2 SAMUEL 19

You love those who hate you! This was the accusation Joab leveled at David after the big battle where David’s son Absalom was killed. David was absolutely devastated by Absalom’s death, so instead of celebrating the victory of his "enemy," David returned home, weeping over the loss of his child. Apparently, Joab didn’t like that:

"Today," he said, "you have humiliated all your men, who have just saved your life and the lives of your sons and daughters and the lives of your wives and concubines. You love those who hate you and hate those who love you. You have made it clear today that the commanders and their men mean nothing to you. I see that you would be pleased if Absalom were alive today and all of us were dead." (vs 5-6)

Joab certainly spoke truthfully when he claimed that David loved those who hated him. He had specifically instructed his men not to harm Absalom (a command Joab expressly ignored), and even though Absalom was out to kill him, David didn’t care. In fact, he wished that it had been him who had died instead of his son.

In this way, David was like God, who loves all those who hate Him. Where Joab got it wrong, however, was in what he said next: "...and hate those who love you." You see, in Joab’s mind, if one was true, the other must also be true. If David loved those who hated him, then it also meant that he hated those who loved him. This is how the unconverted mind works. It believes that to love your enemies automatically means that you are short-changing your friends. But this isn’t the way of love. God, who is love, can love everyone without short-changing anyone.

Sometimes, we may think of God as being forced to get revenge (or "justice," as we sometimes call it) on those who are evil in order to show His love for the righteous. I mean, I’m sure you probably know somebody who would say that Hitler really needs to burn in order to pay for all the awful things he did while he was alive. But, from God’s perspective, one of His children (Hitler) hurt a lot of His other children. And, just because that child chose to do evil things—as Absalom did—didn’t make him any less God’s child.

And surely you know that when your child hurts, you hurt—no matter how "good" or "bad" they’ve been.

God’s love is unlimited. He is able to love those who love Him while, at the same time, loving those who hate Him. And undoubtedly, there will come a day when God will grieve over His lost children the way David grieved over Absalom. I think, by then, those of us who are with God and love Him will not be like Joab. We will not rebuke God for loving those who hate Him, nor think that His immense love for His enemies in any way diminishes His great love for us. Instead, maybe we will grieve with Him and reassure Him that there was nothing more He could have done to bring His lost children home.