Why does the Bible say God hated Esau?
The Bible's statement that God hated Esau is not absolute divine hatred, because God cannot hate and hate is sin. In context, 'hate' is a comparative term: His love for Jacob was so much greater than for Esau that by comparison it seemed like hatred.
Les explains that when Scripture uses the word 'hate' with respect to God, it is a comparative word. It does not mean God literally hated Esau as humans hate; it means His love for Jacob was so much greater than His love for Esau that it was as if it was almost hatred. He points out that God cannot hate, since hate is sin, so the term must be read in context as only a comparative expression. Les gives the illustration of Jesus' words about hating father and mother: it does not mean literal hatred of parents, but that love for the Lord should be so much greater than even for earthly parents that by comparison it is the difference between love and hate. Then in Genesis 27, Esau is using the word in the ordinary human sense: 'Esau hated Jacob.' That hatred, Les says, has lasted right up until today and is the crux of all the problems in the Middle East.
And I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness.