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Yom Hashoah - Hating what is Evil

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Hating what is evil...

Further thoughts on the Shoah

Yom HaShoah, or Holocaust Remembrance Day, was established a national holiday by the Israeli Knesset in 1953. Shoah is the Hebrew word for "destruction" and was the term chosen to refer to the European Holocaust, when six million Jews - including over a million children - were systematically murdered by the Nazis during World War II. May God help us "never forget."

Contrary to the philosophy of this fallen world, the essence of love hates what is evil; just as it is hateful to be "tolerant" of what is wicked... Followers of Yeshua must love the truth and abhor the lie. Tolerating sin in a world ripe for judgment is a tacit form of "collaboration" with the enemy... Indeed, the only thing regarded as intolerable in the devil's world is the objection that people have a supposed "liberty" to sin. But the LORD is clear on this point: those who call evil good and good evil are subject to divine wrath and judgment. Therefore we are enjoined: "O you who love the LORD, hate evil" (Psalm 97:10). Yes, hate what is evil and love what is good (Amos 5:15). As King David said, "Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD? And do I not loathe those who rise up against you? I hate them with complete hatred; I count them my enemies" (Psalm 139:21-22). The connection between loving God and hating evil is repeated in the New Testament: "Let your love be genuine (ἀνυπόκριτος, without a "mask" put on): abhor what is evil; cling to what is good (Rom. 12:9). If we truly love the LORD, let us walk in the awe of His great Name by hating what is evil.


Isaiah 50:20-21

Every day we make decisions regarding good and evil, and therefore every day we are deciding (i.e., proclaiming, teaching, attesting) what we love and what we hate. Choosing not to chose is itself a choice.... The issue is not whether we love or whether we hate, but what we love and what we hate. As it is written, "The fear of the LORD is to hate what is evil; pride and boasting, and the way of evil and perverted speech I hate."
 

יִרְאַת יְהוָה שְׂנאת רָע
 גֵּאָה וְגָאוֹן וְדֶרֶךְ רָע
 וּפִי תַהְפֻּכוֹת שָׂנֵאתִי

yeer·at · Adonai · se·noht · rah
gei·ah · ve·ga·ohn · ve·de'·rekh · rah
oo·fee · ta·poo·khot · sa·nei·tee
 

"The fear of the LORD is to hate evil -
pride and boasting and the evil way,
 and perverted speech I hate."
(Prov. 8:13)

Proverbs 8:13a Hebrew Lesson
 

 
The Scriptures do not mince words with this issue. "There are six things that the LORD hates, seven that are an abomination to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers" (Prov. 6:16-19). "I hate and abhor lying, but I love Your law" (Psalm 119:163). "Take no part in the works of darkness, but instead expose them" (Eph. 5:11). The cross of Messiah is meaningless if God does not really hate sin, violence, and evil... The heartcry of the tzaddik adjures: "O you who love the LORD, hate evil" (Psalm 97:10).
 

    "There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest."  - Elie Wiesel
     


Note:   Of course it is usually best to use the "good eye" and to be spontaneous in our recognition and pursuit of the good, though there are times - as there were in the days of Hitler's Germany - when the fight comes to our door, so to speak, and we must deal with it...  Part of the reason popular culture has become so decadent, at least in America, is because people have confused "loving others" with tolerating evil. We must be careful here. It is not loving to ignore the spiritual needs of others, nor is it kindness to pretend not to see what enslaves and harms people. We have a duty to speak the truth in love, even if that is offensive to a culture that intractably seeks the so-called liberty to do evil...

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