called Jacob to be the superior, Esau to be the servant : comp, ver. 25.
12. Auttj, to her) It was often foretold to mothers before con- ception or birth, what would happen to their sons. — on 6 — sXdo- oovi) Gen. xxv. 23, lxx., aa/ 6 — sXd<r<fovi. — 6 /xs'i^wv) the elder, who, it might be reasonably thought, should command, as the younger should obey. — dovXsvtzi, shall serve) and yet not so for ever, Gen. xxvii. 40.
13. Ka0wc, as) The word spoken by Malachi, at a period so
long subsequent, agrees with that spoken in Genesis. — rov 'luxd& riydftritia x.r.X.) Mai. i. 2, LXX., rov ’laxojfi z.r.X. — rjydrrrioa,
— I have loved — I have hated) The reference is not to the spiritual state of each of the two brothers : but the external con- dition of Jacob and Esau, in like manner as the corporeal birth of Isaac is a type of spiritual things, ver. 9. All Israelites are not saved, and all Edomites are not damned. But Paul inti- mates, that as there was a difference between the sons of Abra- ham and Isaac, so there was a difference among the posterity of Israel. So far has he demonstrated what he purposed ; he in the next place introduces an objection, and refutes it ; f/jideiv properly signifies to hate , nay, to hate greatly. See Mai. i. 4, at the end.
14. T/ ouv, what then ?) Can we then on this ground be accused of charging God with unrighteousness and iniquity by this as- sertion ? By no means ; for what we assert is the irrefragable assertion of God ; see the following verse. — ykoiro, God for- hid) The Jews thought, that they could by no means be rejected by God ; that the Gentiles could by no means be received. As therefore an honest man acts even with greater severity \_dnoro[i'icf\ towards those who are harshly and spitefully importunate, than he really feels (that he may defend his own rights, and those of his patron, and may not at an unseasonable time betray and cast away his character for liberality) so Paul defends the power and justice of God against the Israelites, who trusted to their mere name and their own merits ; and on this subject, he sometimes uses those appropriate phrases, to which he seems to have been accustomed in former times in the school of the Pharisees. This is his language : No man can prescribe anything to the Lord God , nor demand and somewhat insolently extort anything from Him as