Malachi 1 Footnotes

The word “hate” in the Bible does not always carry the same sense of antipathy and disgust associated with the English expression; it can mean simply to favor someone else with special privilege or devotion. In that sense, the Lord’s “hatred” of Esau was only the other side of his loyalty to his covenant with Israel. Paul quoted vv. 2-3 with that meaning in Rm 9:13 as an illustration of the Lord’s mercy and compassion on whomever he chooses to bestow them (Rm 9:15). Nevertheless, in the circumstances of the Jews’ return from exile, the hostility of the Edomites seems to have reached another level, provoking Malachi to call them “the people the LORD has cursed forever” (1:4).