If you truly hate someone, that means you would kill them and destroy their reputation if you could do so without repercussion – not a very nice way to be in even the most extreme circumstances. In fact, hatred is something that the Lord (according to Swedenborg) does not ever feel, and neither do angels.
Hatred, then, is something of a one-way street. According to Swedenborg, evil people are capable of hatred, and do in fact hate good people and all that is good about them. Taking that to an abstract level, you could say that evil itself has within it the hatred of good itself, and wishes to destroy it above all other wishes. Good people, however, are not capable of hatred. They can feel a sort of aversion or repugnance toward evil and its contrast with good, but wish to reform it, not to destroy it. Good can also feel an aversion to having spiritual states out of order because it will keep people from growing spiritually and embracing what is good.
This is, of course, a battle that goes on inside each one of us all the time. We all have good in us and bad in us, and they are in conflict. And while the bad that’s in us hates and wishes to destroy what’s good in us, the good part might be repelled by the bad, but wants to change it rather than destroying it.
When the word “hate” is used in the Bible, then, the internal meaning attributed to it in Swedenborg is often much more mild, representing the aversion felt by the good in us toward the disorder brought about by the bad in us.
Passages from Swedenborg
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 3488
[3] And you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake means contempt for and loathing of everything to do with goodness and truth. ‘Hating’ is holding in contempt and loathing, for these are manifestations of hatred. ‘By all nations’ means by persons under the influence of evil, for ‘nations’ refers to these, see 1259, 1260, 1849, 1868, 2588 (end). ‘For My name’s sake’ is for the Lord’s sake, and so for the sake of everything that comes from Him – ‘the Lord’s name’ being everything in its entirety by which He is worshipped, and so everything belonging to His Church, see 2724, 3006.
[4] At that time many will stumble, and betray one another, and hate one another means hostility on account of those things. ‘Many will stumble’ means the hostility in itself – the Lord’s Human being that against which the hostility is directed. That this will be a cause of offence or a stumbling-block is foretold in various places in the Word. ‘Betray one another’ is hostility towards one another arising out of falsity conflicting with truth. ‘And hate one another’ is hostility towards one another arising out of evil conflicting with good.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 3605
- ‘Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him’ means that natural good found the conjunction with truth – inverted as regards order – repugnant. This is clear from the meaning of ‘hating’ here in the internal sense as repugnance, dealt with below; from the representation of ‘Esau’ as natural good, and of ‘Jacob’ as natural truth, dealt with above; and from the meaning of ‘a blessing’ as conjunction, dealt with above in 3504, 3514, 3530, 3565, 3584. As regards its being a conjunction with truth – inverted as regards order – that is represented by Jacob, this is clear from what has been stated and shown above in 3539, 3548, 3556, 3563, 3570, 3576, 3603.
[2] The reason why ‘hating’ in the internal sense means repugnance is that it has reference to good, represented by ‘Esau’, and good does not even know what hatred is, since it is the complete opposite of it. Things that are opposites cannot possibly coexist in the same subject. But instead of hatred, good – or the person in whom good is present – feels a certain kind of repugnance, and this is why hatred here in the internal sense means repugnance. Actually the internal sense is intended primarily for those who are in heaven, and therefore when it comes down from there and passes into the literal sense, the feeling of repugnance enters into words that denote hatred when historical narratives refer to hatred. Yet at the same time no idea of hatred is present in the minds of those in heaven.
This is similar to what has been told from experience in Volume One, in 1875, about the words in the Lord’s Prayer, Do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. The idea of temptation and evil is rejected until something purely angelic, that is to say, good, devoid of any idea of temptation or evil remains. And coupled with this purely angelic idea there is a kind of indignation and a repugnance to any thought of evil when thinking about the Lord.
[3] It is similar with those places in the Word where one reads about Jehovah or the Lord hating, as in Zechariah,
Let none of you in your hearts think evil of his companion, nor love any lying oath, for all these things I hate, says Jehovah. Zech. 8:17.
In Moses,
You shall not erect for yourself a pillar, which Jehovah your God hates. Deut 16:22.
In Jeremiah,
My heritage has become to Me like a lion in the forest It has lifted up its voice against Me, therefore I hate it. Jer 12:8.
In Hosea,
In Gilgal I hate them. Because of the wickedness of their deeds I will drive them out of My house; I will love them no more. Hosea 9:15.
Here ‘the hatred’ that is attributed to Jehovah or the Lord is not in the internal sense hatred but mercy, for the Divine is mercy. But when that mercy flows down to someone who is under the influence of evil he is exposed to the punishment that goes with evil, in which case mercy looks like hatred. And because it looks like hatred it is also called such in the sense of the letter.
[4] The same applies when in the Word anger, wrath, or fury are attributed to Jehovah or the Lord, dealt with in 245, 592, 696, 1093, 1683, 1874, 2335, 2395, 2447. The Jewish and Israelitish people more than all others were such that as soon as they detected any enmity present even with allies they believed that they were entitled to treat them cruelly, not only killing them but also exposing their bodies to wild animals and birds. And because the Lord’s inflowing mercy was converted in this way into such hatred with them, a hatred directed, as has been stated, not only against enemies but also against allies, they inevitably believed that Jehovah too was capable of hating, being angry, wrathful, and furious. This is the reason why the Word has spoken in this way according to the appearance. For what a person is in himself determines how he sees the Lord, 1838, 1861, 2706. But the nature of hatred in the case of these in whom love and charity, that is, good, are present, is clear from the Lord’s words in Matthew,
You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy. But I say to you, Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who hurt and persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. Matt. 5:43-45.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 3855
- ‘That Leah was hated’ means that the affection for external truth was not so dear because it was further away from the Divine. This is clear from the meaning of ‘hated’ as not dear, and from the representation of ‘Leah’ as the affection for external truth, dealt with already. The fact that external truths are more remote from the Divine than internal truths are may be seen from the consideration that external truths are manifestations of internal ones, for external truths are images and forms made of many thousands of internal truths which are seen as a simple whole. And because this is what external truths are like they are further away from the Divine; for the Divine is above what is inmost, that is, the Divine is in the highest. The Lord flows in from the highest into the inmost parts of man, and through these into his interior parts, and through these in turn into his external parts, and so is flowing mediately as well as immediately. And because external things are further away from the Divine they are also for that reason lacking order when compared with internal and do not allow themselves to be brought into order in the way that internal ones do.
[2] It is like seeds, which are more perfect inwardly than they are outwardly, so perfect inwardly that from within they are able to bring forth a whole young plant or a whole tree in its own ordered way, together with leaves and fruit, whose outward forms can easily suffer all kinds of damage, more so than the internal and inmost forms of the seeds which are by their very nature more interior and perfect. It is similar with the internal and external parts of man. Consequently when a person is being regenerated, the rational is regenerated before the natural, 3493. The regeneration of the natural comes later and is more difficult because many things remain unordered there and are subject to damage from the body and the world. That being so, it is said that these are not so dear. But to the extent that they agree with internal things and contribute to the life and to a sight of the internal things within them, as well as to the regeneration of man, they too are dear.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 4681
- ‘And they hated him, and could not speak peaceably to him’ means contempt and aversion, that is to say, contempt for Divine Truth represented by ‘Joseph’, and an aversion to it. This is clear from the meaning of ‘hating’ as holding in contempt, for in the internal sense ‘hatred’ does not mean hatred as this exists with people given to hatred (for as this word rises up to heaven it takes on a milder meaning, because in heaven they do not know what hatred is, and therefore it is contempt that is meant by it); and from the meaning of ‘not being able to speak peaceably to him’ as being averse, for speaking peaceably is wishing another person well.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 6422
- ‘And hate him, do the archers’ means with utter hostility. This is clear from the meaning of ‘hatred’ as utter hostility, for one who hates another treats him, so far as he can, with utter hostility; and from the meaning of ‘the archers’ here as those who are opposed to members of the spiritual Church. For one who shoots with the bow or an archer is the spiritual man, for the reason that ‘a bow’ means matters of doctrine which the spiritual Church possesses, 2686, 2709, and therefore in the contrary sense one who shoots with the bow or an archer is he who as an enemy fights against the spiritual man. For the meaning of one who shoots with the bow or an archer as the spiritual man, see 2686, 2709. From this it is evident that ‘hate him, do the archers’ means that those led by falsities treat with utter hostility the member of the spiritual Church.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 6558
- ‘And they said, Perhaps Joseph will hate us’ means that they rejected the internal. This is clear from the meaning of ‘hating’ as turning away from and rejecting; and from the representation of ‘Joseph’ as the internal, dealt with in 6177, 6224. Not that Joseph engaged in rejection, but that they rejected Joseph. The attribution to the internal, which is ‘Joseph’, of what belongs to the external, which is ‘his brothers’, is due to appearances, just as hatred and revenge are attributed to Jehovah, when in fact they reside with man.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 8711
- ‘Men of truth hating gain’ means because the truths are pure, devoid of any worldly end in view. This is clear from the meaning of ‘men of truth’ as pure truths (the reason why ‘men of truth’ are pure truths is that ‘men’ means truths, 3134, 5502, and ‘truth’ means faith, 3121, so that ‘men of truth’ means the truths of faith, that is, pure truths); and from the meaning of ‘hating gain’ as detesting the convincing false impressions which falsity and evil create, since ‘hating’ means detesting and ‘gain’ falsity and evil that are able to convince people and draw them away from truth and goodness.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 8878
- ‘Of those who hate Me’ means those who completely reject the Lord’s Divinity. This is clear from the meaning of ‘those who hate God’ as those who are ruled by evil and therefore by falsity. For these are they who reject the Lord’s Divinity; and to the extent that they are ruled by evil and therefore by falsity they not merely reject but also hate it. The reason why the Lord’s Divinity is what they reject is that those ruled by evil do not see things in heavenly light, only in natural light, and eventually only in the light of sensory awareness provided by the body. In this inferior light these people cannot possibly see the Lord’s Human as anything more than human. They are unable to recognize what the Divine Human is, because they have an altogether empty and meaningless notion of the Divine. If they are told that the Divine itself is Divine Love, and that Divine Love is the Essential Being (Esse) of all life; if they are told that by virtue of His conception the Lord was that Love, which was thus the Essential Being of His life, that is, was Jehovah; and if they are told that He glorified, that is, made Divine, His Human to be the likeness of Him, then those of them who are endowed with some intellectual ability may indeed be able to some extent to grasp all this. Even so, they do not believe it; for when they pass from the intellectual light in which they are then seeing things into their natural and sensory light, they sink into complete and utter darkness regarding this truth, and consequently into denial of it.