I Have Loved You Malachi 1:2

Malachi the prophet whose name means “my messenger” was given “the burden of the word of the LORD”. His prophecy was to be the last given for four hundred years before the coming of the Messiah Jesus. In chapter one and verse two Malachi begins to share what the LORD had to say to Israel through him where we read:

I have loved you, says the LORD. Yet you say, Where have you loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother? says the LORD: yet I loved Jacob,

The verse begins, “I have loved you, says the LORD.” The first words the Lord had for Israel was “I have loved you” which means “to desire, to breathe after and to delight in”. The Lord was passionate about His care, concern, and involvement with Israel, and before He gave them further instruction, God desired that they know His love for them.

The verse goes on to say, “Where have you loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother? says the LORD:” Israel's response to the Lord's love was to question it, “Where have you loved us?” Like so many to whom the Lord has expressed His love, the Israelites questioned whether God loved them at all. The Lord's response to them through Malachi is an interesting one as God basically carries the whole discussion and answers them with this question - “Was not Esau Jacob's brother?” The Lord reminded them of His selection of them over their “brother” Esau.

Finally the verse says, “ yet I loved Jacob,”. The Lord gives emphasis to His selection of them historically by repeating “I loved Jacob”. Malachi added the Lord's word “yet” which means “over and above, beyond, in greater acceptance and importance”. Though the opportunity for loving Esau was available to the Lord, He chose to love “Jacob” over “Esau”.

When we consider the Lord's words through the prophet Malachi, we may be inclined to think, “That's not fair for the Lord to love one brother over the other”. However, the Lord has the advantage of seeing into the future and knowing who would ultimately love Him in return. Esau turned his back upon the Lord and kept it turned. “Jacob”, or “Israel” had times where they turned their backs upon the Lord, but they came back. God loved “Israel”, and when someone is loved, they are cared for enough to share the truth with them. God loves us, and through the words of Malachi we will learn His truth for our lives. The basis for all that will come in the verses ahead must be the love of the Lord. Israel needed to know the Lord loved them, and we need to know the Lord loves us too. May He reveal His love to us over and over again as we consider the words of Malachi which are just ahead.

Next time we see God speaking directly about Esau and what happened to them, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.

Until tomorrow...there is more...

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