They hate him that rebuketh in the gate, and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly.
The rebuke in the gate is public rebuke given where public justice was administered, confronting wrongdoing with honest, upright speech. It is evildoers who hate the one who so rebukes them openly and publicly, and who abhor the one who speaks honestly and truthfully. In its corruption Israel embodied this hatred, rejecting prophetic protest against its evils.
That hatred did not stand alone but accompanied oppression and injustice, including bribery and denial of the poor's rights. The prophets condemned these evils, yet their warnings were ignored. Corrupt religious leaders exemplified the same hatred in their opposition to Jesus, rejecting the righteous teacher and stirring the crowd against Him.
Faithful reproof can endanger life, as John's straight testimony to Herod's sin endangered him. God-given testimony must still be delivered when needed, whether accepted or rejected, bringing life to those who receive it and death to those who refuse it. When the Spirit of God reproves through His appointed agencies with important present truth applicable for this time, those in danger of losing sight of that truth while seeking what is new and strange and entrancing refuse correction and hate the servants who bring the heavy, disagreeable burden of rebuke.
This describes men who teach the truth but are not perfecting their ways before God. They conceal their defects and defections and encourage estrangement from God, lacking moral courage to do what is for their special benefit, and seeing no necessity for reform they reject the words of the Lord. Refusing to heed the admonitions the Lord sends plants a root of bitterness against His servants. That refusal gives Satan every advantage to make the refusers the bitterest enemies and falsifiers who misrepresent and misrepresent those who bore them the message of truth.
The rebuke in the gate is public rebuke given where public justice was administered, confronting wrongdoing with honest, upright speech. It is evildoers who hate the one who so rebukes them openly and publicly, and who abhor the one who speaks honestly and truthfully. In its corruption Israel embodied this hatred, rejecting prophetic protest against its evils.
That hatred did not stand alone but accompanied oppression and injustice, including bribery and denial of the poor's rights. The prophets condemned these evils, yet their warnings were ignored. Corrupt religious leaders exemplified the same hatred in their opposition to Jesus, rejecting the righteous teacher and stirring the crowd against Him.
Faithful reproof can endanger life, as John's straight testimony to Herod's sin endangered him. God-given testimony must still be delivered when needed, whether accepted or rejected, bringing life to those who receive it and death to those who refuse it. When the Spirit of God reproves through His appointed agencies with important present truth applicable for this time, those in danger of losing sight of that truth while seeking what is new and strange and entrancing refuse correction and hate the servants who bring the heavy, disagreeable burden of rebuke.
This describes men who teach the truth but are not perfecting their ways before God. They conceal their defects and defections and encourage estrangement from God, lacking moral courage to do what is for their special benefit, and seeing no necessity for reform they reject the words of the Lord. Refusing to heed the admonitions the Lord sends plants a root of bitterness against His servants. That refusal gives Satan every advantage to make the refusers the bitterest enemies and falsifiers who misrepresent and misrepresent those who bore them the message of truth.