Can God hate a baby? Did He?

David said....

Psalm 51:5 I know I’ve been a sinner ever since I was born.

    I’ve been a sinner ever since my mother became pregnant with me.

Yahweh said....

Malachi 1:2 “I loved Jacob, 3 but Esau I hated.”

Paul said....

Romans 9:1 I am speaking the truth in Christ, I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit, 2 that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen by race. 4 They are Israelites, and to them belong the sonship, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises; 5 to them belong the patriarchs, and of their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ. God who is over all be blessed forever. Amen.

6 But it is not as though the word of God had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, 7 and not all are children of Abraham because they are his descendants; but “Through Isaac shall your descendants be named.” 8 This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are reckoned as descendants. 9 For this is what the promise said, “About this time I will return and Sarah shall have a son.” 10 And not only so, but also when Rebecca had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, 11 though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad, in order that God’s purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of his call, 12 she was told, “The elder will serve the younger.” 13 As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”

I am glad we spoke about this today. Here’s some questions I have:

Did Paul lie?

Was Paul inspired by the Holy Spirit to speak this as truth, that God hated Esau before he was even born?

Did Paul claim this of his own volition and was not inspired by the Holy Spirit? If so, then Paul’s writings should be taken out of the Bible and we should only read the Gospels according to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John (including Revelation written by John).

No one wants to believe that God could do anything that we consider wrong. This reminds me of my aunt. For the longest time she did not believe that anyone would actually go to hell. She could not bring herself to believe that a loving and forgiving God would send any of His creation to burn for eternity. Then she read about the Passover when God killed the 1^st born of those who did not have the blood of the lamb on their doors. She was shocked and horrified to find this out. She had watched the 10 Commandments with Charlton Heston but she never comprehended that it was God who did the killing until she read the story herself. It shocked her that God did not stop the killing of the “innocent” babies when Moses was floated down the river. And that He didn’t stop the killings when all the babies were killed by King Herrod when he wanted to kill Yeshua. My aunt reluctantly came to the conclusion that when you live in a fallen world there’s some really messed up things that happen. In our own strength, to cope, we trick ourselves into believing lies to help us deal with the truth.

I never want to mislead people, only speak the truth. So, either the truth is that God has the capacity to hate a baby (regardless of His reason) or Paul is a liar (and God came to hate Esau later after he had sinned, giving Yahweh a reason to hate Esau).

Something to consider is that at the beginning of chapter 9, Paul defends himself by saying that that he’s speaking in truth and not lying. But whatever you decide to believe what God is capable of doing and not doing, when it comes down to it, no matter what God decides to do or not do, His actions/decisions are just and right and good.