Why Did God Hate Esau And Love Jacob?

There is a story told in the Bible, aptly demonstrating the saying, the first will become last, and the last will become first. It is the story of Esau and Jacob, the twins. But who made it that way?

Often, when people consider the story, they are confronted with the dilemma of God hating one and loving the other. So people ask, why did God hate Esau and love Jacob? This question can be bothersome as it cuts through the atmosphere of our experiences, assuming a God exists that is all-powerful and all-loving. It is more perplexing if we assume a God that is perfect and impartial.

What if we've gotten something wrong in our common understanding of the story? Thinking about that, I found this discussion to be pertinent, so we can consider if God hated Esau, what it meant, and address the question, why did God hate Esau? Get a drink and have a seat; it won't be a very long ride.

Did God Hate Esau?

Yes, according to the Bible, God hated Esau. However, the core of the issue often lies not in the biblical statement itself, but in its interpretation. We could approach this by contrasting common understandings of love and hatred, perhaps their antonymity, and carefully consider the context to make sense of what's being communicated to us.

Functioning as both a noun and a verb, love is described as a feeling of affection and a passionate experience of adoration. In the context of a person or persons, love is the intense feeling of care and interest in the good and well-being of others. Conversely, hate is everything love isn't; it is characterized by strong dislike, enmity, hostility, and violence, among other things.

I listened to a Christian apologist argue that when the Bible said, Jacob I loved, Esau I hated, God was simply implying that he loved Jacob more and loved Esau less. His understanding of this hatred is not the absence of love but the reduction of its measure. While there's a sense in which that could be considered true, I think this interpretation waters down the strong contrast in the statement.

There is a sense in which God takes the position of the choice-maker, looks towards the future, and makes preferential judgments. He then declares it to humanity, who are limited in knowledge and foresight. But let's take a look at what God said, according to Malachi, using the New American Standard Bible (NASB).

Malachi 1:2 “I have loved you,” says the Lord. But you say, “How have You loved us?” “Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares the Lord. “Yet I have loved Jacob;

Malachi 1:3 but I have hated Esau, and I have made his mountains a desolation and appointed his inheritance for the jackals of the wilderness.”

Malachi 1:4 Though Edom says, “We have been beaten down, but we will return and build up the ruins”; thus says the Lord of hosts, “They may build, but I will tear down; and men will call them the wicked territory, and the people toward whom the Lord is indignant forever.”

Malachi 1:5 Your eyes will see this and you will say, “The Lord be magnified beyond the border of Israel!”

While we consider the birth narrative, I should note that the Edomites were the descendants of Esau. Their root goes back to an important figure in the big picture: Abraham. Abraham was a friend of Yahweh God, who had a covenant with him. According to the scriptures, he begat Isaac, and Isaac begat Jacob. However, it is also important to note that both Abraham and Isaac had other sons, Ishmael and Esau, respectively. This is where it gets interesting.

Ismael was Abraham's first son, and the same was Esau to Isaac. Arguably, Abraham loved Ishmael, and obviously, Isaac loved Esau. Perhaps Abraham's wife, Sarah, did not like Ishmael, and Isaac's wife, Rebekah, preferred Jacob to Esau. But where is God in this circle of love and hate, and how do we make sense of it?

In Genesis 18, God appeared to Abraham. In that appearance, Abraham offered his son, Ismael, to God, but it was said that God refused him. God told him that he will have a son through Sarah, and that was the one God would walk and work with. That son was Isaac. The point was that God rejected Ishmael and chose Isaac. The same pattern could be drawn from God hating Esau and loving Jacob. God rejected Esau and chose to walk and work with Jacob, his brother. It so happens that the ones he chose were the ones the mothers so loved.

You may say, “Didn't they have the freedom to choose to be the chosen one, or not to be?” It appears that they could have, but the very narrative strongly affirms God's role in the fate of each individual. While it may seem God made an enemy out of Esau, it should be said that if he did, he did it out of his love for Jacob; I mean that in the case of the Israelites and the Edomites. But why did God hate Esau and love Jacob?

Why Did God Hate Esau and Love Jacob?

People often find it difficult to accept that God would choose a person over another, considering the implication of such an action. Having engaged believers on this very story, it becomes clear to me what the problem is: free will. It is not about God's capability but the limits in people's theological views.

If God does choose people over others, or reject them at all, why does he? If God rejected Ishmael and Esau and chose Isaac and Jacob, why did he? To further the question, if God hated Esau and loved Jacob, why did he? Do you have a reason or reasons in mind? Feel free to share.

There are two very common reasons given for God's declared hatred for Esau, even from birth: God's will and his foresight. Two ways people view and understand the foresight of God are in his conception of all activities, including people's actions, and his ability to see through future events, including people's free will actions. Therein lies the idea of God's sovereign choice/predetermination and human free will. I tend to consider the amalgamation of both when considering the God in the Bible.

In Jeremiah 1:9, God told Jeremiah that he knew him before his conception and ordained him to be a prophet to nations. This suggests that not only did God see into the future of all individuals, but he also has the ability to define their purpose and influence the course of their lives.

In the case of Esau and Jacob, there was a preexisting covenant God had with Abraham, the one he chose to have the covenant with. He may have foreseen that he would, but ultimately, he chose to. In that covenant, he promised a seed that would be a source of blessing to nations. The trajectory of the story implies that a lineage would produce the seed, but then there is a conflict. Beginning with Abraham, there were two sons, and the same was the case with Isaac. And God had to decide which one he would use to further establish his covenant. None of which were perfect nor of their individual will.

It would have been different if Abraham and Isaac both had a son and a daughter. God wouldn't need to show a preferential attitude (in a traditional view), but it seems it was necessary to tell us something about the workings of God. Perhaps, Paul did a great job elaborating on that in his Romans 9 thesis.

In Paul's thesis, he made a distinction between two groups of people, the children of the flesh and the children of God, drawing a symbolic line between Ishmael and Isaac. We can parallel that with Esau and Jacob. The point being that the children of the promise would be described as the children of God. He connected the relationship between Sarah and Rebekah to God's own will and purpose.

Romans 9:9 For this is the word of promise: “At this time I will come, and Sarah shall have a son.”

Romans 9:10 And not only this, but there was Rebekah also, when she had conceived twins by one man, our father Isaac;

Romans 9:11 for though the twins were not yet born and had not done anything good or bad, so that God’s purpose according to His choice would stand, not because of works but because of Him who calls,

Romans 9:12 it was said to her, “The older will serve the younger.”

Romans 9:13 Just as it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”

Wherein one stands to question the justice in this act of God, Paul stands up to its defense, supposing that God's act of choosing is an extension of his mercy and compassion and an expression of his love for the undeserving.

While the reason why God hated Esau and loved Jacob is rooted not merely in his foresight but in his (God's) own choice, indicating his divine preeminence, the question of why God chooses not to do the same for everyone, regardless of their dispositions, becomes pertinent. It retains God's involvement in the final destination of everyone and becomes problematic in the case that hellfire is real in the sense of eternal torment of sentient beings. Perhaps this is another angle where contention lies. Or don't you think so? Check this out: Why Did God Destroy Sodom and Gomorrah?