Love Your Enemies

The Savior told the Nephites in His sermon at Bountiful: “And behold it is written also, that thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy; But behold I say unto you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them who despitefully use you and persecute you” (3 Nephi 12:43-44).  The Savior prefaced the same instruction to the people in the Old World with these words, “Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy” (Matt. 5:43).  It is natural to think that the Savior was somehow referring to the law of Moses as the place where it is said to “love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy,” but I don’t believe that is the case.  The law of Moses did not teach that as far as I’m aware—more likely it was the traditions of men, among the Nephites and the Jews, that taught the people that they were justified in hating their enemies.  It had never been justified among the people of God to hate their enemies.     

                 There are several places in the Old Testament which teach the people that they should love others, even their enemies.  In Leviticus we read, “Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the Lord.”  In the same chapter the Lord further said, “But the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself” (Leviticus 19:18, 34).  They were not to avenge their enemies and they were to love even the strangers that came in to them.  In Deuteronomy this was similarly emphasized, “Love ye therefore the stranger: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt” (Deuteronomy 10:19).  In the book of Exodus the Lord gave a practical example of how they were to treat their enemies: “If thou meet thine enemy’s ox or his ass going astray, thou shalt surely bring it back to him again.  If thou see the ass of him that hateth thee lying under his burden, and wouldest forbear to help him, thou shalt surely help with him” (Exodus 23:4-5).  They were not to “hate their enemies” but rather they were to even help them by bringing back stray animals to them.  Similarly, the writer of Proverbs taught them that they should feed their enemies: “If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat; and if he be thirsty, give him water to drink” (Proverbs 25:21).  These teachings all confirm the truth that God has expected His people to love their enemies in all dispensations. 

            Perhaps the most powerful example of this fact that God wanted even the children of Israel to love their enemies is found in the book of Jonah. Jonah was called to take the gospel to the people of Ninevah, the enemies of Israel. Jonah didn’t want to go, not because he was afraid of them but rather because he was afraid God would bless them: “I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil.”  Jonah, it appears, hated the Assyrians and didn’t want the Lord to forgive them.  But in this he was not justified, and the Lord said to him after sparing the people, “Doest thou well to be angry?...  And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand?” ” (Jonah 4:2, 4, 11)  The Lord allowed these Assyrians to repent even though they had been the enemies of Israel, and Jonah was chastised for not being willing to forgive and love his enemies.  This is why some have said that the book of Jonah “stands preeminent as the noblest, broadest, and most Christian of all Old Testament literature.”  It is a witness that the Lord did not expect those who lived before the meridian of time to hate their enemies and those who lived after the time of Christ to love their enemies—no, the children of God have always been expected to love their enemies.  The great challenge for all of us is to actually do that.