Expert: Mel and Guyna Horne - 3/20/2007

Question
Mel and Guyna
 Most of us have been taught that God loves "everyone",
but Malachi 1:3 says that God hated Esau.
Can you explain this? and are there other places in the Bible that say God hated anyone?
                                    thanks
                                     Bob

Answer
 Hi

 The Book of Malachi is considered to cover the period from 420 BC to 397 BC.  Esau died about 1740 BC, or over 1,300 years before Malachi was written.
   
 The introduction of Malachi states, "The burden of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi." (Mal. 1:1).
 The word "burden" (Heb. massa) means "heavy load".  The message of Malachi was addressed to the Nation of Israel. It is prophetic because the Nation of Israel ceased to exist as a nation in 721 BC (300 years before Malachi was written) when it was defeated and the people taken as captives to Assyria (today parts of Syria and Turkey), north of modern Iraq.

 The simple comment about hating Esau (Mal. 1:2) has a basis in the promises to Abraham, the whole history of Israel, the descendants of Esau (the Edomites) and the offering of salvation to the gentiles.
 In order to understand the context and some of the implications, we must look at the historical aspects.  In order to try to keep this short, we shall only refer to some of the highlights. Hopefully this will be long enough to explain the context without being so short as to be confusing.

 The twelve tribes of Israel (as in the sons of Jacob) split into two kingdoms after the death of King Solomon about 975 BC. The tribes of Judah, Benjamin, Levi, Simeon, Gad, part of Reuben and perhaps part of Manasseh became known as the Kingdom of Judah. The remainder of the tribes, living in the northern part of Palestine were known as the Kingdom of Israel. (see 1Kings, 2Kings, 1Chron. 2Chron.).  Most of them never returned to Palestine and historical sources indicate that many of them migrated to Europe.  
 The southern kingdom, known as "Judah" was defeated and taken as captives to Babylon (modern Iraq) in 588 BC. A few (42,360) were allowed to return to Jerusalem in 536 BC to "rebuild the temple" (see books of Ezra and Neh.)  Later, a few more may have returned to Palestine, but most never did. Only the oldest had lived there, and the younger generations did not want to leave the comforts and wealth of the Babylonian Empire to return to a destroyed land and an economy that did not recover until King Herod began his building program shortly before the time of Christ. Even then the difference between Jerusalem and the city of Babylon would be somewhat like comparing a small town in Mexico to New York City.
 
  When Malachi was written, "Israel" did not exist.  The Babylonian Empire (of Israel's demise as a nation) gave way to the Persian (Iran) Empire which was later conquered by the (Greek) Macedonian, Alexander the Great.  "Judah" existed but was no longer a real nation, just a large group of people living in an international crossroads that was being repeatedly overrun by the advancing and receding empires. This continued until the Roman Empire brought an occupied peace which existed at the time of Christ and the New Testament.

  The "Jews", as they became known, were ruled internally by the High Priest (from Ezra) until about 196 BC when Hyrcanus ruled as both High Priest and (a puppet) King, by permission of either the Syrian Kingdom to the north or the Egyptian Kingdom to the south (control of Palestine alternated between the two until the Roman Empire absorbed them all).

 With this background in mind, God inspired the prophet Malachi to write his book.  It is addressed to "Israel" which included the "Jews" in Palestine and the rest of the tribes "scattered" (throughout the world). In it, God condemns the "Jews" and especially the religious leadership (the priests) in Palestine, for a list of offenses, including sacrificing blind, lame and sick animals instead of the "best", which showed their "contempt" for God.  He reminds them of his covenant with Levi (the tribe designated to serve as priests) to teach the laws of God (which were to show love toward God and toward others).  In chapter 3, there is a prophecy of John the Baptist.  In the last verses of ch. 4, there is a prophecy of "Elijah the prophet" (who was already long dead), but here it refers to Christ's first coming.
 This is why this book is placed at the end of the Old Testament. It serves as an introduction to the New Testament.

 
 Mal. 1:1  is the introduction to the book.
 In verse 2, God says "I have loved you (Israel)."
                 He inspired Malachi to write, "Yet you (the Jews) say, Wherein have you loved us?"
                 The "Jews" were saying "God doesn't love us (because we are cursed, the kingdom is gone, the temple is gone, our enemies rule over us, etc)."
                 To this, God responds, "Was not Esau, Jacob's brother  . . . yet I loved Jacob"

  In other words, You say I don't love you, but I have given you Esau's birthright promises and blessings.

  Esau was the firstborn and had the right of primary inheritance. He was also Isaac's favorite, while Jacob was Rebekah's favorite.  Esau "despised" his birthright and sold it to Jacob for a bowl of "red pottage" (red beans with meat). The point is that Esau considered his birthright to be worthless and sold it.  This was an insult to God.  God could have given Jacob the "blessings of the firstborn", but instead of asking God for it and waiting for him to work it out, Rebekah and Jacob schemed to steal it by deception (which resulted in Jacob's having to flee for his life, among other trials and curses) but it all worked out in the end because of God's promises to Abraham.

    Esau had contempt for the birthright and he sold it for a bowl of food. The birthright included all the promises made to Abraham. Esau did not believe God or he would not have had contempt for the promises.
    While Jacob married daughters of Laban (of Abraham's family tribe), Esau took two wives from the Hittities, and one from the Hivites, people living in Palestine whose practices, including idolatry (Ex. 23:23-24), were called "abominations" by God (Ezra 1:9).  Esau was also called Edom and "father of the Edomites" (Gen. 36:9, 43).

    During the Exodus, God told Israel to go through the land of the Edomites, to pay for any food or water they consumed, and not to drive them out of the land that God had given them (Deu. 2:4-8). Moses sent messengers to Edom asking for permission to pass through the land, addressing the Edomites as "brothers" of Israel.
    The leaders of Edom not only refused passage, but came out in force prepared for war, forcing Israel further into the wilderness (Num. 20:14-21).
    When the tribes of Israel were assigned land in Palestine, the tribe of Judah received the land which bordered the Edomites.
     
    Later, when Saul became King, he fought against the Edomites as "enemies" of Israel (1Sam. 14:47).
    After Saul, King David established garrisons in Edom to secure the borders of Israel to stop the repeated attacks against Israel (2 Sam. 4:18) by all the various neighboring, pagan kingdoms. [Notice that this problem still exists today in Israel.]
     The Edomites became "servants of David" after David's captain, Joab, spent six months there killing all the males (1K11:15-16). God used Israel under David to punish the idolatrous neighbors.
  
    
  The verse which says "God hated Esau" does not refer to Esau the person, but the people which were his descendants, the Edomites.  Esau's descendents had multiple opportunities to show kindness toward their "brothers" (Israel), but repeatedly made the wrong choices. As the other tribes of  Palestine harassed and attacked Israel whenever convenient, the Edomites joined in on the wrong side.  God used them at times to punish Israel for sins, but God also used Israel to destroy them for attacking Israel and for their idolatry.
  
   Esau and Jacob fought against each other even in the womb of their mother Rebekah (Gen. 25:22).  At that point, God knew what kind of men they would be and what their descendants would be like. This is not predestination because Esau had the free will to change at anytime.  That he didn't, shows God's ability to predict whether a tribe or a nation will continue to be unrighteous. This is why he sometimes ordered Israel to commit genocide of the tribes of Palestine.

  Paul, in explaining why salvation was offered to the gentiles and not just to the Jews only, referred to Jacob and Esau:
  "It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger.
  As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.
  What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid.
   For he said to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion." (Rom. 9:12-15)
   In other words, rights by virtue of one's birth are important, but salvation is dependent upon righteousness and not one's pedigree.

 Paul also used Esau as an example of someone giving up something precious, in the context of our not giving up our calling to righteousness and salvation.
  "Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of [righteous] witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which does so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,"
  "Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.
  For you know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears." (Heb. 12:1, 16-17).

  After Esau realized the seriousness of his losing the birthright and the firstborn's blessing, he was crying and begging for a blessing from Isaac (Gen. 27:38).  He was crying over the loss, not out of repentance for sin.

  To summarize:

    Had Esau been as righteous as Jacob, God would have had no reason to allow him to lose the birthright to Jacob, or to allow Jacob to take the blessing of the firstborn by deception.
   God did bless Esau and his descendants and gave them repeated opportunities to receive more blessings. Had they befriended Israel from the time of Moses onward, they would have been blessed.
  
   The terms "love" and "hate" are sometimes used in scripture to mean "love less in comparison".

   "If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple." (Luke 14:26).
    We are commanded to love one another and to not hate anyone, not even our enemies (Mat. 5:43-44, Jn. 13:34, 15:12, 17, Rom. 13:8, 1Ths. 4:9).

    We are to love God more than any human, including parents, mates and children.  That does not mean that we hate them (as in the spirit of murder), but that we love them less in comparison of our love for God.  If they are righteous, there is no conflict.  If they are unrighteous, we will have some tough choices to make.  Making the choice to follow God rather than to follow a loved relative into sin, will appear to that relative to be hate.  Families divided over religious doctrines experience this frequently.

  When God punishes anyone for sin, or when people suffer automatically for their sins, it appears that God hates them.  In reality, sinners suffer because of sin, not because God hates them.

  When we as parents, discipline our children, it would appear to others that we hate our children, and people against spanking seem to feel that is true. But most corrective discipline is (or should be) done because of love, not hate.
   "Now no chastening for the present seems to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby." (Heb. 12:11).
   The lack of discipline, according to God, is hate.  "He that spares his rod hates his son: but he that loves him chastens him betimes [early and diligently]." (Pro. 13:24).

   You also asked about other scriptures in which it says that God hates anyone:

   "The Lord tries the righteous: but the wicked and him that loves violence his soul hates." (Psa.11:5).
   The Israelites accused God of hating them because the Exodus was difficult (Deu. 1:27).
   Moses said that the world would accuse God of hating the Israelites, if he destroyed them all in the wilderness (Deu. 9:28).
   In the context of Israel's sins and the resulting curses, Hosea wrote of God's hating the tribe of Ephraim (Hos.9:10-17). Same situation as with Edom.


  We apologize for the delay in answering.  It was more difficult to decide what not to write than to what to include.

  We hope that this answers your questions.  If any of this appears confusing, and it may, we shall be happy to explain further.

  Sincerely,
Mel and Guyna