12:16 Esau. It is remarkable that so many Christians are quick to defend Esau and rebuke Jacob, when God has done neither. Esau was a profane fornicator, with no redeeming qualities whatever, caring nothing about the spiritual significance and responsibilities of the patriarchal birthright, until he thought its loss might diminish his inherited wealth. “I loved Jacob, and I hated Esau”; this was God’s evaluation of the two men and their descendants (Malachi 1:2-3). See notes on Genesis 26–27.