The Question
So today has been a relatively uneventful day, a rather lazy day. The temperature and humidity have been high so staying inside was the order of the day.
I have contemplated the Word, had Church with a Brother, listened to a message from David Jeremiah, read and prayed throughout the day; it has been one of those peaceful blessings of calm and relaxation.
Then it came, “the question”. My brainiac wife came home and walked in front of me and asked, “why did God hate Esau?” BOOM, there went the stillness of my mind.
My immediate response was “I’ll have to do some study on that”, and so I began. If you were someone close to me, you would know I will research things in great depth when curiosity kicks in.
Especially when it comes to anything concerning God’s Holy Word. I have several tried and true sources. Theologians, Bible scholars, and preachers past and present. I will read and pray for long periods of time, spend time in contemplation, and pray even more, and so it began.
Surprisingly, the answer came very quickly from the understanding that I already possessed, but I did continue to research and it confirmed what I knew.
The first thing I ran across was a statement by the late Charles Spurgeon when a woman asked him “why did God hate Esau?” His reply was, “that is not my difficulty madam, my trouble is how God could love Jacob”.
In my understanding I believe that the answer lies in the entirety of the Word. God was not comparing Jacob and Esau to the world but telling of two brothers (the world of Jacob and Esau) not in comparison to the world.
Allow me to impart a little Kenneth Kellar 101–the Bible must be read, studied, understood, and utilized in the spirit that it was written! When we do this a far greater understanding will follow regarding a deep question such as this.
Concerning Jacob and Esau, I believe it was indeed the weighing of the hearts and not a simple choosing of one over the other. I’ll explain with Scripture and examples. Was Cain’s heart not corrupt when he slew his brother Able? Perhaps a few other Scriptures better define the answer of Jacob and Esau.
The rule of first mentions always applies throughout the Bible and that in itself will often give the answer. Cain’s heart was corrupt. In Genesis 6:5, And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
It is clear to me that God was weighing the hearts of Jacob and Esau.
Proverbs 23:7, For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee.
As Christians we must understand that God weighs our hearts. Was the heart of Belshazzar not weighed? What was the handwriting on the wall? “Mene Mene Tekel Upharsin.” (You have been weighed, measured, found lacking and divided.) Daniel the 5th chapter. This clearly demonstrates that God has a standard that our hearts are measured by.
Did God not weigh the hearts of those in the cities of the plain? Sodom and Gomorrah. In Genesis 18, the entire purpose of the Lord and the angels’ appearance was to weigh the hearts of those in Sodom and Gomorrah.
They were found to be corrupt like those before the flood, and so they were destroyed. It is important that out of both cities, only one man was found worth saving. Lot lived by the gate of the city of Sodom and he and his family were saved, but none worth saving were found in Gomorrah—no, not one!
In closing, it is clear to me, with the understanding of the Scriptures I have mentioned, that God was weighing the heart of one brother compared to the other.
God was not searching humanity for a saint, but was showing how one can be completely corrupt in his heart and find something in the other that could be used for good.
Jacob was certainly no saint himself, but it is obvious he was not completely corrupt as Esau was! I hope this helps give some understanding when you read Malachi or Romans where it states that God loved Jacob but hated Esau.
If you wish to learn far more detail than I have given here, you can refer to a dissertation Charles Spurgeon wrote titled “Jacob and Esau”, dated January 16, 1859, for your reading and research on this subject.
“God never said the weapons wouldn’t form, He said they would not prosper!”
Kenneth Kellar
A Man Called by God to Teach and Disciple