Would you call him hypocritical to tell us "thou shalt not kill", and to love our enemies, but command Israel to wipe out whole nations, and by himself to wipe out all the inhabitants of the earth but a few, with a flood?
No. It's all about context. The command for us to not kill has to do with the fact that vengeance is the Lord's (Romans 12:19). If God wants to take out His vengeance using His people then He can do that.
Let me make something clear. When I say that God loves all of His enemies, and He does, I mean that He cares about all people and wants all people to repent and to be saved, which Calvinism shamefully denies.
Ezekiel 18:21 “But
if a wicked person turns away from all the sins they have committed and keeps all my decrees and does what is just and right, that person will surely live; they will not die. 22
None of the offenses they have committed will be remembered against them. Because of the righteous things they have done, they will live. 23
Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? declares the Sovereign Lord. Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live? 24 “But
if a righteous person turns from their righteousness and commits sin and does the same detestable things the wicked person does, will they live? None of the righteous things that person has done will be remembered. Because of the unfaithfulness they are guilty of and because of the sins they have committed, they will die.
2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead
he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
Acts 17:30 In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now
he commands all people everywhere to repent. 31 For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.”
1 Timothy 2:3 This is good, and pleases
God our Savior, 4 who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. 5 For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man
Christ Jesus, 6 who gave himself as a ransom for all people. This has now been witnessed to at the proper time.
1 John 2:1 My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—
Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. 2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.
We don't operate on his level. (A somewhat humorous sidenote: I have noticed, particularly in debating with Atheists, but also liberal Christians, that they will deny a doctrine, saying that God would be hypocritical to say (think, command, whatever) this or that, if he himself doesn't abide by it, but they seem to have no problem with a Congress that doesn't have to abide by the regulations they impose on the general public.)
Did you actually think that I didn't already know this? Of course we don't operate on His level. That's why vengeance against His enemies is His and not ours.
I think it is worth noting that God's hatred isn't like ours. It is not as though he isn't in control of those he hates like we are not, but it is closely related to his abhorrence for injustice and sin. He is altogether just, and those at enmity with him are therefore under his condemnation.
Romans 9:13 Jacob have I loved, Esau have I hated.
Psalm 5:5 “The arrogant cannot stand in Your presence; You hate all who do wrong.
Psalm 139:21 Do I not hate those who hate you, Lord, and abhor those who are in rebellion against you? 22 I have nothing but hatred for them; I count them my enemies.
Context is very important. You're correct that God's hatred isn't like ours and I'm very thankful for that. But, my point is that God does not hate His enemies and loves His enemies or else He would be hypocritical. I stand by that statement. Nothing you said here changes that. You quoting the verses above was very predictable.
But, do you know what those verses actually mean? Are they saying that God hates people in the sense that He hated them from birth and never wanted them to repent so that they could be saved? Absolutely not! That would contradict a lot of scripture. If He hated people in that way then it would make no sense that He takes no pleasure in their death and wants all people to repent.
What verses like Psalm 5:5 and Psalm 139:21 mean is that He hates unrepentant sin so much that His character demands that He must punish people for that. So, He only "hates" them in that sense. People who sin and refuse to repent became His enemies. He loves them in the sense that He cares about them and wants them to repent and He is very patient in giving them opportunities to repent, but His patience does not last forever and He will eventually punish people if they refuse to repent.
As for Him loving Jacob and hating Esau, Calvinists take that verse completely out of context.
Before I show the context of that verse, let me show you how the word "hate" can be used in a different sense than what we would normally think it would be used.
Luke 14:26 Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: 26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple.
Is Jesus saying here that we should hate our family members and even ourselves? Of course not, right? Using scripture to interpret itself, we can determine the context.
Matthew 10:37 “Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
Now we can see that Christ's command to hate our family members has to do with not loving them more than we love Him and has nothing to do with literally hating them (having disdain in our hearts for them).
With this in mind, let's see what it means for God to love Jacob and hate Esau.
Romans 9:9 For this was how the promise was stated: “At the appointed time I will return, and Sarah will have a son.”
10 Not only that, but Rebekah’s children were conceived at the same time by our father Isaac. 11 Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad—
in order that God’s purpose in election might stand: 12 not by works but by him who calls—she was told, “
The older will serve the younger.” 13 Just as it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”
The context here indicates that God loved Jacob and hated Esau in the context of His purpose in election. It has nothing to do with God sovereignly deciding (for His own reasons that were not made known) to love Jacob and hate Esau in terms of having predestined Jacob to salvation and Esau to damnation and has nothing to with God literally hating (opposite of loving - having disdain for) Esau himself.
So, in what sense did God love Jacob and hate Esau in relation to His "purpose in election"? It had to do with God choosing to bring salvation to the world through Jacob's lineage rather than Esau's. That's it. As I said before, it had nothing to do with their individual salvation or damnation.
Genesis 25:19
This is the account of the family line of Abraham’s son Isaac. Abraham became the father of Isaac, 20 and Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah daughter of Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan Aram and sister of Laban the Aramean. 21 Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife, because she was childless. The Lord answered his prayer, and his wife Rebekah became pregnant. 22 The babies jostled each other within her, and she said, “Why is this happening to me?” So she went to inquire of the Lord. 23 The Lord said to her, “
Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger.” When the time came for her to give birth, there were twin boys in her womb. 25 The first to come out was red, and his whole body was like a hairy garment; so they named him Esau. 26 After this, his brother came out, with his hand grasping Esau’s heel; so he was named Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when Rebekah gave birth to them.
Romans 9:12 says "the older will serve the younger" which is a quote of Genesis 25:23. We can see what that really means by looking at the passage from Genesis 25 above. It's not talking about Esau serving Jacob. If you read about them you will not find anything to support that idea.
Instead, the older serving the younger has to do with the two nations (Israel and Edom) that would descend from Jacob and Esau. The people of Edom did indeed serve the people of Israel. And Israel, rather than Edom, would be the nation through which God would bring salvation to the world by sending His Son to be born as a descendant of Jacob to fulfill His "purpose in election". It is in that sense that God chose Jacob (Israel) rather than Esau (Edom) and it is only in that sense that God "loved" Jacob and "hated" Esau.
I noticed something interesting when reading further in Genesis 25.
27 The boys grew up, and Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the open country, while Jacob was content to stay at home among the tents. 28
Isaac, who had a taste for wild game, loved Esau, but Rebekah loved Jacob.
This says that Isaac loved Esau but Rebekah loved Jacob. Does that mean Isaac hated Jacob and Rebekah hated Esau? Of course not. It just means that Isaac loved both (of course), but got along better with Esau because of their shared love "of the open country" and their "taste for wild game". Rebekah loved both (of course), but got along better with Jacob because he "was content to stay at home" so she spent more time with him. It's all about context.