Something or someone acts in such a way that we react with a strong emotional rejection. David’s enemies treat him as if he is leprous, someone to be shunned, avoided and rejected. This does not necessarily imply that they wish him bodily harm, although David’s intensification of the word with the addition of hamas (violence) certainly might mean that as well. But the basic sense of the word is that his enemies exclude him from one of the vital components of Hebrew identity, i.e., community. They want him out! That is the equivalent of wanting him to cease existing. A man without relationships is no longer a man. Perhaps you’re feeling this same kind of hatred. It’s not as if your previous friends and relations want you to die. It’s that they no longer want you. They find your views offensive. Perhaps they are threatened by your commitments to David’s understanding of God. They don’t acknowledge your practices. They are scandalized by your presence. They just want you to go away and leave them alone. But, of course, this means separation, agony, brokenhearted affliction, especially for you since all you are trying to really do is bring about awakening and consolation. Enemies don’t always carry swords. Sometimes they carry Bibles. Why does David plead with God about this tragedy? Because David knows the God of unity. David knows the harmony of brothers who care for each other. David knows what it means to be friends. Yeshua provides perhaps the most difficult of all commandments when he says, “Love your enemies.” He does not say, “Preach to them,” “Correct them,” or “Convert them.” He says, “Love them.” Close the gap. Understanding sane as a reactive verb helps us resolve other difficult passages. “Esau have I hated” has always been worrisome. But now we see that God is reacting to protracted, willful rebellion. The same can be said for God’s rejection of sacrifices and offerings (cf. Isaiah 1:13-15). God hates them because they are laced with hypocrisy, not because they are soon-to-be-replaced rituals. Sane responds to a previous action. It does not initiate. The antidote for sane is avah. Ahav (love) is active, initiative, purposeful. I respond to the emotional reaction of hatred by initiating the purposeful action of benevolence toward another at cost to myself. I love regardless of how I feel. Perhaps you will find it interesting that the reverse of sane (Shin-Nun-Aleph) is the assumed root of ishshah (root = Aleph-Nun-Shin). Perhaps the opposite of hatred is the character of the woman, someone made to love.
Posted on: Wed, 26 Mar 2014 16:38:08 +0000
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