What the Lord Hates
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 hurry to run to evil,
a lying witness who testifies falsely,
and one who sows discord in a family.
Proverbs 6:16-19
Does it surprise you to hear that God hates anything? God is patient, kind, merciful and just. He is love (see 1 John 4:8). Love and life are His essence. He loves the world, and desires everyone to turn away from evil, turn to Him and live through Christ Jesus (see John 3:16). Peter writes,
The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some think of slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish but all to come to repentance. 2 Peter 3:9
Through the prophet Ezekiel, God says,
For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, says the Lord God. Turn, then, and live. Ezekiel 18:32
God is love and He loves you, but we should not equate love with universal approval. God’s holy word reveals over and over that He hates certain behavior. Every parent can relate to the concept of loving their child but hating certain choices they make, particularly choices that have long term detrimental consequences. Loving the person and hating certain behavior fits with our experience, but God’s holy word also says that He hates people who act in certain ways. How can God love everyone yet hate certain people? This is a riddle I cannot solve, and I will not attempt to do so here. I accept both statements as true. Our purpose today is to appreciate that God hates certain thoughts and behavior so that we might endeavor to avoid being objects of his hatred and lovingly help people in need. Let’s look at what God’s holy word says about His hatred.
Surveying the Scripture presented below, the Lord hates that we give ourselves over to evil, which is an infinitely broad category of thought and behavior including rebellion, lying, deceit, unfaithfulness, harming others, creating disunity, and the ultimate betrayal, His people, the ones to whom He grants unique access to Him, worshiping other gods. The final category is a theme covering the Old Testament. God’s chosen people repeatedly turned from Him and worshiped false gods and idols, and God tells them over and over that He hates it. Following are a few examples.
False Worship & Empty Rituals of Worship
Before God’s people crossed the Jordan River to the Promised Land, God warned them. He urged them to follow the system He established for them. He urged them to stay with Him saying,
“When the Lord your God has cut off before you the nations whom you are about to enter to dispossess them, when you have dispossessed them and live in their land, take care that you are not snared into imitating them, after they have been destroyed before you; do not inquire concerning their gods, saying, ‘How did these nations serve their gods? I also want to do the same.’ You must not do the same for the Lord your God, because every abhorrent thing that the Lord hates they have done for their gods. They would even burn their sons and their daughters in the fire to their gods. You must diligently observe everything that I command you; do not add to it or take anything from it. Deuteronomy 12:29-32
God hates rituals of worship performed for other gods. He especially hates that people would sacrifice their children, blessings from God, to other gods (see Deuteronomy 12:31). God warned them, but of course they were tempted by the interesting practices of the world around them. They were curious about how the people native to the Promised Land worshiped their gods, and they saw the practices, became comfortable around them, and then adopted the practices as their own. And God hated it and He hated them for it.
A little later in Deuteronomy, God returns to once again discuss the detestable practice of sacrificing children, discussing it alongside other evil spiritual practices. God abhors evil spiritual practices including sorcery, divination, consulting the dead and the like. Through Moses God says,
“When you come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you, you must not learn to imitate the abhorrent practices of those nations. No one shall be found among you who makes a son or daughter pass through fire, or who practices divination, or is a soothsayer, or an augur, or a sorcerer, or one who casts spells, or who consults ghosts or spirits, or who seeks oracles from the dead. For whoever does these things is abhorrent to the Lord; it is because of such abhorrent practices that the Lord your God is driving them out before you. You must remain completely loyal to the Lord your God. Although these nations that you are about to dispossess do give heed to soothsayers and diviners, as for you, the Lord your God does not permit you to do so. Deuteronomy 18:9-14
As I read the passage, I consider Halloween decorations covering our neighborhood. Skeletons and ghosts are everywhere, causing me to wonder whether we are inadvertently celebrating death? I know it is all intended to be festive and fun, but in light of the passage above, how does God see it? God knows we are susceptible to becoming desensitized to and eventually accepting practices around us as normal. He warned His people, the ones crossing into the Promised Land, against accepting and following the practices of the people there, but His people nonetheless did them. Are we guilty of following in their footsteps?
Through the prophet Hosea, God says,
Every evil of theirs began at Gilgal; there I came to hate them. Because of the wickedness of their deeds I will drive them out of my house. I will love them no more; all their officials are rebels. Hosea 9:15
Gilgal is the place God’s people crossed the Jordan River and entered the Promised Land (see Joshua 4). As soon as they crossed into the land of blessing and began enjoying abundance, they started rebelling against God, straying from His guidance, worshiping other gods, and accepting people who practiced forms of evil. God established systems for His people to live their best possible lives, yet they chose less. They chose false substitutes and began to lead double lives. They continued going through the rituals of worshiping God while also living lives reflecting values of the world around them. God hates false, empty rituals of worship. He deserves the real thing.
Through the prophet Malachi, God says,
And this you do as well: You cover the Lord’s altar with tears, with weeping and groaning because he no longer regards the offering or accepts it with favor at your hand. You ask, “Why does he not?” Because the Lord was a witness between you and the wife of your youth, to whom you have been faithless, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant. Did God not make them one, flesh with spirit in it? And what does the one desire? Godly offspring. So look to yourselves, and do not let anyone be faithless to the wife of his youth. For I hate divorce, says the Lord, the God of Israel, and covering one’s garment with violence, says the Lord of hosts. So take heed to yourselves and do not be faithless. You have wearied the Lord with your words. Yet you say, “How have we wearied him?” By saying, “All who do evil are good in the sight of the Lord, and he delights in them.” Or by asking, “Where is the God of justice?” Malachi 2:13-17
The reference to divorce is both literal and metaphorical, comparing His people’s unfaithfulness to God as a husband’s unfaithfulness to his wife. Through the prophet Isaiah, God says,
Your new moons and your appointed festivals my soul hates; they have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them. When you stretch out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood. Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove your evil deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil; learn to do good; seek justice; rescue the oppressed; defend the orphan; plead for the widow. Isaiah 1:14-17
And through the prophet Amos, God says,
I hate, I despise your festivals, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them, and the offerings of well-being of your fatted animals I will not look upon. Take away from me the noise of your songs; I will not listen to the melody of your harps. But let justice roll down like water and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. Amos 5:21-24
He hates unfaithfulness and rebellion, and empty, false rituals of worship offered to Him. Hate is such a harsh word. It forces me to consider my worship. Is it genuine? When I worship, am I genuinely seeking God, revering God, exulting God, or is it something less? I pray I never merely go through the motions. I pray my worship is not something He hates.
Fortunately, God follows the explanation of His hatred with an invitation to return to Him. He hates false, hollow worship. He hates worship offered by people who are merely taking a break from worshiping idols and other gods, but He offers a path back to Him. Isaiah writes, “Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean…”. How do we do that? We are cleansed through the blood of Jesus (see 1 John 1:7). Through Isaiah, God continues urging us to demonstrate our cleansing through our behavior by acting like His people – doing good, seeking justice, helping people in need. Our cleansing through Christ Jesus enables us to shine His light to the world around us, but we must step out in faith and act.
Behavior the Lord Hates
In addition to repeatedly describing His hatred of unfaithfulness, rebellion and false worship, God discusses a number of other types of behavior that He hates.
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 hurry to run to evil, a lying witness who testifies falsely, and one who sows discord in a family. Proverbs 6:16-19
The list of seven things the Lord hates includes two references to dishonesty – lying tongue and a person who testifies falsely. One relates to the behavior, the other to the person. Why is lying so bad? We might ask whether it is acceptable to say so called “white lies” designed to protect another person’s feelings or the like, but God does not provide an exemption like that. Jesus goes further describing Satan as the “father of lies.”
You are from your father the devil, and you choose to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks according to his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. John 8:44-45
Jesus is truth. He is the Word. God’s holy word is truth. Lies are of the deceiver, the devil, Satan, and God hates lies. Proverbs continues saying,
Take my instruction instead of silver and knowledge rather than choice gold, for wisdom is better than jewels, and all that you may desire cannot compare with her. I, wisdom, live with prudence, and I attain knowledge and discretion. The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil. Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech I hate. I have good advice and sound wisdom; I have insight; I have strength. Proverbs 8:10-14
God offers His instruction. He offers His guidance regarding how we might live our best possible life, and He reveals that people who fear God hate evil. People who do not fear God follow “the way of evil” and God hates that. He also hates pride, arrogance and corrupt speech. God takes our words seriously. We should do the same.
God also hates wickedness and wrongdoing.
Your throne, O God, endures forever and ever. Your royal scepter is a scepter of equity; you love righteousness and hate wickedness. Psalm 45:6-7a
For I, the Lord, love justice, I hate robbery and wrongdoing; I will faithfully give them their recompense, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them. Isaiah 61:8
People the Lord Hates
And now, the most troubling passages. The passage above from Hosea and several of the Psalms suggest that God directs hatred not only toward behavior, God also hates people who betray Him, do evil and love violence. A few passages saying this follow:
For you are not a God who delights in wickedness; evil will not sojourn with you. The boastful will not stand before your eyes; you hate all evildoers. You destroy those who speak lies; the Lord abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful. Psalm 5:4-6
The Lord tests the righteous and the wicked, and his soul hates the lover of violence. On the wicked he will rain coals of fire and sulfur; a scorching wind shall be the portion of their cup. For the Lord is righteous; he loves righteous deeds; the upright shall behold his face. Psalm 11:5-7
You hate those who pay regard to worthless idols, but I trust in the Lord. Psalm 31:6
The plain reading of the passages presents God as hating certain people, yet God offers His love, His redemption, His forgiveness, His life to everyone through Christ Jesus.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. John 3:16
The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some think of slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish but all to come to repentance. 2 Peter 3:9
For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, says the Lord God. Turn, then, and live. Ezekiel 18:32
What does this mean for us? We must realize and appreciate the fact of God’s hatred and vigilantly guard against being the focus of His hatred. In many of the passages above we see God’s hatred provoked by His chosen people behaving in worldly ways, succumbing to worldly temptations and acting in a manner unbefitting of association with Him. When we hold ourselves out as Christians but fail to act like His disciples, we tarnish His holy name. When He has granted us unique access to Him, but we turn away and worship idols, we betray Him, and God hates this. In this dark world we are surrounded by bad influences, and we must vigilantly focus on God.
We must also realize that many around us have never heard the gospel. They do not know that they have access to God through Christ Jesus. They do not know that they have access to His light, love and life, and we must not keep the good news secret. We must tell everyone about it, realizing that our witness will only be effective if our lives reflect the good news.
May you seek God, may you know God, may you demonstrate your relationship with Him to the world through your kindness, compassion, mercy and love. Amen.