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Malachi 1:3

Adam Clarke
Bible Commentary

And I hated Esau - I have shown him less love; Genesis 29:30, Genesis 29:31. I comparatively hated him by giving him an inferior lot. And now, I have not only laid waste the dwelling-place of the Edomites, by the incursions of their enemies; but ( Malachi 1:4;) they shall remain the perpetual monuments of my vengeance. On the subject of loving Jacob and hating Esau, see the notes on Genesis 27 (note), and Romans 9:13; (note). Let it be remembered,

  1. That there is not a word spoken here concerning the eternal state of either Jacob or Esau.
  • That what is spoken concerns merely their earthly possessions. And,
  • 3. That it does not concern the two brothers at all, but the posterity of each.

    Albert Barnes
    Notes on the Whole Bible

    And I made his mountains a waste, and his heritage for the jackals of the wilderness - o

    Malachi attests the first stage of fulfillment of Joel‘s prophecy (Joel 3:19, vol. i. pp. 214,215), “Edom shall be a desolate wilderness.” In temporal things, Esau‘s blessing was identical with Jacob‘s; “the fatness of the earth and of the dew of heaven from above;” and the rich soil on the terraces of its mountain-sides, though yielding nothing now except a wild beautiful vegetation, and its deep glens, attest what they once must have been, when artificially watered and cultivated. The first desolation must have been through Nebuchadnezzar, in his expedition against Egypt, when he subdued Moab and Ammon; and Edom lay in his way, as Jeremiah had foretold Jeremiah 25:9, Jeremiah 25:21.

    Matthew Henry
    Concise Bible Commentary
    All advantages, either as to outward circumstances, or spiritual privileges, come from the free love of God, who makes one to differ from another. All the evils sinners feel and fear, are the just recompence of their crimes, while all their hopes and comforts are from the unmerited mercy of the Lord. He chose his people that they might be holy. If we love him, it is because he has first loved us; yet we all are prone to undervalue the mercies of God, and to excuse our own offences.