Why did God hate Esau?

[tooldtocare]

3. God loved Israel more than he loved edom (take Malachi in context, it was not spoken of kids but nations)

(Ezek 36:17KJV) Son of man, when the house of Israel dwelt in their own land,they defiled it by their ..own way and by their doings: their way wasbefore me as the uncleanness of a removed woman.

(Ezek 36:18 KJV)Wherefore I poured my fury upon them for the blood that they had shed upon the land, and for their idols wherewith they had polluted it.

(Ezek 36:22 KJV) Thereforesay unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; I do not this for your sakes, O house of Israel, but for mine holy name's sake, which ye have profaned among the heathen, whither ye went.

(Ezek 36:24 KJV) ForI will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land.

(Ezek 36:31 KJV) Then shall ye remember your own evil ways, and your doings that were not good,and shall loathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations.

(Ezek 36:32 KJV) Not for your sakes do I this, saith the Lord GOD, be it known unto you: be ashamed and confounded for your own ways, O house of Israel.

(Jer 24:9 KJV) AndI will deliver them to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth fortheir hurt, to be a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse, in allplaces whither I shall drive them.

 

[MarcR]

“Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares the Lord. “Yet I have loved Jacob, 3 but Esau I have hated, and I have turned his hill country into a wasteland and left his inheritance to the desert jackals.”
Malachi 1:2-3

Here is the prophet speaking Gods word, about the descendants of Esau and Jacob.

There is no explanation or justification of the difference in attitude, just that there
was one.

The Lord then goes on to then explain why He hates people and their approach to worship,
truth and morality. So Edom is a wicked place.
And the warning to Israel is that they too will be judged if they stay in this sin.

So God did not hate Esau but the people of Edom because of their behaviour.

Mal 1:4
4 Whereas Edom saith, We are impoverished, but we will return and build the desolate places; thus saith the Lord of hosts, They shall build, but I will throw down; and they shall call them, The border of wickedness, and, The people against whom the Lord hath indignation for ever.
KJV


Here we see God's true attitude toward Esau.

The Arabs who fire rockets into Israel killing random civilians and blow up stores and buses are descendants of Esau not Ishmael. The Ishmaelite Bedouins have consistently befriended Israel.

 

[Karraster]

Israel & Edom......Jacob & Esau....I see a remarkable resemblance to the division here in CC (i.e. family of God). It should give us all pause before we contribute to determine whether we are defending the faith or a contrived doctrine of man. The contrived doctrine of man comes from the sons of Esau, spiritually speaking.

Hi Unobtrusive, thanks so much for this thread! This is a big piece of the puzzle, eh? Wow.

 

[pottersclay]

Esau repersented a type of sin. Self gradifaction, allowing himself to be tricked. His blessings for a pot of stew. Jacob would stop at nothing for the blessing even a little trickery involved. But the Lord addresses the issue when he asks Jacob his name. Jacob (trickster). He then called him Israel (God contended).

 

[joefizz]

Hey bro, thanks for your response.

I got my view from research, the term "Hate" in the Hebrew is not literally "hate" but is better translated as "love less"

we see an example in the NT when jesus said if we do not hate our spouses, our parents and our kids, we can have no fellowship with him. Where he can not be telling us to hate anyone, he would be telling us to sin, WHat he is saying is we have to put God first above even them.

God had a special place in his heart for Israel. They have always been his love, In this aspect.WHile your right, God loves all the same, He did have a special relationship with Jacob, That is what is in focus here. Not that God hated anyone.

I hope this makes sense.

actually Jesus refers "Only" to his disciples not "Us",in the matter of forsaking all,the rest is quite accurate.

 

[joefizz]

what is wrong with Jacob? His brother was starving and he was eyeing up his inheritance... I know if I had a pot of soup going and my brother was hungry I would be saying eat up without cost

well there is quite a difference,the point is of their father's inheritance in that Esau didn't need to ask Jacob for food or water,he just decided to for the sake of being pitiable to Jacob sure the Bible says that Esau "was dieing" from starvation but remember he was a hunter his food was anything he killed,so he had plenty he simply wanted more though,and Jacob seeing this asked for his birthright since he was so insistent on "Jacob" feeding him with red pottage,it's one thing to "have nothing" or "be in need" but it's entirely another matter when one wants to not only get mere nourishment but be "served" as he was insisting upon Jacob doing,and then if you read later on Esau even attempted to steal what he had already giving to Jacob,"his inheritance" so what Jacob did only seems cruel if one doesn't look over "all the facts",Esau as well as Edom are particularly hated(disappointing to God or did not do right in the sight of God)because they didn't do as God would have had them do,Esau was prideful yet made himself pitiable unto Jacob,Edom thought themselves to be a proud tribe of people that wouldn't be bothered.
To the Op:Hated is used at times in the bible but it's not always a sense of that God was furious with the people in the Bible,like in Esau's case it says "Esau despised his birthright" and that God "hated Esau/Edom" but it's more of referring to that God clearly had great plans for Esau being Isaac's first born but Esau gave up his birthright so God more of said he "hated" Esau/Edom as in that he was upset with him and disappointed in him,yet he still cared for him.