God says in Romans 5:13, "Jacob I love and Esau I hate." Did God really hate Esau? Yes—but only relative to His love of Jacob. But wasn't God the One Who made Esau hateful in the first
place? Yes, and it is entirely appropriate to hate someone who is hateful—never mind the fact that God made Esau that way; God's unique problem is that He is running all events and all people of all time in accord with the counsel of His own will (Ephesians 1:11). But if He's going to enter into His own production to help those who are NOT running all things in accord with the counsel of their own will, then this is how it has to be, and in fact how it MUST be: God judges those whom He Himself
hardens.
