God Is Love. God Hates Evil! Part 1

I ended the previous post asking the question “Does God hate?” I was pointing to the verses in Romans 9: 13: “As it is written: Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated”. Some interpret this line to mean that God chooses to love some individuals and hate others – the concept of ‘double predestination’ to give it a theological name. If this is correct, the wrath of God takes a darker turn – God might actually hate me. But is that interpretation correct? The Greek word for ‘hate’ in the New Testament is ‘miseo’. Unfortunately it has more than one meaning (see the previous post). Paul’s words “As it is written”, refer to the Old Testament. So, lets turn to the Old Testament to see if there are any clues to help us understand what God meant when He said “Esau I hated”. Is God speaking about hating individuals or something else?

In writing, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated” Paul is most directly referring to Malachi 1: 2. Here is that passage with more context:

“I have loved you, says the Lord. But you ask, “How have you loved us?” “ Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” the Lord says. “Yet I have loved Jacob, but Esau I have hated, and turned his mountains into a wasteland and left his inheritance to the desert jackals.” Edom may say, “Though we have been crushed, we will rebuild the ruins.” But this is what the Lord Almighty says: “They may build, but I will demolish. They will be called the Wicked Land, a people always under the wrath of the Lord” (Malachi 1: 2 – 4).

This is not the only passage that describes God’s relationship to Esau and Edom. Esau is the father of the Edomites, who lived in an area around the southern end of the Dead Sea called Edom; in the same way that Jacob is the father of Jews who lived in the territory west of the Jordan River called the Promised Land, and the spiritual father of Christians. Malachi makes it clear that “Esau I hated” refers to the nation of Edom and to the people of Edom, the Edomites.

Also see Isaiah 34 – almost the entire chapter. Isaiah writes, in part: “My sword has drunk its fill in the heavens; see, it descends in judgment on Edom, the people I have totally destroyed” (Isaiah 34: 5 NIV) and “God will stretch out over Edom the measuring line of chaos, the plumb line of desolation” (Isaiah 34: 11).

Also read Ezekiel 35. The chapter heading is “A Prophecy Against Edom” and calls Edom Mount Seir, the high place in Edom. “I am against you, Mount Seir, and I will stretch out my hand against you and make you a desolate waste. I will turn your towns into ruins, and you will be desolate. Then you will know that I am the Lord” (Ezekiel 35: 3, 4 NIV).

Finally, the entire book of Obadiah expresses God’s anger and hatred toward Esau and the nation of Edom:

“In that day, declared the Lord, will I not destroy the wise men of Edom, men of understanding in the mountains of Esau? Your warriors, O Teman, will be terrified, and everyone in Esau’s mountains will be cut down in the slaughter. Because of the violence against your brother Jacob, you will be covered with shame; you will be destroyed forever” (Obadiah 1: 8 – 10 ).

God clearly hates Esau and the Edomites. These are not the words of “I love Esau less”. If “As it is written” in Romans 9: 13 refers to the collection of Old Testament writings about Esau and the Edomites, then we must conclude that Paul is telling us that God hates Esau, not that He loves him less. And – this is important – God’s hatred is not directed just at Esau the person, but through Esau, the father of the Edomites, at all of Edom for their wickedness. Why does God hate Esau and the Edomites so much? Good question. A question that brings us back to our original question – how can God, who is love, hate? And another question – what does that have to do with me?

Why does God hate Edom? We get our first clue from the Obadiah passage above: “Because of the violence against your brother Jacob”. And “Then you will know that I the Lord have heard all the contemptible things you have said against the mountains of Israel (representing ‘Jacob’ and the Jewish nation) . . . You boasted against me and spoke against me and I heard it” (Ezekiel 35: 12, 13 NIV).

Esau and the Edomites rebelled against God by committing violence against God’s people and therefore God’s plan of salvation and redemption, which God planned to bring to fruition through His people. God hates those who actively work against Him and His creation – God hates evil and wickedness.

Who are the Edomites and aren’t they long gone from the world scene? The short answer is “No, the spiritual character of Esau is all around us exerting a powerful influence on the culture of our country today.” Edom represents a high-level evil power at work in the world. Other high-level powers identified in Scripture include Gog and Magog, Moloch, the spirit of Lawlessness, the spirit of the Amalekites, and Leviathan. Paul warned us against these powers when he wrote, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Ephesians 6: 12 NIV). Paul further identifies ‘a man of lawlessness’ under the influence of the “secret power of lawlessness . . . in accordance with the work of Satan”. “All will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness” (quoted from 2 Thessalonians 2: 1 – 12 NIV). I believe it is possible that the spirit of lawlessness is the Edomite spirit.

(Here is a link to a discussion of the spirit of Edom, personified in Esau, the father of the Edomites, at work in our culture today. Some of what I write in the following paragraphs about this destructive spirit is from this site: http://endtimepilgrim.org/edomites.htm).

Esau was a ‘wild man’, most comfortable out in the mountains, living off the land, relying on himself. He spurned the goodness and blessings of God when he foolishly sold his birthright to Jacob for a pot of stew (Genesis 25: 24 – 34).

“The Edomite spirit wants to break loose from all constraints and grasp something he calls freedom. But his is not a freedom nurtured and enjoyed within boundaries of Godliness or civil behavior. Esau wants his notion of freedom. He demands freedom to express himself in any way he pleases.”

Any person can become an Edomite. It is a way of thinking, feeling, and acting. It is a negative, anti-God spirit that opposes God’s blessings and commandments. The Edomite spirit is manifested in anyone who stands against God’s righteousness, God’s people, and Kingdom principles. It is a spirit that calls good evil, and evil good. It sneers at culture, delights in sowing seeds of chaos that can bring culture to its knees. An Edomite is an uncultured man – wild at heart – a maverick, a hustler, under the control of a rebellious and bullying spirit. An Edomite is violent and wrathful, forever angry, carrying a chip on his shoulder. He is not repentant and will never find redemption or see forgiveness or grace apart from repentance. He is Godless (Hebrews 12: 12). He despises his birthright and rejects the blessings offered by God. He rejects God, despises God’s holiness, and the ‘way’ of Jesus.

The Herodians in the time of Jesus were Edomites, descended from Esau. Josephus calls Herod the Great an Idumean – descended from Esau on his father’s side. Herod the Great was a wicked man. Like all wicked men, he cloaked his evil in deception, like ‘worship’ when he sent the Magi to Bethlehem. But when his deception was revealed to the Magi in a dream, he resorted to his natural inclination. He murdered all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under.

The Edomite spirit is in our culture, our music, movies, and books. The man or woman under the influence of the Edomite spirit is satan’s willing accomplice to destroy God’s creative order and organization – to overthrow God and plunge His creation into chaos. We are seeing the Edomite spirit at work in America and around the world today.

Esau is wicked! God hates Esau and the people walking in the Edomite spirit because they are committed to destroying His goodness, righteousness, His people, and His plan of restoration. God loves Jacob, who personifies His righteous, believing, repenting people. But even the wicked can be saved if they “repent and believe”.

God is love. But God also hates. From what I can tell, He especially hates evil and those who embrace the way of evil. There is a tension between God loving and God hating. I just have to live in the tension. But there is more. See Part 2 in the next post.