God's Love for Jacob

    There is an old anecdote about this passage which puts it in its proper perspective. The story goes that a skeptic approached a Christian with a sneer that the Bible could not be true because of this passage, "Esau have I hated." The skeptic said, "Imagine that in the Bible, spoken about a God who is said to be love!" The Christian replied that there was, indeed, a great difficulty in the verses, and the skeptic complimented him on his willingness to admit it. "But," replied the Christian, "there is no difficulty at all in the phrase you have quoted. Esau was a hateful sinner, and we couldn't have much respect for a God who would love him in his unchanged condition. God in His justice must find an Esau hateful. The great difficulty lies in the preceding phrase, 'Jacob have I loved;' for Jacob was a liar and a swindler; and the fact that God could manifest love toward him constitutes our real problem. This can only be understood in the light of the death of Jesus Christ. There is truly a great problem! That God loved Jacob is a wonder surpassed only by the fact that God loved me!