Esau was full of the manliest interests and occupations and pursuits. He was a very proverb of courage and endurance and success in the chase. He was the ruggedest, the brawniest, and the shaggiest of all the rugged, brawny, and shaggy creatures of the field and of the forest, among whom he lived and died. Esau had an eye like an eagle. His ear never slept. His foot took the firmest hold of the ground. And his hand was always full both of skill, and strength, and success. Esau’s arrow never missed its mark. He was the pride of all the encampment as he came home at night with his traps, and his snares, and his bows, and his arrows, and laden to the earth with venison for his father’s supper. Burned black with the sun; beaten hard and dry with the wind; a prince of men; a prime favourite both with men, and women, and children, and with a good word and a good gift from the field for them all.

But the question is, does this refer to Esau’s entire life? Is it his life epitaph? Or does it apply to the event early in his life when he sold his birthright and lost his blessing—a time when his life was characterized by immorality and unholy conduct—a period in which he acquired his Canaanite and Ishmaelite wives—a graceless time in his life? As to the famous statement quoted in Romans 9:13, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated,” which Paul uses to illustrate God’s sovereign choice (particular, individual election) of Jacob over Esau, it must be remembered that it is a quotation from Malachi 1:2, 3, which is a centuries-later oracle of judgment against the Edomites for their abuse of Israel. In Genesis 33 there is no acrimony but rather forgiveness and mutual love and affection. And the brothers stood in solidarity at their father’s death (35:29). One day the second table of the law would be summed up by the call to love your neighbor as you love yourself (cf. Leviticus 19:18), and here Esau appeared to be doing just that. Perhaps it was because he had first come to love God—and grace was effectual.