"JACOB I HAVE LOVED,
BUT ESAU I HAVE HATED" (2)
Romans 9:13
GOOD NEWS FROM THE REDEEMER
November 9, 2003 MESSAGE #501
II. Reasons for the truth "Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated." Why did God love Jacob but hate Esau?
1. God hated Esau because God acted in justice toward him. Holy Scriptures are very plain regarding the justice and righteousness of God, and of His consequent hatred of sin and sinners. "God is a just judge, and God is angry with the wicked every day" (Psalm 7:11). "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, ... so that they are without excuse" (Romans 1:18-20). "For You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness, nor shall evil dwell with You. ... You hate all workers of iniquity. ... The Lord abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man" (Psalm 5:4-6). "The Lord tests the righteous, but the wicked and the one who loves violence His soul hates. Upon the wicked He will rain coals; fire and brimstone and a burning wind shall be the portion of their cup. For the Lord is righteous" (Psalm 11:5-7). "God is jealous, and the Lord avenges; the Lord avenges and is furious. The Lord will take vengeance on His adversaries, and He reserves wrath for His enemies" (Nahum 1:2). He will send "indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, on every soul of man who does evil" (Romans 2:8f).
Esau was the sort of person God in His justice hates. As the consequence of his identification with Adam his federal head, and even while he was yet in his mother's womb - "not yet being born, nor having done any good or evil" (Romans 9:11) - he was a sinner under the judgment of condemnation (Romans 5:12-21): "Therefore, ... through one man [Adam] sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned .... by the one man's offense many died .... the judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation .... by the one man's offense death reigned through the one .... through one man's offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation .... by one man's disobedience many were made sinners .... sin reigned in death."
Consequently, Esau was "in sin ... conceived" and "brought forth in iniquity" (Psalm 51:5). He therefore was of those of whom it is written, "The wicked are estranged from the womb; they go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies" (Psalm 58:3). He was, like all the Adamic race, born "dead in trespasses and sins, in which you walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others" (Ephesians 2:1-3).
As for Esau personally, he proved himself worthy of God's hatred. He is characterized as a "profane person ..., who for one morsel of food sold his birthright" (Hebrews 12:16; cp. Genesis 25:29-34). That which is profane is the opposite of that which is holy: it is outside the realm of sanctity, and debarred from sacred privileges. He who is profane is classed with the worst sorts of people: the "fornicator" (Hebrews 12:16); the "lawless" and "insubordinate", "ungodly" and "sinners", "unholy" and "profane" (1 Timothy 1:9).
What was so profane about Esau selling his birthright? Among the Hebrew patriarchs, the birthright was very special: It conferred preeminence to the firstborn and a double portion of the inheritance. And the birthright was very sacred: It conferred to the firstborn the privilege of priesthood, and made him the custodian of the divine promises, and placed him in the lineage of the coming Messiah, and made him typical of those who are in the "church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven" (Hebrews 12:23).
"Esau despised his birthright" (Genesis 25:34). And he was unrepentant about doing so (Hebrews 12:26): "For you know that afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought it [the blessing, not repentance] diligently with tears." Esau despised and rejected the things of God; God therefore despised and rejected Esau.
Esau furthermore grieved his parents by marrying heathen women (26:34f), thereby violating the principle of holy marriage observed by his grandfather Abraham (24:3f). For this reason, Esau may also be the "fornicator" of Hebrews 12:16. He also resolved to murder his brother Jacob (27:41).
It therefore is with good reason that God says, "Esau I have hated." There was nothing ever in Esau meriting God's love; God therefore in justice withheld love from him. There was everything ever about Esau meriting God's hatred; God therefore in justice hated him.
The question therefore should not be "Why did God hate Esau?" He deserved to be hated!
Rather, the question should be "Why did God love Jacob?" He also deserved to be hated! All that we have here said regarding Esau as identified with Adam (in Romans 5:12-21) applied also to Jacob. Furthermore, Jacob also, like Esau, was "in sin ... conceived" and "brought forth in iniquity", "estranged from the womb; ... speaking lies", "dead in trespasses and sins", and among those who are "by nature children of wrath". As for the character he exemplified in his life, "Esau said, 'Is he not rightly named Jacob [supplanter, heel-catcher]? For he has supplanted me these two times. He took away my birthright, and now look, he has taken away my blessing!'" (Genesis 27:36).
Nevertheless, even when he was in his mother's womb - "not yet being born, nor having done any good" - God said, "Jacob I have loved" (Romans 9:11-13).
Why would God love Jacob?
2. God loved Jacob because God acted in grace toward him. God dealt with Esau in justice. But God dealt with Jacob in grace (as in vv.15f). God in justice hated Esau even before he was born, because God viewed Esau in Adam as a sinner. But God in grace loved Jacob even before he was born, because God viewed Jacob in Christ as righteous (as in Ephesians 1:4-6). God in justice gave to Esau the damnation he deserved. But God in grace gave to Jacob the salvation he did not deserve (as in Titus 3:5-7).
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Interestingly, we never read of Esau objecting or complaining of being hated by God. Nor do we read of Esau objecting or complaining of God loving Jacob but not himself.
But such objections and complaints are often heard from religious people denying the sovereignty of the God of Jacob!
Paul the apostle, in the verses following our present text, has anticipated and answered their objections.
The first objection from unbelievers implies that it is unrighteous of God to love one person who has done no good, but to hate another who has done no evil (v.14a): "What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God?"
Paul's reply to their first objection is in the negative, coupled with an appeal to Holy Scriptures (vv.14b-18): "Certainly not! For He says to Moses [in Exodus 33:19], 'I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion.' So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh [in Exodus 9:16], 'For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth.' Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens."
This reply is sufficient for the Christian.
The second objection from unbelievers rises from their mistaken belief that if God sovereignly shows mercy to one, but sovereignly hardens another, He is severe and cruel if He finds fault with the transgressor (v.19): "You will say to me then, 'Why does He still find fault? For who has resisted His will?'"
Paul's reply to their second objection is again in the negative, and again coupled with an appeal to Holy Scriptures (vv.20-24): "But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, 'Why have you made me like this?' Does not the potter have power over the clay [as God declares in Jeremiah 18:1-4ff], from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor? What if God, wanting to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction [as He did to both Esau and Pharaoh], and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had prepared beforehand for glory, even us whom He called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?"
This reply also is sufficient for the Christian. God said it. That settles it. We must believe it.
The child of God will join Christ in confessing, "Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Your sight" (Matthew 11:26).
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