We continue with chapter 1 of Malachi, where Israel’s question, “How have You loved us?” is answered. The Lord responds, “Was not Esau Jacob’s brother? Yet I have loved Jacob, but Esau I have hated.”
At first glance, God’s response may seem surprising, even unsettling. It appears indirect and even unfair. Yet within it lies a profound and powerful truth. First, why would God respond this way? Second, how does it reveal the depth of His love for Israel?
To start with, what the Lord is doing here is bringing Israel back to her very origin, to the moment of her birth in Jacob. It was Jacob whose name was changed to Israel, and from him the twelve tribes were born. With Jacob, Israel came into being.
By leading the people back to this defining moment, God makes a profound declaration: I was with you from the very beginning. Before Israel existed as a nation, He was already present. From conception to calling, He has never left them.
So far, so good, but what about the next statement? Why mention Esau, Jacob’s twin brother, and how can we understand this hatred of Esau, “I have loved Jacob, and I have hated Esau”?
A few words in Scripture strike the reader with greater force, causing us to stop and wrestle with their meaning. Here, God declares that He loved one and rejected the other, even before they were born. How can this be, and is it fair?
Time did not soften the weight of these words. When Paul wrestled with the mystery of Israel’s calling in Romans 9–11, he returned to Malachi’s declaration and placed it at the heart of his argument. There, Paul asks the very question that continues to echo in our day. “As it is written, ‘Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.’ What shall we say then? There is no injustice with God, is there? May it never be!” Romans 9: 13-14. But he answers with a strong affirmative: May it never be! Or God forbids.
How, then, are we to understand these words? What do they reveal about God’s justice, His sovereignty, and His love? What Paul explains and what the Lord emphasizes here is God’s omniscience, His complete knowledge of the past, present, and future, which lies at the heart of His sovereignty. God’s judgment concerning Esau was not arbitrary or impulsive; it was rooted in His foreknowledge of who Esau would become. His response toward Esau reflects divine knowledge, not injustice.
The difficulty arises when we project our human understanding of words and emotions onto an infinite, righteous, and holy God. Scripture repeatedly reminds us that “God is not a man.”
Human hatred is often driven by revenge, violence, bias, or wounded pride. God’s hatred is nothing like that. Rather, God’s hatred is His absolute opposition to evil and His complete rejection of sin, injustice, and corruption. This opposition is perfectly holy and entirely without darkness, for “God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5). As David declares, “The Lord is righteous in all His ways” (Psalm 145:17). When God hates, He does so not as a flawed human reacting in passion but as a righteous Judge acting in perfect holiness, truth, and love.
And what about Esau? Why pinpoint Esau? Before he was born, God knew this man, and He hated, not condemned, but hated the way he was to become, as history testifies.
The Spirit of God summarizes the story of Esau for us, even 2000 years after his birth, in Hebrews 12:16-17. It reads, “That there be no immoral or godless person like Esau, who sold his own birthright for a single meal. For you know that even afterwards, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought for it with tears.”
As the author of Hebrews addresses those who deny the Lord and withdraw from the congregation of God, he deliberately uses Esau as an illustration. Esau serves as a sobering example of someone who despised God’s grace, rejected His love, and ultimately chose to walk away.
Esau was the firstborn of Isaac. From him, the Messiah was to come, but he sold his birthright for a piece of bread. He sold what is spiritual for what is earthly. This is the story of those who came; they were offered salvation and grace as much as they wanted, but they refused it.
After…he felt bad, it is written that he repented and cried, but he could not fool God, who knew his repentance was not genuine and that his tears were insincere. But God saw these things even before the man was born: this is what He is telling us here in Malachi and in Romans.
However, there is one important point to add to God’s omniscience; while God knows what the individual will become, He does not condemn that man before the man shows his true colors. On the contrary, and this is wonderful, the Bible shows that the Lord will continually work with this individual so that he will not fall and return to Him. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son”. John 3:16
God loves the world, even knowing that most will reject Him in the end. One powerful example of this love and patience is Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Jesus; yet he was with Yeshua for 3 years. He knew all along that Judas would betray Him, yet He loved him.
At the Last Supper, when He said that one of the 12 disciples would betray Him, the 11 others had no clue who it was because Yeshua’s love was spread evenly among the 12; He made no distinction. Even before Judas went to betray Him, Jesus washed his feet: that is such a wonderful testimony to God’s love and patience. Another powerful example is Pharaoh. God knew from the very beginning that Pharaoh would not change his mind, yet He gave him all the time he needed to repent.
But then, in the end, we read that God hardened his heart, and many say it is unfair for God to intervene and harden his heart. Yet they do not realize that Pharaoh hardened his own heart numerous times before God took over.
As Pharaoh hardened his own heart and great judgments followed, we see a similar history with Esau. If God hates, it is because man has closed his heart to all attempts at divine love and grace and has chosen evil, in many ways forcing God to close the door. God’s “hatred” is not darkness in Him, but light refusing to compromise with darkness.
Click Here for the Video : Malachi Part 2 – “I Loved Jacob – I hated Esau” : Is That Fair?