Love for Enemies

Russell Miller talks about an interesting exchange on his blog, "Holy Mighty Atheist." Russell is discussing an exchange on the blog, As Bereans Did, in which Christian Bill Hohmann tells someone he's debating, "May God forgive you for being so quick to judge and condemn." Russell sees Bill's statement as a far cry from Jesus' command to love one's enemies.

Russell raises interesting points--such as the one that many Christians use "passive-aggressive" techniques because they don't feel that they can honestly express their anger. Here, however, I want to focus on love of enemies, since that's a topic that's come up in my weekly quiet time on I Samuel.

David and Abigail are often cited as examples of people who loved their enemies. David spared Saul's life on two occasions, even though Saul was hunting him down to kill him (I Samuel 24, 26). And Abigail prevented David from slaughtering her abusive husband Nabal and his men (I Samuel 25). I once read an evangelical book for women that claimed Abigail must have had a solid relationship with the Lord, since she loved Nabal after putting up with his put-downs all those years.

But did David and Abigail love their enemies? David tells Saul in I Samuel 24:12: "May the LORD judge between me and you! May the LORD avenge me on you; but my hand shall not be against you" (NRSV). In I Samuel 26:10-11, David says to the blood-thirsty Abishai, who is begging for David's permission to kill Saul in his sleep: "As the LORD lives, the LORD will strike him down; or his day will come to die; or he will go down into battle and perish. The LORD forbid that I should raise my hand against the LORD's anointed; but now take the spear that is at his head, and the water jar, and let us go."

David was perfectly willing (if not eager) for God to kill Saul, but he didn't want to do so himself. In these passages, he wasn't overly concerned about Saul's well-being. He just wanted to avoid guilt for himself.

What about Abigail? When she urges David to desist from his massacre of Nabal and his men, she says: "Now then, my lord, as the LORD lives, and as you yourself live, since the LORD has restrained you from bloodguilt and from taking vengeance with your own hand, now let your enemies and those who seek to do evil to my lord be like Nabal" (I Samuel 25:26). Something tells me that "like Nabal" is not exactly positive! Abigail wants Nabal to be punished for his rudeness, and her concern is more for the innocent people whom David was about to slaughter (the LXX for v 26 mentions innocent blood).

David and Abigail have an attitude of "I myself won't get back at you, but I sure hope God hurts you for what you did!" Is this love for enemies--valuing them as people and having concern for their well-being? Jesus tells us to pray for our enemies and do good to them (Matthew 5:44; Luke 6:27-28).

At the same time, the New Testament also displays the same attitude as David and Abigail. In Romans 12:17-21, Paul exhorts Christians not to avenge themselves but rather to return good for evil. For Paul, Christians are to leave vengeance to God, who promises to repay.

Anger is natural to human beings, and many of us would like to think that there is some justice in the world: that someone actually cares about our suffering at the hands of other people. Even taking ourselves out of the picture, who wants the wicked to get off scot-free? At the same time, those who hurt us or do bad things are human beings, just like we are, and they probably crave love like anyone does.