EVIDENCE
Key Texts: Ps. 139:1, 19-24
Readers of Psalm 139 may be
tempted to skip over verses 19 to
22 on their way to David’s prayer
of devotion in verses 23 and 24.
Likewise, some scholars have sug-
gested that the strong language of
the fourth strophe stands alone as
a separate psalm. The last two
verses, however, repeat the
thought in the first verse, “Search
me, O God.” A progression of
thought compels us to study this
psalm as a whole.
David had been reflecting on
the infinite attributes of the all-
knowing God. Yet there are those
(see verse 19) who oppose this
God. If left unrestrained, the
wicked would undermine His pur-
poses and destroy His work. They
must be stopped!
Here David identifies the en-
emies of God as his own enemies
(see verse 22). In verse 21 he ex-
presses his hatred for the wicked
in the form of a question ad-
dressed toward God. It may be
translated as follows, “Is it not
your haters, O Lord! that I hate,
and against those who rise up
against you that I feel loathing?!
In other words, “Lord, is my ha-
tred like Your hatred?” In his
exposition on Psalm 139, Edward
J. Young states, “Wicked men
hated God, and their hatred was
an evil emotion. David hated, but
his hatred was like God's hatred;
it proceeded from no evil emotion,
Wednesday, June 17
God’s Hatred
but rather from the earnest and
thoroughly sincere desire that the
purposes of God must stand and
that wickedness must perish.””
Though David is ambivalent
about his feelings toward the
wicked, the attention of his ha-
tred is not on finding an excuse to
slay the wicked himself. The real
focus is stated in verse 1 and
again in verses 23 and 24. His de-
sire is that by God’s searching,
He will find and remove any offen-
sive or wrong emotion. Again
Edward J. Young states, “Of
course, we are in no position to
pass an infallible judgment upon
what individuals are God’s and
what individuals are His enemies.
All we can do is to oppose evil
wherever we find it, and to deal
in love with those individuals who
are doing wrong and apparently
opposing God.”
If God’s purposes are to be ful-
filled, David knows that he must
turn wholeheartedly against all
that stands in the way of God’s
plan. It must be this way with us
too. To do this we must open our-
selves to the examination of God
and, by the grace of His Son, walk
in the way everlasting.
REACT
If hatred is the opposite of
love—as some say—how can God
truly hate anything?
1. Edward J. Young, Psalm 139 {London: The Banner
of Truth Trust, 1965), p. 104.
2. lbid., p. 105.
3. Ibid, p. 107.
by Craig Wilcox
Craig Wilcox is in charge of strategic planning for New England Memo-
rial Hospital in Stoneham, Massachusetts.