Does 'Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated' refer to individuals or nations?

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Whosoever Will · Accepted Answer

Whosoever Will, The Grammar of Romans: And the two Old Testament passages Paul quotes about Jacob and Esau are both about nations. The first one, before the twins are even born, says “two nations are in thy womb.” Four times in that one verse it says nations and peoples. And this is the fact that ends the individual reading. Esau the man never served Jacob the man. Between the two men it ran the other way. When they met again in Genesis 33, Jacob “bowed himself to the ground seven times” before Esau, called himself “thy servant,” and called Esau “my lord” five times in one conversation. The younger bowed to the elder. It was the nation Edom that served Israel, under David. The prophecy only came true at the level of nations. It cannot be about the two individuals, because at the individual level it never happened. The second, “Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated,” is from Malachi. And Malachi says in the very next verse that he means Edom. A whole nation. Addressed centuries after the man Esau was dead. Scripture, King James Version: Genesis 25:23, "And the LORD said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger."; Malachi 1:2-3, "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, And I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness."; Romans 9:13, "As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.".

Does 'Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated' refer to individuals or nations?

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