Commentary - Psalm 97:10-12

Bird's-eye view

This final section of Psalm 97 is a powerful ethical exhortation that flows directly out of the magnificent vision of God's reign described in the previous verses. The psalmist has just painted a picture of Yahweh's awesome and terrible sovereignty over all creation and all false gods. Now, he turns to the people of God and lays out the practical implications of worshiping such a King. The logic is inescapable: if you truly love this holy God, then your affections must be shaped by His. Your love for Him must breed a corresponding hatred for that which He hates, which is evil. This is not an optional add-on for the spiritually elite; it is the fundamental mark of a true lover of God.

Flowing from this central command are three glorious promises and a concluding summons. The promises are that God preserves and delivers His saints, that light is sown for them, and that gladness is their birthright. The psalm then concludes where it must, with a call to active and joyful gratitude. This is not a quiet, sentimental faith. It is robust, ethically potent, and grounded in the character of the God who reigns. It is a faith that hates, that trusts, that waits for a harvest of light, and that erupts in glad thanksgiving.

Outline

Context In Psalms

Psalm 97 is one of the "enthronement psalms" (along with Psalms 93, 95-99), which celebrate the kingship of Yahweh. These psalms are characterized by the triumphant declaration, "Yahweh reigns!" They often depict God's power over the chaotic forces of nature and His judgment upon the false gods of the nations. Psalm 97 begins with this declaration, describes the fearsome majesty of His coming in judgment, and proclaims His supremacy over all idols. The final three verses serve as the application of this theological reality. Because God is this kind of King, His people must be this kind of people. The call to hate evil and rejoice in His holiness is the fitting response to the revelation of His fiery, mountain-melting, idol-confounding glory. It connects the high theology of God's sovereignty to the street-level discipleship of His saints.

Key Issues

The Non-Negotiable Antithesis

Modern, sentimental Christianity wants to talk a great deal about love, but it gets very squeamish when the Bible talks about hate. But the two are inextricably linked. You cannot have one without the other. To love righteousness is to hate unrighteousness. To love truth is to hate lies. To love your children is to hate the cancer that threatens them. The Bible is not shy about this. "The fear of the Lord is to hate evil" (Prov. 8:13). This psalm makes the connection explicit. The very proof of your love for Yahweh is your hatred of evil.

This is because the God we worship is a holy God, a consuming fire. His throne is established on righteousness and justice. He is not a grandfatherly deity who winks at sin. He burns up His enemies. Therefore, to be aligned with Him, to love Him, means we must align ourselves with His holy character. We must begin to love what He loves and hate what He hates. A professed love for God that coexists peacefully with a tolerance for evil is a sham. It is a lie. The transcendent vision of God's holiness in the first nine verses of this psalm has potent ethical ramifications, and the first and foremost is this absolute, non-negotiable antithesis between good and evil.

Verse by Verse Commentary

10 Hate evil, you who love Yahweh, Who keeps the souls of His holy ones; He delivers them from the hand of the wicked.

The psalmist pivots from description to direct command. The imperative is sharp and clear: Hate evil. This is not a suggestion. It is the necessary consequence of the indicative that precedes it: you who love Yahweh. The verb for love here implies a deep, settled affection and loyalty. If your heart is truly given to God, then it must be turned against that which is opposed to God. You cannot serve two masters, and you cannot love God and be neutral about sin. This hatred is not a sour, misanthropic disposition, but a righteous indignation that mirrors God's own holiness. It is a hatred of lawlessness, of idolatry, of injustice, of pride, of all that defaces God's good creation and rebels against His perfect law.

And right on the heels of this difficult command comes a profound comfort. God is the one Who keeps the souls of His holy ones. The word for "keeps" means to guard, to watch over, to preserve. This is the doctrine of the preservation of the saints. Those whom God has set apart for Himself, He will see to it that they are kept. This keeping is not just from external harm, but from the very apostasy that would cause them to stop hating evil. And He also delivers them from the hand of the wicked. When you obey the command to hate evil, you will inevitably attract the hatred of evil men. The world will hate you for it. But the promise is that God is our deliverer. He will not abandon His saints to the malice of their persecutors.

11 Light is sown for the righteous And gladness for the upright in heart.

This is a glorious agricultural metaphor. The present experience of the righteous might be one of darkness, struggle, and sorrow. They are hating evil in a world that loves it, and that is a hard row to hoe. But the psalmist tells them that light is sown for them. A farmer sows a seed and waits. The seed is hidden in the dark earth, and for a time, nothing appears to be happening. But the harvest is certain. In the same way, God has planted light and gladness for His people. Even when they cannot see it, the harvest is coming. Light, in Scripture, represents truth, understanding, purity, and life itself. Gladness is deep, settled joy. These are not things we manufacture; they are a crop that God has sown for us, and in His time, we will reap it. The promise is for the righteous and the upright in heart. This is not speaking of sinless perfection, but of those who have been justified by faith and whose hearts are oriented toward God, who are sincere in their desire to please Him.

12 Be glad in Yahweh, you righteous ones, And give thanks for the remembrance of His holy name.

The psalm concludes with a final summons to worship. Having been commanded to hate and promised preservation and a future harvest of joy, what is the present duty of the righteous? It is to be glad in Yahweh. Our gladness is not rooted in our circumstances, which may be grim. It is not rooted in our own performance, which is always flawed. Our gladness is to be in Yahweh Himself. He is the object and the source of our joy. We rejoice in who He is, as revealed in the preceding verses: the sovereign King, the holy Judge, the faithful Protector. And this gladness must express itself in thanksgiving. We are to give thanks for the remembrance of His holy name. The "remembrance" of His name means His memorial, His reputation, His revealed character. We are to be grateful as we call to mind His holiness. For the unbeliever, the holiness of God is terrifying news. But for the believer, clothed in the righteousness of Christ, the holiness of God is the very foundation of our security and the fountain of our joy. We give thanks that our God is not a tame god, not a corruptible god, but the utterly pure and holy One who reigns forever.

Application

The application of this psalm crashes into our modern sensibilities like a freight train. We live in an age that prizes tolerance above all other virtues. But the Bible commands us to be intolerant of evil. This does not mean we are to be obnoxious, self-righteous boors. It means we must cultivate a heart that is so ravished by the beauty of God's holiness that we are genuinely repulsed by sin, first in ourselves and then in the world around us. We must ask God to give us a holy gag reflex. Does the rampant idolatry of our culture grieve us? Does the shedding of innocent blood stir us to righteous anger? Does the celebration of sexual perversion make us sick? If not, we have reason to question the sincerity of our love for Yahweh.

But this is not a call to despair. It is a call to a rugged, joyful faith. We can dare to hate evil because we know that God will preserve us. We are on the winning side. We can endure the present darkness because we know that light has been sown for us, and the harvest is guaranteed. Therefore, our central disposition should not be one of grumbling or fear, but of gladness. We are commanded to rejoice. This is a choice, an act of defiant faith in the face of a hostile world. And it is fueled by thanksgiving. We must constantly be calling to mind the character of our God, remembering His holiness, His justice, His mercy in Christ. When we remember who He is and what He has done, hatred of evil becomes our instinct, trust in His preservation becomes our anchor, and joyful thanksgiving becomes the air we breathe.