“He Turned Their Heart To Hate ….”
1 And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,
2 Speak unto the children of Israel, that they turn and encamp before Pihahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, over against Baalzephon: before it shall ye encamp by the sea.
3 For Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, They are entangled in the land, the wilderness hath shut them in.
4 And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, that he shall follow after them; and I will be honoured upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host; that the Egyptians may know that I am the Lord. And they did so.
5 And it was told the king of Egypt that the people fled: and the heart of Pharaoh and of his servants was turned against the people, and they said, Why have we done this, that we have let Israel go from serving us? — Exodus 14 (KJV)
And …
23 Israel also came into Egypt; and Jacob sojourned in the land of Ham.
24 And he increased his people greatly; and made them stronger than their enemies.
25 He turned their heart to hate his people, to deal subtly with his servants. — Ps. 105 (KJV)
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Now, I don’t want to get going on how we’re supposed to define hate. For some reason, unknown to me, we seem to have a hard time attributing the attribute of hate to God. How does one define hate if we aren’t supposed to define hate as … hatred?
For example, how should we describe what Yeshua did when He overthrew the money changer tables? I’d say He did what He did in that instance because He HATED what was being done by those that should have known better. He wasn’t just extremely upset or disappointed. He was flippin’ (pun intended) MAD.
The whole plague/Red Sea scenario is so interesting to watch unfold. I love this God of the OT!
However …
Contrary to popular opinion, He’s the same God in the NT right up to the end of His dealings with His creation. It sure seems like He has a “bee under His bonnet” in the book of Revelation. And then when Yeshua comes back … He’s not a very happy camper.
So, in my recent reading through Exodus, I came across something interesting in Exodus 14:5.
A question is proposed by the Egyptians in relation to their decisive actions: “Why have we done this, that we have let Israel go from serving us?”
I find this interesting because it seems like they are stymied by their own actions. It’s like they are baffled as to how they could have done something that seemed, in hindsight, so contrary to their natural inclinations.
And surprisingly, that question is left dangling in the air unanswered.
Until …. we get to Psalm 105.
It’s there, in Psalm 105, that we gain a little insight, a little behind the scenes info, as to what transpired in the realm of the unseen. This is so good.
But, it’s not what we would expect to find out. It almost seems counter-intuitive. God Himself “turned their heart to HATE His people.”
Isn’t that incredible? I have to imagine that your response to that is, at least to some degree, like mine. You might think that if God was going to do anything in relation to His people it would be to turn everybody’s heart to LOVE these people. After all, isn’t God … dare I say it … the God of LOOOOOVE?
So, what’s up with this?
I don’t know, exactly. Feel free to figure this out for yourself.
However, I do have a couple of takeaways for us.
*We better get better acquainted with the God of the Bible and not the God of our imaginations.
*We better buckle up our spiritual and theological seatbelts because God doesn’t always do things the way we think or expect He should.
Is it possible, could it really be true, that in order for God to get “honor” (Ex. 15:4) through us He’ll actually make things harder (at least as it would appear so) on us rather than easier? Wouldn’t His honor be better served by showing the world how well He takes care of us rather than how things are harder on us?
After all, we’re told in the book of Exodus that He exempted His people from some pretty devastating things because He wanted to distinctly set them apart for His honor. —
4 And Moses said, Thus saith the Lord, About midnight will I go out into the midst of Egypt:
5 And all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sitteth upon his throne, even unto the firstborn of the maidservant that is behind the mill; and all the firstborn of beasts.
6 And there shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there was none like it, nor shall be like it any more.
7 But against any of the children of Israel shall not a dog move his tongue, against man or beast: that ye may know how that the Lord doth put a difference between the Egyptians and Israel. Exodus 11—
But that isn’t how it always is for God’s people, is it? Just take another look at Hebrews 11. Some had husbands come back to life while others were living in caves barely clothed. Explain that. I can’t.
But, unless we see the God of the Bible for who and what He is and how He uses His people for His glory … we’re going to be in a world of disillusioned hurt.
The hard truth of the matter is that when we came to faith in Yeshua we actually signed our lives over to Him for complete ownership to do with as He deems best.
How do we know that …?
We’re told that in 1 Peter 2:9 —
“But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.”
This verse says all of God’s people are “a peculiar people.” No, it’s not peculiar in the sense of the usage today. When the KJV was translated the common understanding for the meaning of peculiar was:
“Appropriate; belonging to a person and to him only.” Webster 1828
That means we are His sole possession to do with as He pleases. So if God wants to turn a few hearts to hate us, well then … so be it.
We’re living in a world now in which we are seeing increased hatred towards God’s people worldwide. And you know, if we were able to ask some of them why … I bet a good portion of them wouldn’t even know. Just like the Egyptians didn’t know.
If we’re to weather the coming days, we must remember —
We’re saved in Christ … we are not our own. We’ve been bought and paid for with the blood of Yeshua. Ownership of our life has been transferred over to Him. Just like it says in 1 Corinthians 6.
“19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.
Ultimately, one day we will praise God for however He decides to use us. It’s up to us to trust Him until that time … even if that means He turns the hearts of some to hate us.
Let me remind you of the words of Yeshua Himself:
“Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake.” Matthew 24:9
“If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.” John 15:18
And finally from I John 3:13 —
“Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you.”
Now that I have you all pumped and charged —
Let’s go out and get hated! ;-)