Proverbs 8:13,  The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate.

In the eighth chapter of the book of Proverbs we have been taught by the wise father that the wisdom of God is displayed everywhere, at all times and in all places.

There is no excuse for God’s creation to not know the creator.

However, as you look around on this earth the "not knowing of the creator" is the norm, for the heart of man is willingly blind to its responsibility toward its creator and desires to walk about in ignorance.

The wise father has told us that wisdom never lies but always speaks truth, is never froward or perverse and is plain to all who understand and right to them that find knowledge.

In spite of the fact that the economy of man revolves around the accumulation of money and wealth, the wise man tells us that the economy of God is wisdom.

He has told us that wisdom is what is to be sought, for it’s value is far about rubies and there is nothing desired that can be compared to it.

We have learned that wisdom dwells with prudence.

Prudence is that cautionary element that brings to wisdom, safety of action.

Marriage is like this for I have observed that the man is like wisdom and the woman is like prudence.

I think most men can attest to the fact that their wives are moderating influences on their activities.

This should remind us men to consider carefully what our godly wives say for wisdom dwells with prudence for prudence instructs and cautions the adventurousness and energy of wisdom.

Many times we do not like to be cautioned however it is wise to listen to the caution of our wives and go forward considering that caution.

Our wise father in verse 13 of chapter 8 again brings instruction concerning the fear of the Lord, for the fear of the Lord is one of the primary instructions of the book of Proverbs.

He introduced this subject in chapter one when we were told that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge and that those who hated knowledge did not choose the fear of the Lord.

To not choose the fear of the Lord is to not choose knowledge.

The knowledge that is discussed here is the knowledge that comes from God about God, and all that God is and does and requires.

He told us in chapter two that an understanding of the fear of the Lord came to those who sincerely cried after knowledge and sought her as silver and hid treasures.

In our chapter he tells us the manifestation or the outcome of this understanding of the fear of the Lord.

What is the product of the fear of the Lord?

How do you know that you fear the Lord?

Proverbs 8:13 tells us that you know whether you fear the Lord or not by what you hate.

Proverbs 8:13,  The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate.

So we are to test ourselves.

Do I hate evil?

Do I hate pride?

Do I hate arrogance (thinking of yourself more highly than you ought, giving oneself an undue degree of importance, haughty)?

Do I hate the evil way?

Do I hate the froward mouth?

So fear of the Lord is related to hate.

Hate means to dislike greatly, to have a great aversion to or a loathing of.

Think about something that you have seen and been repulsed by.

We see the remains of a dead animal by the road and are repulsed.

This is the same thing that a person who truly fears the Lord feels about evil, pride, arrogance, the evil way and the froward mouth.

Each of these things is repulsive to the god fearing man or woman.

Quite a test is this not?

Based upon this test I’m afraid that most of us do not have the fear of the Lord that we should.

God tells us in Proverbs 6:16-19 that he hates seven things.

Proverbs 6:16-19,  These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: ¹⁷A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, ¹⁸An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, ¹⁹A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.

Abomination is not exercised by the minds of men.

The fallen nature of man does not allow such condemnation of sin.

Abomination is a word that only a Holy God can honestly use.

It means a hatred so deep that only God can feel it.

It means detestation, horror, abhorrence, anathema, aversion, loathing, and odiousness.

Yes, God is a loving God and He extends that love to all sinners though his Son, Jesus Christ.

But we must not forget that God is also a hating God for God hates anything that hurts his creation and all of these things hinder his will and his plan for that which he has brought into being.

God’s mercy holds back his hand of judgment but that mercy is limited by his desire that his will be carried out and his creation be as he designed it to be.

And he will also bring his children to this place as they grow in Christ and are conformed to his image.

For his children will be conformed to his image even in this matter of hate.

If you are indeed growing in Christ you will also grow in your

All of these are exhibited by evil, pride, arrogance, the evil way and the froward mouth.

Being conformed to the image of Christ will bring you to hate those things which God hates.

Every sin is hateful to God.

And God, if we fear him, expects us to hate sin and evil.

God hates a proud look; therefore we must hate a proud look.

This is the generation of lofty eyes, the generation whose eyelids are lifted up, as Proverbs 30:13 tells us.

The proud look is the look of confidence in oneself.

It reveals a disdain upon others while promoting a pureness in ones own eyes.

It is the lifting up of oneself by the putting down of another.

Have you ever been greeted by the astonishment of another in the fact that you don’t know something that the other knows.

You don’t know that, they question!

Which means they know something which shows them smarter than you.

It is the lifting up of known knowledge in them that you do not know.

This is the proud look.

It is a look that only looks on the surface and refuses to consider the look of the heart.

A proud look is a vision of a man based upon his own standards and not God's standards.

A proud look is an abomination to God because the one with a proud look refuses to look at his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who brings all things to light and destroys the proud look.

For when a man or woman compares him or herself to Christ the result can only be humility, the absence of a proud look.

The proud look cannot stand in the presence of Jesus Christ for Jesus Christ defeats the proud look.

God hates a lying tongue, and we must also hate a lying tongue.

The tongue is but a rudder of the heart.

The heart moves the tongue for all things come from the heart.

The tongue simply responds perfectly to the instruction from the heart for the heart is the master, the tongue is the slave.

God loves simplicity of truth.

The lying tongue hates simplicity and loves complexity.

The lying tongue loves falsehood, it loves exaggeration in order to enhance itself.

It loves the coloring of stories, it loves perversion, it loves to produce or encourage wrong impressions.

It loves to be careless about truth.

God has barred the gates of Heaven against all liars, for none of them are his people.

God also hates hands that shed innocent blood, and we must hate hands that shed innocent blood.

God hated the hands of Cain because they shed his brother's innocent blood.

He hated the hands of Judas, he hated the hands of the Pharisees, the chief priests, the generation of vipers that crucified his Son.

Today he hates the hands of abortionists, the hands of the murderers and those who care not but for themselves and not for the innocent and helpless.

He hates the hands of those who distort his image, those who shed innocent blood.

He also hates the heart that devises wicked imaginations, and we must hate the heart that does so even when it is our own.

He hates the heart that invents wicked plots and purposes and means.

He hates the heart that thinks of new ideas, new ways in which to do wickedness, new contrivances for sin.

This is the heart that has become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird, we read of in the book of Revelation.

He hates the kind of heart that has feet that are swift in running to mischief.

This is the heart that has conquered its God given conscience.

Swift in running to mischief.

Wanting to be first in line to perform mischief.

Feet that are directed by a heart that God ordains will find the slippery places as he tells us in:

Psalm 73:18,  Surely thou didst set them in slippery places: thou castedst them down into destruction.

As God hates the feet who be swift in running to mischief so we too, ought to, by faith hate the same feet.

They are not the feet of faith which are directed in the path of righteousness.

The sixth hatred of God involves the false witness the previous proverbs told us would perish.

This is the false witness who has no bright object on which to focus his life.

His eyes are never constant.

He is a false witness because he has no assurance of that which he speaks.

He can only be a false witness because he has never witnessed the saving power of Jesus Christ in his life.

God hates the false preacher, the false teacher, the apostate.

God hates the evolutionist. They all speak lies.

Their ways are not established and they have no foundation.

And lastly God hates the man who sows discord among brethren.

God highly values unity among brethren.

He desires that we be of one mind and one mouth, in one accord and in one spirit in the same love.

David reminds us in Psalm 133:1-3, A Song of degrees of David. Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard: that went down to the skirts of his garments; As the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion: for there the LORD commanded the blessing, even life for evermore.

God hates those who disturb this unity of purpose for their own selfish ends and he reminds us of them in:

Romans 16:17,  Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them. For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple.

Now how do you react when your children show pride in self over others, when they lie, when their feet run to mischief?

Do you react like God reacts.

Do you show your hatred of such things.

Do you reveal to your children the heart of God concerning such actions?

Or do you overlook such behavior, making little fuss about it and in reality communicating to them that such behavior is acceptable.

This is what we see in the world and it is all based upon a lack of the fear of God in lives.

When little is done about sin in our homes little fear of Almighty God is present.

How you react to sin in your home shows the measure of your fear of God.

This verse is loaded with interesting words; fear, hate, evil, pride, arrogancy, (the act or quality of taking much upon one's self; that species of pride which exalts the worth or importance of the person to an undue degree) evil way, froward (literally from ward, or turning from, with aversion or reluctance; not willing to yield or comply with what is required)

In this verse wisdom is personified.

Wisdom speaks!

Wisdom, the "I" in this verse and another name for Jesus Christ, says that he hates.

So this verse tells us that those that are wise will hate.

We know that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

Therefore we can conclude that the fear of the Lord is a beginner's class in the primary school of wisdom.

The curriculum of the fear of the Lord is to take place in the school of wisdom the very first thing.

Does this mean that we are to learn the fear of the Lord before we can learn anything else about wisdom?

Must we pass this class before going to a higher class in wisdom?

This verse tells us that one of the evidences of having the fear of the Lord is to hate.

We must then learn to hate early in the school of wisdom.

Do you teach your children to hate by your own example of hating?

Can we conclude that learning to hate must take place before learning to love, love, that is, in a biblical sense?

The rod is an instrument which is given by God to you to impress your child of the awfulness of sin, and to convince him or her of your hatred for sin, evil and wickedness.

When do we learn to love?

Definition of hate:  To dislike greatly, to have a great aversion to. It expresses less than abhor, detest and abominate, unless pronounced with a peculiar emphasis. Sometimes in scripture it signifies to love less. as in Luke 14,  If any man come to me and hate not father and mother...

It is clear from this verse that hating is an attribute of God!

Can this be? (yes)

God is love.

Is hate the opposite of love? (no)

Can hate and love come forth from the same heart? (yes)

Are we to love and hate at the same time? (yes)

Is hating a good thing? (yes, if you hate the things God hates)

Is hate an act of the will?

How do we hate evil?

How do you know when you hate evil?

We know we love God when we keep his commandments.

But how do you know if you hate evil? (Psalm 97:10, Ye that love the Lord hate evil...)

What is hate and what is evil?

It is apparent that wisdom wants us to know what evil is. Wisdom amplifies this message by saying that evil is equal to pride, arrogancy, the evil way and the froward mouth.

In related verses we learn what the Lord hates: Proverbs 6:16-19,  These six things doth the Lord hate; yea seven are an abomination unto him: A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, an heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, a false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.

Zechariah. 8:16,17,  These are the things that ye shall do; Speak ye every man the truth to his neigbour; execute the judgment of truth and peace in your gates: And let none of you imagine evil in your hearts against his neighbor; and love no false oath; for all these are things that I hate, saith ther Lord.

Psalm 119:104,  I hate every false way. Psalm 119:113,  I hate vain thoughts. Psalm 119:163,  I hate and abhor lying. Rev. 2:7,   I hate the deeds of the Nicolaitanes. Malachi 1:3, And I hated Esau.

Every sin is hateful to God. God, if we fear him, expects us to hate sin and evil.

We are to hate pride, arrogance, the froward mouth, the lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, wicked hearts, mischievous feet, the false witness, and the gossip among brethren.