The Scripture behind the Scripture

Jacob Have I Loved

Malachi 1:2 records God saying, I have loved Jacob, and hated Esau. Paul cites it in Romans 9:13 within his argument about God's sovereign election.

“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,”Malachi 1:2

“As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.”Romans 9:13

In its own place

In its own place. Malachi addresses the postexilic community in Judah, a people grown doubtful of God's love amid disappointment and hardship. The book opens with God declaring his love, I have loved you, saith the Lord, and the people cynically asking, Wherein hast thou loved us? God answers, Was not Esau Jacob's brother? yet I loved Jacob, and I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste. In its original setting this is God's reassurance of his covenant love for Israel, the descendants of Jacob, demonstrated by contrast with Edom, the descendants of Esau. The language of loving Jacob and hating Esau speaks primarily of God's choice of one nation over the other for covenant purposes, and of the differing histories that followed, Israel restored after exile while Edom lay desolate. In the idiom of the time, to love and to hate in such covenant contexts often conveys choosing and not choosing, preferring one for a purpose rather than expressing personal malice. Malachi points to the historical fact that God set his covenant love on Jacob's line and that Edom had come under judgment, as evidence that God's love for Israel was real and enduring, even when the people doubted it. The passage aims to rekindle Israel's confidence in the God who chose them.

Where the New Testament takes it up

This is a direct quotation, used by Paul in his profound discussion of God's electing purpose. In Romans 9, wrestling with why many in Israel had not embraced the gospel, Paul argues that God's word has not failed, because not all descended from Israel are truly Israel, and that God's promise works through his sovereign choice. He points to Jacob and Esau, noting that before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad, so that God's purpose according to election might stand, it was said that the elder would serve the younger, and then he quotes Malachi, As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. Paul follows the Greek text. He uses the verse to show that God's choice does not rest on human works or birthright but on his own sovereign will and mercy. Paul presses the point further than Malachi's national contrast, applying it to God's freedom in showing mercy, and he anticipates the objection of unfairness, answering that God has mercy on whom he will. Interpreters differ on how far Paul extends the language toward individual or eternal destiny versus God's purposes in salvation history, and Christians hold varying views, but Paul's central claim is clear, that God's saving purpose depends on his gracious choice and not on human merit or ancestry.