Sunday, July 7, 2019

GOD HATED ESAU

I put up a post on my whatsapp status last week on the need not to give up. A very good brother of mine saw it and responded with some questions which I also have had to grapple with at some point in my Christian journey. And I must confess, I didn’t really have an answer to some of these but just knew there is more to what some experiences look like.



He wanted to know if our actions or works really matter to making it in life. He is confused about everything already being pre-destined by God. So, he quoted from the book of Romans chapter nine which actually is the story of Jacob and Esau; detailing God’s verdict on the two, even before they came to the world. So, the question is, since these things have already been determined by God, do our actions really matter despite God’s predetermined decision?





Let’s start from the case of Jacob and Esau. Why would God hate Esau and love Jacob even without the duo having done anything? So, does it mean whatever any of them do afterwards wouldn’t matter and does this not make God unfair? Let’s clear the case of hate in this event first.



The scripture records that God is love. And we also saw that in Christ is the express image of God. Christ was all about with the message of love. Love gave birth to the gift of salvation to the world. So, why would such a God hate a man who was even yet to set his feet on the earth?



What does it really mean that God hates Esau?



“it was said to her, “The older shall serve the younger.” As it is written, ‘Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated” Rom 9:12-13



This scripture was quoted from the Old Testament; the book of Malachi. The original text was in Hebrew. The English translation of the word hate is to feel intense dislike for. This is a definition which signifies a show of emotion. The word “hate” however as used on different occasion is context based and not at all times referring to a feeling of emotion. If it meant what the English language called it, an intense dislike, then there is a problem with the scripture to have made us see that the same God loved the world so much that He gave his only begotten Son to be a sacrifice for it. This makes it clear that there is more to the use of the word “hate” as it is being used in this context.



Let’s look at the usage of the word hate…

“And when the Lord saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb: but Rachel was barren.” Gen 29:31


The scripture above stems from how Jacob had worked for seven years hoping to be given Rachel for a wife but ended up with Leah. Rachel was his choice, who he had desired to have a life with but he was given Leah first. The hatred for Leah isn’t the English definition of “hate”; it was a simple expression of choice. He preferred to have Rachel. He could have decided not to have any intercourse with Leah after the first encounter. However, he still went on performing his right as a husband to her. The word “hate” in this context isn’t to intensely dislike but to be less preferred.


The Hebrew “sane” which is what is translated as “hate” in English language is the opposite of love which could mean “non-election”. According to Samson Hirsch, a Hebrew master and linguist, it means rejection. So, its contrast with love is not intense dislike but of “choice”.



Now, just the same way Jacob had a plan of what he wanted, there is a plan of God for every life and that is His prerogative as a sovereign God. In His agenda, He decides who will be in a particular plan He has designed. There was an agenda for who was going to be the heir to Abraham. God had Isaac in mind when He named Abraham as the father of many nations. Ishmael had no offence but he wasn’t the one that has been named in the covenant. There are men chosen for specific assignment.



When David wanted to build God a temple, God stopped Him because the person on the plan was Solomon. It didn’t mean David was not loved, he was just not accepted to carry out that particular assignment.



God hated Esau and loved Jacob can as well be rephrased as, “God rejecting Esau from the plan He had for who will continue to ensure the covenant is preserved”. If you observe so well, the blessings Jacob received wasn’t in possessions but was in the covenant transferred to him through words. Eventually Esau was blessed in materials but was not in the covenant that God had made with Abraham. That was God’s prerogative.



“But Esau said, “I have enough, my brother, keep what you have for yourself” Gen33:9
God does not have hate (intense dislike) for any of His creatures; it is in the context of His plans that he chooses who He wills for different tasks.


Hope you understand this?


I am trusting God to help us go further to seeing if what we do then doesn’t matter since God already has all planned out. It may mean despite our work and struggle we will still be all He has designed, so why work?

God loves you.


Be Innovated
Olufemi Ibitoye

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