When Isaac was ready to get married, Abraham sent his trusted servant back to his homeland to find a wife for the young man. When the servant returned with Rebekah, Isaac fell in love with her and wanted to have children with her. When Rebekah’s inability to conceive became apparent, Isaac prayed for her and she soon was pregnant with twin boys. Those two sons–Esau and Jacob–then became the focus of God’s promise to Abraham (Genesis 25-36).
    Looking back at that time, Malachi 1:2-3 (NASB) relates God’s words about the two sons of Isaac and Rebekah: “…Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares the Lord. Yet I have loved Jacob; but I have hated Esau…” Wow, that smacks of favoritism, doesn’t it? God loved one son and hated the other. And, not only that, but in the New Testament, Paul went even further when he tried to explain what Malachi had written: “…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 9:11). Again, was God playing favorites or worse–was He explicitedly condemning Esau to destruction and promoting Jacob to blessings?
    I believe if we think this situation through and look at some additional scriptures, we can find the underlying reasoning behind God’s statements and can find out just what He meant. First, from statements made by Isaiah (41:1,5) and Jeremiah (1:5), we can infer that, when parents are believers, they bring God into their children’s lives before the babies are conceived. Or, in other words, believing parents sanctify their future offspring. (Now, that’s not to say that God doesn’t have his eyes on all babies, but that we can be confident that believers set their children apart through prayer.) With this in mind, let’s think about what God told Rebekah when she asked Him about the war that seemed to be going on in her belly. He answered her by telling her two nations were fighting inside of her and that the elder would serve the younger (Genesis 25:23). Let’s be practical here–if the Bible is real, God is the Creator of DNA and the genetic composition of physical beings (something none of the biblical writers knew about). Thus, we can surmise that He knew the personality of each twin, He knew they were fraternal twins, He knew their personalities were going to clash, and He knew their position in Rebekah’s womb.
    Now, in order to keep His promise to Abraham, which would involve the founding of the nation of Israel and the establishment of the human lineage of Jesus Christ, God had to chose one of the twins to be Isaac’s heir. I believe God chose Jacob based on his personality traits–after all, this twin was determined to get his own way even during birth by trying to pull Esau out of the way. This resolve to reach his goals brought focus to Jacob’s life. Esau, on the other hand, seemed to live for the moment, as was evidenced by his willingness to “sell” his birth right to Jacob for food (Genesis 25:29-34). God knew that the nation of Israel was going to have to be determined in order to endure Satan’s onslaught to destroy it, so He needed to chose the twin who had the personality to persist whether that child was the first born or not. From God’s perspective, Jacob was the logical choice.
    As the twins grew up, God’s wisdom in choosing Jacob became apparent. Esau had a rebellious streak a mile long–he was disobedient to his parents big time (Genesis 26:34-35)–while Jacob listened to his parents and obeyed them even when deceit was involved (Genesis 27:6-29). Jacob also sought God and thought things through. For example, when his uncle Laban tried several times to get the best of him, Jacob was able to endure and to win what he wanted (Genesis 28-31).
    One final thought–when God said He loved Jacob and hated Esau, He was not talking about His emotional state of mind. Rather, God was talking about His choice of who would father the nation that would bring forth Jesus Christ. We should remember that Isaac also blessed Esau and God honored that blessing. In spite (or should I say, because) of Esau’s tendency to live for the moment, the man did prosper. By the time Jacob came back home, Esau was ready to welcome him with open arms and total forgiveness (Genesis 33). In a sense, God temporarily “hated” Esau to move His plan forward so that Esau and all of his descendants would take part in the promises of Isaiah 25:6-8. Along with the rest of the human race, Esau will see God swallow up death in victory!
    As always, please feel free to comment–just be sure to be respectful of everyone.
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    ©2009 by Patricia Zell. All rights reserved.
