HATE: An emotion in which selfishness manifests its dislike and abhorrence of some person or some object, which, if left to itself, it is disposed to destroy. Hatred of evil, indeed, is the good man's duty.

The Bible has much to say of hate, enmity. and hostility. In the national and social relationships of Israel hate naturally played a large part. No less remarkable, however, is the moral loftiness toward which the great prophets sought to elevate God's people. If even in the language the conceptions of stranger and enemy run interchangeably together, it is still emphasized that the stranger should not be an object of hatred (cf. the Book of Ruth, and I Kings viii. 41-13). Moderation is ob ligatory in relation to one's particular foe (Deut. xx. 10 sqq.). As the Jewish people became op pressed and embittered, it is true, this moral loftiness no longer asserted itself; the national hatred, inculcated as a virtue, degenerated at last into fanaticism, and rendered the Jews hateful to all mankind. Chronicles, Esther, and particularly Judith betray this ethical retrogression.

The " vindictive " or " imprecatory " Psalms (such as xli., lxix., cix.) undoubtedly invoke malediction upon the wicked; though by the wicked morally evil and wilfully impenitent men are meant. In such instances the individual cause is frequently identified with the cause of Yahweh.

According to the New Testament, God's love in Christ has overcome the natural enmity of man to deity, although this enmity is still in existence (James iv. 4; Rom. v.10). Passages like Matt. xxii. 44 indicate judicial punishment of this enmity. But grace precedes judgment. Consequently love is the permeating principle of Christian ethics for the conquest of all manner of enmity. Jesus openly declared this in Matt. v. 43 sqq., it is illustrated in Luke x. 26 sqq., and practically applied in Luke ix. 54 sqq. It is an error to suppose Christian ethics in an absolute opposition to heathen ethics in this respect; but the new feature of Christian ethics is the universal requirement of loving one's enemies.

Christian ethics enlarges upon the Scriptural foundation. The spirit of Christ is to operate among human families in the nature of leaven. But much remains to be overcome; certain peoples have not yet entirely renounced blood-vengeance; nor must contemporary national Chauvinism, race hatred, and class antipathies be forgotten. The ancient world produced virtuosi of hate, such as Nero or Caligula; and the modern world knows a hatred of Christ which leads to the persecution of his followers (Matt. v. 10-12).

Arnold Rüegg.

Bibliography: H. Cremer, Biblico-theological Lexicon of the New Testament, s.v. 'eXepos, Edinburgh, 1888; DB, ii.

308-309; DCG, i. 704-708 (contains good list of refer- ences); and, in general, works on ethics.