he border of Israel."
The plural pronouns used, "we," "us," "ye," "they," and the term
"people," prove that the prophet was speaking, not of the man
"Jacob," nor of the man "Esau," but of the respective peoples which
had descended from them. Look now at the word "loved." It has been
taken to mean God's electing love. But if this were so, then it will
follow that all the Jewish people would be saved. And if so, why was
it that Paul was so distressed about them, as he says, in the first
part of the chapter, that he was? He had great "heaviness and
continual sorrow" regarding the spiritual state of his countrymen;
but if they were unconditionally elected to eternal life, then Paul
was certainly carrying a useless burden. The "love" spoken of was
representative of God's kindness in bestowing upon the people Jacob
the privilege of being the Messianic people. The word "hated" will
thus signify, as the opposite of "loved," that the people Esau might
be said (from a certain standpoint) to be "hated;" that is, "less
loved" in comparison with the favour bestowed upon the people Jacob.
This meaning is in harmony with Hebrew idiom. The words "loved" and
"hated" are used in a relative sense. Christ says, "If any man come
to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children,
and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be
my disciple" (Luke xiv. 26). This passage throws an important light
on the subject. No one will contend that Christ meant that we should
hate our parents. He simply brings before us this truth, that we
were to love Him above all relatives; but the use of the term "hate"
by Him takes it out of the category of the absolute, and places it
in the relative. And this must be its meaning as used by Paul. If
not, if it means that the race of Esau has been reprobated, then
there is no Gospel for them, and Christ's command to preach the
Gospel to every creature must be limited. To send a missionary to
the Arabs would be absurd if this doctrine is true. Thank God it is
not so.

The Jews took up the position that they must be saved; that they did
not need the Gospel; that being Abraham's seed they could not
possibly be damned. Paul felt deeply grieved with respect to the
position they occupied, and sought to dislodge them from it. "As to
the fine logic of his argument, bear in mind that he has been
proving in the preceding context that the lineal descent of the Jews
from the patriarch Abraham