re jacob and esau jek cu nih gov writes i wrote that the apostle paul in romans speaks of god as choosing jacob over esau and adds that this is not as a result of anything that either child had done since they had not been born yet it s my understanding that romans as it is written jacob have i loved but esau have i hated refers not to the two individuals but rather to their offspring the tribe of jacob and the tribe of esau see obadiah for example in fact if you scan through the ot you will find similar references to the two tribes aaron cardenas aaronc athena mit edu
