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Hebrew Word for Hate
Malachi wrote that God loved Jacob, but hated Esau. How can we reconcile "God is love" with this? What does the Hebrew word for hate mean?
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Hebrew Word for Hate
“Sane’ ” (saw-nay’) is the Hebrew word that is often translated as hate. The ancient pictographic letters for “sane” are a thorn and a seed. The Ancient Hebrew Lexicon of the Bible explains this:
The pictograph is a picture of a thorn, then is a picture of seed. Combined these mean “thorn seed.” The thorn, (the seed of a plant with small sharp points) cause one to turn directions to avoid them.” (“The Ancient Hebrew Lexicon of the Bible,” by Jeff A. Benner. ISBN 1-58939-776-2.)
Hate – Avoiding of Pain
In Biblical times, thorns were used as fences to protect flocks from predators or even used as weapons. The idea was that thorns caused pain and the pain made someone avoid whatever caused it. Thorns created a shield, hedge of protection.
While intense emotions are sometimes involved, the ancient Hebrew view of hate was more about being hurt or wounded by something, because of love being involved. Opening oneself to love meant opening to hurt. Hate then meant staying away from that source of pain. We see this in Isaac’s response to Abimelech:
“Then Abimelech came to him from Gerar with his adviser Ahuzzath and Phicol the commander of his army. Isaac said to them, “Why have you come to me, since you hate me and have sent me away from you?”(Genesis 26:26-28)
Hatred was less about an intense confrontational emotion and inflicting pain. Instead, it was more about making choices to avoid that pain – physical or emotional.
God’s Character
This understanding can directly affect our view of God’s character. If this true, consider a couple common scriptures in a whole new way:
And when the Lord saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb (Genesis 29:31; KJV)
Some translations use “un-loved” here instead of hated. There is nothing in the Scriptures that would suggest that Jacob was aggressive towards her. From what we can read, he mostly stayed away from Leah. This may have been due to his desire for Rachel. Or perhaps because Leah reminded him of Laban’s deceptions (Gen 29:21-25).
Jacob possibly avoided Leah, since their relationship was complicated to say the least. Yet, out of God’s compassion for Leah’s constant rejection, He gave her children.
Jacob I loved; Esau I hated (Mal 1:2; Romans 9:13)
Esau is the only person that God said He hated. Could it be that the Lord was so wounded by Esau’s rejection of His prized gift of the birthright for some stew that God wanted to stay away from him?
There is a very specific order of events here. God had not rejected Esau, rather Esau rejected God’s plan. It causes the Father a great amount of pain. In this context, this verse shows God’s broken heart rather than His anger at disobedience.
Love Your Enemies
God character is not aloof to our experiences and He is not angry at one thoughtless act of disobedience. On the contrary, He is
“compassionate and gracious, slow to anger…” (Exodus 34:6). When we feel pain, we want to withdraw; we are made in
His Image. Yet Jesus challenges us to love those that hurt us. Instead of avoiding (hating), return in love.
“But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you…” – Luke 6:27
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