Bible Questions Answered:
“It seems unfair that God loved Jacob but hated Esau.”
Cindy/ Bethesda, Maryland U.S.A.
Bible Answer:
Bible Text:
Romans 9:13 KJV
As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated*.
*Hated- Greek- Miseo (Mis-eh-o): To detest, to love less: hate.
Malachi 1:1-3 KJV
1 The burden of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi.
2 I have loved you, saith the Lord. Yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother? saith the Lord: yet I loved Jacob,
3 And I hated* Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness.
*Hated-Hebrew- Sane (Saw-nay): To hate, enemy, foe, odious X utterly.
“...Sane signifies “being set against”something.
(Vines Complete Expository Dictionary-W.E.Vine)
The New Living Translation:
Romans 9:13 NLT
In the words of the Scriptures, “I loved Jacob, but I rejected Esau.”
How could a holy God, love one child and reject the other?
The answer is God does not throw dice as to who He loves and who He rejects!
How then the rejection of Esau?
Homily: (Foreknowledge.)
If you and your friends were outside at a park on a summer day, a day with clouds, but nice. All of a sudden off in the distance you and your friends saw a mighty flash of lightning hit the ground. Knowing all too well that a few miles away it must already be raining and that the rain was soon headed your way, you took shelter fast.
And just as you had thought, a downpour of rain hit your area.
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Well someone might say, you didn't hear any thunder, why did you run?
You ran, because lightning is seen at a speed of 186,200 mph, where as sound only travels at 1100 ft per sec. some time later the thunder surely would follow!
If you had waited to hear the thunder, you would have gotten wet.
This is a poor illustration at best to discuss the Omniscience of Almighty God.
God's Omniscience:
Job 26:6 KJV
Hell is naked before Him, and destruction hath no covering.
Job 31:4 KJV
Doth not He see my ways, and count all my steps?
Job 34:21 KJV
For His eyes are upon the ways of man, and He seeth all his goings.
Psalm 147:5 KJV
Great is our Lord, and of great power: His understanding is infinite.
John 2:24 KJV
But Jesus did not commit Himself unto them, because He knew all men,
John 16:30 KJV
Now are we sure that thou knowest all things, and needest not that any man should ask thee: by this we believe that thou camest forth from God.
John 21:17 KJV
He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou Me? Peter was grieved because He said unto him the third time, Lovest thou Me? And he said unto Him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed My sheep.
Acts 1:24 KJV
And they prayed, and said, Thou, Lord, which knowest the hearts of all men, shew whether of these two thou hast chosen,
Hebrews 4:13 KJV
Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in His sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.
I John 3:20 KJV
For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things.
Not only Jacob, but all of God's people, were chosen before the foundation of the world!
Ephesians 1:4 KJV
According as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love:
Well how can God, choose some and reject others?
What a good question!
And the answer is not by blind choice, not by chance but by something called The Foreknowledge of God.
God,'s knowledge is “perfect,” knowledge, He knew from eternity past who would choose Him, and
who would reject Him, and He planed, He choose to bless (From ancient past) those who would turn to Him.
Isaiah 46:9,10 KJV
9 Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like Me,
10 Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure:
Isaiah 55:8,9 KJV
8 For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, saith the Lord.
9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.
Romans 11:33,34 NLT
33 Oh, how great are God’s riches and wisdom and knowledge! How impossible it is for us to understand His decisions and His ways!
34 For who can know the Lord’s thoughts? Who knows enough to give Him advice?
In eternity past, long before the world was ever created, God saw something, He saw that Esau, would hold no value to something as precious as his first son birthright. He rejected for a pot of stew, being God's leader of Israel.
Genesis 25:29-34 NLT
29 One day when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau arrived home from the wilderness exhausted and hungry.
30 Esau said to Jacob, “I’m starved! Give me some of that red stew!” (This is how Esau got his other name, Edom, which means “red.”)
31 “All right,” Jacob replied, “but trade me your rights as the firstborn son.”
32 “Look, I’m dying of starvation!” said Esau. “What good is my birthright to me now?”
33 But Jacob said, “First you must swear that your birthright is mine.” So Esau swore an oath, thereby selling all his rights as the firstborn to his brother, Jacob.
34 Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and lentil stew. Esau ate the meal, then got up and left.
He showed contempt for his rights as the firstborn.
God's Foreknowledge:
Romans 8:28 NLT
28 And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose for them.
29 For God knew His people in advance, and He chose them to become like His Son, so that His Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.
30 And having chosen them, He called them to come to Him. And having called them, He gave them right standing with Himself. And having given them right standing, He gave them His glory.
Psalm 37:23 KJV
The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord: and He delighteth in his way.
Eternity past, God saw something, God saw that Jacob, would hold dear the sacred position of first born, and its responsibility to lead the people of God! And so, God, blessed Jacob, yes, even before his birth.
From eternity past God saw those who would turn to him!
Ephesians 1:4-6 NLT
4 Even before He made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in His eyes.
5 God decided in advance to adopt us into His own family by bringing us to Himself through Jesus Christ. This is what He wanted to do, and it gave Him great pleasure.
6 So we praise God for the glorious grace He has poured out on us who belong to His dear Son.
Romans 8:28-30 KJV
28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.
29 For whom He did foreknow*, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.
30 Moreover whom He did predestinate, them He also called: and whom He called, them He also justified: and whom He justified, them He also glorified.
*Foreknow- Greek- Proginosko (Prog-in-oce-ko): To know beforehand, i.e. foresee, foreknow, know before.
Dear friend, what has God seen regarding your life? It was God's intention, always that all men would be saved!
I Timothy 2:3,4 KJV
3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour;
4 Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.
Acts 2:21 KJV
And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Hebrews 12:14-17 KJV (Esau's rejection.)
14 Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:
15 Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;
16 Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. (Rejected God.)
17 For ye 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.
(Be sure to read the blog posting.... Predestination and Predestination-Election -Part II )
Salvation Prayer
