Malachi 1:2

"I have loved you, saith Jehovah. Yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother? saith Jehovah: yet I loved Jacob; but Esau I hated, and made his mountain a desolation, and gave his heritage to the jackals of the wilderness."

"I have loved you, saith Jehovah ..." What does this mean? Does it carry the affirmation mentioned by Lewis? "The prophet writes to encourage the people by affirming that GOD STILL LOVES ISRAEL (caps added)."[5] In these verses, "The prophet shows that Jehovah still loves Israel."[6] "The tense of the verb indicates not only a love that has operated in the past, but is also in effect at the present."[7] Regardless of the basic truth that God loves all mankind, and with due deference to the learned men whose opinions we have just cited, it must be pointed out that this text simply does not say the things it is alleged to mean. Mitchell went further and stated that, "It was not a new idea in any sense, but had been the accepted teaching regarding Jehovah's attitude toward his own people for centuries."[8] Mitchell, however, overlooked the stern declarations of Hosea 9, where the great Merciful God told Israel:

"Your iniquity has never for a moment ceased ... Therefore I hate you ... and I shall not love you any more ... your nation is rotten root and branch ... I your God do cast you away (Hosea 9:15,16)."

We receive such declarations as being also the Word of God, even as we do all the rest of the Bible; and it is our unwavering conviction that the light of a couple of hundred other such declarations as that just cited in Hosea certainly casts some additional light upon what is actually meant by "I have loved you" (past tense). All of us are tempted to go right on reading into the Bible what we think is there, whether it is or not.

We do not dare to believe God's undying love for fleshly Israel is in this passage at all. Therefore, the only sense in which we can accept it as a pledge of God's undying love, operative in the future as well as in the present and in the past, is by understanding the "Israel" here as spiritual Israel, some of whom most certainly were among Malachi's hearers.

Something else: The stress of Israel's fleshly and racial relationships in the same passage naturally brings that Israel into focus; but it is nullified by the example of God's love given in the same passage. Did God here stress any of the special promises of the covenant? No! As McFadyen said:

"The proof the prophet offers them of the love of God is as unlovely as it could be: it is that, "I hated Esau" Edom (Genesis 36:1); and the proof of that again is that Edom's mountainous land had been recently devastated!"[9]

These considerations make us certain that God was not here affirming any thing at all with reference to his love for the secular state or fleshly race of the Jews. What God said is, "I have loved you"; and that was profoundly true, as indicated by countless preferences and blessings bestowed upon the Jews, whereas the Edomites, in the fleshly sense, were as fully entitled to the very same preferences as were the people called Jews. At this point in history, the old Israel had already run its course; and the focus of prophecy in this very Book of Malachi looked to the new era when God would marry another Israel, the Church of Jesus Christ.

"I loved Jacob, but Esau I hated ..." For ages, theologians have been involved in disputes relative to what they call "election," and concerning which subject many wild and irresponsible things have been written. The apostle Paul quoted this passage in Romans 9:10-13, in which chapter surfaces several theological mountains: Foreknowledge, Predestination, Election, etc. We have written extensively upon these topics in our New Testament series, Commentary on Romans, pp. 337ff; and those who might be interested in a further pursuit of these topics may find it there. We shall cite, however, a few basics here:

This choice between Jacob and Esau had nothing at all to do with individuals, but concerned whole nations of people. "The selection of Jacob was the selection of a people rather than an individual."[10]

There is no problem here over what God did, but only with the reasons men suppose that God had for doing it. Although we have not received any insight regarding those reasons in the Bible, it must be allowed as a fact that "the foreknowledge of God" would have provided the Father with a righteous basis for making his decision. Certainly we may reject the notion that "Esau was discriminated against and made to serve his brother through no fault of his own."[11] We may be absolutely sure that God's decisions were righteous and that they were not capricious.

Furthermore, the eternal destiny of Jacob or Esau is not connected in any way with what is written here. This passage in Malachi was written centuries after Isaac's twins were born; and it was the posterity of those brothers concerning which the prophet wrote.

The argument of Malachi is simple enough. If the Jews cannot think of any reason to believe that God has loved them, let them look about them. Both Israel and Esau (Edom) had sinned; and both had been severely punished; but Israel had been privileged to return to their homeland in the person of the remnant, whereas Esau would continue to suffer judgment until he was destroyed from the earth. God's judgment upon nations that forget God has continually been revealed throughout human history. As Gailey said:

"With a wider vision of history, the contemporary Christian should be able to provide himself with far more satisfactory evidence of the love of God."[12]

"Hated Esau ..." Many have pointed out that the word "hate" as used in the Bible has a meaning of "to love less" (See Genesis 24:23); but Keil was sure that it did not have that softened application here. "The complete desolation of the Edomitish territory is here cited as proof of this hatred";[13] is and from this, we may ascertain what is meant.

From this it is clear that the very example of God's love cited by Malachi was calculated to strike awe and apprehension into the heart of the hearer. This is in complete harmony with the whole prophecy, which, as Keil said, "is condemnatory throughout."[14]

The destruction of Edom mentioned in Malachi 1:3 had evidently occurred recently enough for Malachi to have accepted it as an example fresh in memory; but nothing is known of the exact events that may have been the object of his reference. Throughout history, Edom suffered many defeats and eventually perished from the earth as a separate people. Their wickedness was very great as detailed by the prophet Amos (Amos 1:11-12).