In this week’s Torah portion one reads,

“…I will return vengeance upon my enemies, and to those who hate Me, I will repay.”  Deut. 32:41

Even though God is merciful and forgiving, one needs to understand that these things are conditional. One must enter into a relationship with the Lord through a covenant, and like all covenants there are terms and conditions. The part of the quoted verse that I would like to emphasize in this blog is that the Lord’s vengeance is upon those who are His enemies, i.e. those who hate Him. Many people might take a false consolation in thinking that they are not an enemy of God because they don’t hate Him. Their error is that they define hate in their terms rather than in Biblical terms. If one does not embrace the character and values of God then He is rejecting these things. The Hebrew word שנא is derived from a Semitic root which means literally “to push away”. In English the word is full of emotion, but the actual origin of the word does not describe a feeling, but rather a cognitive decision to ignore, reject, or fail to esteem the proper value of something or someone.

When one understands the true meaning then a much larger number of people would fall into the category of hating God. In fact, there are those who want the blessings of God, but who fail to embrace or esteem the things that the Lord says are important and that He values. May I encourage you to begin in your Bible studies keeping track of what God says He loves and then ask yourself are these things important to you? In other words does your behavior reflect that you value them?

In the midst of conflicts between Israel and her enemies, many people who say and think they are a follower of God have made statements that are in conflict with the views of God that the Bible reveals. As an American citizen it amazes me how many of our Presidents in the last thirty years have identified themselves as a “Christian”, but yet have pushed policies in regard to Israel that are totally in conflict with scripture. For example, Scripture declares in many places that before the Kingdom is established that God will bring the Jewish people back to the land and they will settle in the former places that Jewish individuals lived prior the Roman exile. It is sad when the view of almost every nation (I say almost, but I cannot think of one country that this does not include) that Jewish people should not be allowed to settle in Judah and Samaria. This may offend some, but I don’t think a follower of Jesus could have such a view if he or she had read the Bible. Sadly many believers do not make time to study the word of God. Could this be an example of not esteeming the things God values?