Texts in Conversation
Romans says God chose Jacob over Esau before the twins were born, so the choice did not depend on what either of them did. Jubilees interprets them in the opposite way, with Isaac rejecting Esau because his conduct had become violent and godless.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Jubilees 35:13
Pseudepigrapha
12 ‘He is behaving bitterly toward you due to the fact that you blessed your perfect and true son Jacob since he has virtue only, no evil. From the time he came from Haran until today he has not deprived us of anything but he always brings us everything in its season. He is wholeheartedly happy when we accept anything from him, and he blesses us. He has not separated from us from the day he came from Haran until today. He has continually been living with us at home all the while honoring us.’ 13 Isaac said to her: ‘I, too, know and see the actions of Jacob who is with us — that he wholeheartedly honors us. At first I did love Esau more than Jacob, after he was born; but now I love Jacob more than Esau because he has done so many bad things and lacks the ability to do what is right. For the entire way he acts is characterized by injustice and violence and there is no justice about him.’ 14 ‘Now my mind is disturbed about his actions. Neither he nor his descendants are to be saved because they will be destroyed from the earth and be uprooted from beneath the sky. For he has abandoned the God of Abraham and has gone after his wives, after impurity, and after their errors — he and his sons.’ 15 ‘You are saying to me that I should make him swear not to kill his brother Jacob. Even if he does swear, it will not happen. He will not do what is virtuous but rather what is evil.’
Romans 9:13
New Testament
10 Not only that, but when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our ancestor Isaac— 11 even before they were born or had done anything good or bad (so that God’s purpose in election would stand, not by works but by his calling)— 12 it was said to her, “The older will serve the younger,” 13 just as it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.” 14 What shall we say then? Is there injustice with God? Absolutely not!
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Notes and References
... The texts we have surveyed from Jubilees so far make it clear that Jacob was chosen as the covenant heir because of his goodness and that Esau was rejected because of his wickedness, at least from the human side, which very likely is to be thought of as the divine perspective because of the godly individuals who articulate this viewpoint. Be that as it may, one final passage for our consideration does unquestionably give the corroborating divine perspective. Jubilees 15.30 tells us, 'For the Lord did not draw Ishmael and his sons and his brothers and Esau near to himself, and he did not elect them because they are the sons of Abraham, for he knew them. But he chose Israel that they might be a people for himself'. It is apparently the Lord's knowledge of Esau's character as wicked that served as the basis for his covenantal rejection of him. ...
Abasciano, Brian J.
Paul's Use of the Old Testament in Romans 9.10-18: An Intertextual and Theological Exegesis
(pp. 24-25) T&T Clark, 2011
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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