WHY GOD HATED ESAU 

ROMANS 9
10 And not only this; but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac;
11 (For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;)
12 It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger.
13 As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.
14 What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid.

If you don't understand why God hated Esau, you would think that God is partial. But what baffles me in this situation is that the Word says that at a time when both Jacob and Esau had not yet done any good or evil, God said, "Esau I hate, Jacob I love." Note that when I talk about Jacob and Esau in this message I'm not just referring to single individuals, but to companies of people, for in many homes and institutions there are many Jacobs and Esaus. This message is therefore to help you fix yourself where you should belong.

Another thing that baffles me about this message is that we know that God is love, so how can He then turn around to say to one of two children (who is innocent), "I hate you." I feel that the God of love should at least have waited for Esau to transgress before saying, "I hate you." If you understand the depth of God's love this should surprise you. I can understand how God can hate the wicked, but how could He had hated Esau while he was yet innocent?

MALACHI 1
1 The burden of the word of the LORD to Israel by Malachi.
2 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,
3 And I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness.
4 Whereas Edom saith, We are impoverished, but we will return and build the desolate places; thus saith the LORD of hosts, They shall build, but I will throw down; and they shall call them, The border of wickedness, and, The people against whom the LORD hath indignation for ever.

God was telling the children of Israel, "Have I not loved you?" They were questioning God's love because they'd been in captivity and gotten into trouble several times, so they got to a point where they began to question God's love. There are people in church who say, "If God loves me why did this happen to me and why did that turn out to my disfavour?" But the circumstances of life that you face do not validate or invalidate God's love; because there are trying circumstances of life that God puts you through because of His love. So when the Israelites broke God's covenant, He allowed them to go into captivity to make an end of iniquity and to clear their transgression; so their captivity was God's means of bringing them back into His covenant so that they can enjoy His blessings. There are people who run to Jesus only when confronted with trouble.

So God asked the Israelites, "How can you say I don't love you? Was Esau not Jacob's brother, yet I loved your father (Jacob) and hated your brother (Esau)? And in my hatred of Esau I laid his mountains waste." Because of the hatred that God had for Esau he became the father of "the people against whom the Lord hath indignation for ever". That is to say that when you find a man God hates the final portion of that man's life is going to show that God hates that man.

There are two kinds of testimonies in life: the testimony of God's indignation and the testimony of God's mercy. The testimony of Esau is not just that God had indignation against him, but that that indignation is forever. There were times when God had indignation against Israel, but the difference between the indignation of God against Israel and that against Esau was that the indignation of God against Israel was limited in time, whereas His indignation against Esau was forever. Every time the indignation of God against Israel was over God would always give them double for their shame.

What did the indignation of God against Esau cost him? First, God laid his mountains waste for the dragons  (Mal. 1:3). What was Esau's mountain? His household and descendants. God laid Esau's heritage waste but laying them in the mouth of the dragon in the wilderness. What is the dragon? Satan the old serpent. Do you now find out why there are some people under some kind of demonic siege that can not be free? May God never put your mountain and your heritage in the mouth of the dragon. God took responsibility for Esau's plight; He said, "I did it!"  So as long as Esau wants his heritage he's going to have to go to the wilderness, and he's going to have to contend with the dragon in the wilderness. Now you can understand why when he's father wanted to bless him, Isaac said to him, "By your sword you would live," because he would have to fight the dragon for his livelihood. Then you begin to know why some people labour like elephants and eat like grasshoppers. Why must you struggle to near-death limits before you can eat? There is a place in God where bread does not come by the sword or struggle, but through favour. It is better to ride on the wings of God's favour than to fight for survival.

I trust God that by the power of the Spirit, if you've been under the curse of Esau that burden would be rolled away!

But what caused God to hate Esau? Is God a bad God? Something placed Esau in that trying situation. You say, "But Esau wasn't even yet born!" It's true, but we all existed in eternity before we were born into the world, so when God looks at you He knows the tendencies you're coming into the world with.

MALACHI 1
4 Whereas Edom saith, We are impoverished, but we will return and build the desolate places; thus saith the LORD of hosts, They shall build, but I will throw down; and they shall call them, The border of wickedness, and, The people against whom the LORD hath indignation for ever.

What does it mean to be impoverished? It means to be subject to suffering and poverty no matter what you do, or regardless of your academic qualifications. If you think that promotion comes by education you've missed it. Education is good because it gives you the platform to handle some opportunities, but until such opportunities come from God education would profit you nothing.

Edom (Esau) said, "We are impoverished, but we will return to build the desolate places." They were determined. They said, "We are struggling to survive, but we have the determination to rise up and build." Do you know that there are people that say that the key to success is pursuit. But if God does not bless your determination you would do nothing with it. Don't you know that  there are those who struggle and work better than you yet they have nothing to show for it. Why does God allow Satan to manipulate some people and doesn't allow him to manipulate others?

Esau had determination. He said, "We may be impoverished now, but we have determination and power, therefore we will arise and build." Hear what God answered to that: "They shall build, but I will throw down..." (Mal. 1:4). Can you imagine God saying in essence, "I am the supervisor of their misery"? God dared them to build, but promised that it would not be Satan who would throw down their buildings, but He Himself. Remember that God had said that He is the One that has the keys of David, and what He shuts no one can open, what He opens no one can shut. So if God throws down who can rebuild? He said of Esau, "I will not stop them from building; I would watch them build, but I would throw down their building as many times as they build it." Wasted labour! Do you see the portion of Esau? All because God had said, "I hate Esau."

Do you now know why some people have near-success syndrome? Everything they do nearly succeeds, but never succeeds! Every time they save money to embark on a major project something arises to drain that money and put them in debt. For some people until they have exhausted the money they have in their hands nothing else come in. May that stop being your portion, because you are not of the house of Esau. The joy of this is that since Jesus came there is free migration between the House of Esau and the House of Jacob, and it is the House of Jacob that would possess their possessions. So if you find yourself in the House of Esau today you can migrate to the House of Jacob through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Choose where you should be: the House of Esau or the House of Jacob. May the things that would make people think that God hates you stop happening around you. Rather let the things that would convince people that God loves you keep happening in your life.

When God was dealing with Jacob and Esau He was using them to teach that there are two kinds of people in the world and the church.

OBADIAH 1
17 But upon mount Zion shall be deliverance, and there shall be holiness; and the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions.
18 And the house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau for stubble, and they shall kindle in them, and devour them; and there shall not be any remaining of the house of Esau; for the LORD hath spoken it.

Why did God institute deliverance upon Mount Zion? Because it is in the House of Jacob, and deliverance is of the House of Jacob. It doesn't matter how much the devil has trapped you in the House of Esau, if you choose to move over to the House of Jacob be sure that deliverance awaits you there. Moreso, the blessing on the House of Jacob is one that runs from generation to generation; the blessings that God has given to you would flow down to you children, and that in a greater measure.

The House of Esau has been sentenced to perpetual defeat, whereas the House of Jacob has been sentenced to perpetual blessings.

But why did God hate Esau so much to have given him this kind of sentence? It is important for you to know this, because if you do the same thing Esau did, God would hate you as He hated Esau.

HEBREWS 12:14-17
14 Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:
15 Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;
16 Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.
17 For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.

In verse 15 Paul tells us about failing of the grace of God, which means that grace can be available but people can fail of that grace. Just as Isaac carried the blessing of Abraham, but of the two children from his loins one carried the blessing but the other didn't. Why? Because the one who didn't carry the blessing (Esau) failed of the grace of God. Looking at verse 16 shows you that God puts the fornicator or profane person AS ESAU, which means that if fornication is failing from God's grace, Esau had fallen from God's grace.

What did Esau do? He sold his birthright for one morsel of meat, and the Bible says that later when he would have inherited the blessing he was rejected although he sought it with tears. My question is, did Isaac reject giving Esau the blessing? No! Isaac wanted to give Esau the blessing, so who rejected him? It wasn't his father, because his father did his best to give it to him, but everything his father tried failed because from Heaven Esau had been rejected. When God rejects you even the President can't help you. The wiles of your enemies against you are effective only because God has already rejected you.

Do you know the grace that was made available to Esau? First, he was born in the House of Isaac, which gave him the opportunity to inherit the blessing. Secondly, he was the firstborn of Isaac according to the flesh, which made him a direct heir to the blessing. Even if God hated Esau God still gave him the grace of the firstborn to show him that he would still fail in spite of his advantage here. So one day Esau was hungry and he went hunting with the animal he had killed, went to the kitchen and saw red porridge in the pot and lost all self-control. (When Esau was born he was red and hairy, and his red nature made him love red porridge whereas his hairy nature made him love bush animals). The porridge belonged to Jacob, so when Esau indicated interest in the porridge Jacob said to him, "There is something you have I'd always been looking for, and that is your position as firstborn." Why did Jacob want this position? Because he wanted the grace of God and he knew that you can only be anything as God gives you grace. So Jacob told Esau, "If you want the porridge give me your birthright." The Bible says Esau had said, "What good would this birthright do me?" and handed it over to Jacob.

Nothing would go wrong if you don't satisfy the desires of the flesh. God created man with the ability to live for at least forty days without food; the pangs of hunger may pinch and pain you, but it would not kill you. But many people think when hungry, "If I don't eat now I would die." And that is the way fornicators reason. So the Bible compares Esau with fornicators and the profane because the spirit of gluttony and fornication operate on the same principle. If Esau had only just waited for a while his mother would have prepared dinner for him. For fornicators lust is an insatiable sexual appetite that cannot wait. Esau gave away his birthright at a whims notice. He ate the porridge and despised his birthright.

What his birthright? It is the right you have to be born where you were born in a family. It is the death of Jesus on the Cross and the blood that He shed for you; the sacrifice of His own life that He gave for you. When you meddle with sin you're like Esau -- despising your birthright. So God despised Esau because he was vain. What do I mean? First a profane person is one who does not have any regard for spiritual things. Esau had no regard for his birthright.

You can begin to understand if you have the spirit of Esau by your likes and dislikes or your priority scale in life. Some people would rather attend a birthday party than a church service. Esau and Jacob were not yet born, but God knew their interests beforehand. He knew that Esau would be ready to give up his birthright (a spiritual thing) for a plate of porridge (a carnal thing), whereas Isaac would be willing to give up his plate of porridge for Esau's birthright. Esau readily gave up the things of God for the things of the world. What can you give up for what? I have come to know that God judges beyond our actions into the areas of our motives. Why do you do the things you do? What is that thing that makes you able to sit down for two hours to watch a movie, but you can't sit down for forty minutes to listen to a preacher.

Esau was a vain person because he had no value for the things that mattered most to him in life. Why is it that many people spend so much time to dress for a church service but no time at all to pray for that service? Why is that you spend so much money to buy clothes to wear to church yet you can't invest in a good Bible? Esau loved the things that gave the flesh satisfaction.

Isn't it strange that God would look at Esau who had done no wrong yet and say "I hate you" and then turn around to Jacob who from the womb had been trying to cheat his brother of his birthright and say "I love you"? God loved Jacob because He saw beyond Jacob's cheat nature; Jacob was looking for something spiritual and valuable. So Jacob was aiming for something that impressed God. Jacob was aiming for that which God gives, whereas Esau was aiming for that which any man can give. Jacob was connected to God but was pursuing God's blessing the wrong way, yet his aim impressed God. What Jacob wanted was spiritual, but what Esau wanted was carnal. The man who wants a spiritual thing can submit to God, but the man who wants carnal things would submit to Satan. That's why God hated Esau.

May God never hate you, because when God hates someone his would be a life of fruitless struggles and hard work. The good news however is that through Jesus Christ our Lord you can migrate from the House of Esau to the House of Jacob if you want to.

God bless you.