Romans 9:14-18

God chose Israel because He loved them AND because it fit His purpose (Deut. 7:6-8; Rom. 9:11).  If we understand God’s purpose throughout history we can see why He chose one nation.  What is God’s purpose in history?  It is revealed in Psalm 2 and referred to all throughout the Scriptures, even to the final chapters of Revelation.  God is exalting His Son to the place of Lord over all.  

Psalm 2 says that the Son would receive, from the Father, the nations as an inheritance and would rule over them.  The Son now sits at the Father’s right hand awaiting the completion of this subjection (Psalm 110:1; Heb. 1:1-3).  This “mystery” will be completed in the future (Rev. 10:7) at what Paul called “the fullness of the times” when God would “gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth” (Eph. 1:10).  This exaltation of the Son would come after His humiliation, His leaving the glory of heaven and coming to earth as a Man (Phil. 2:5-11).  This required one nation, one family, one lineage to be chosen through whom this would happen.  

Paul said God’s choice was not because Isaac was better than Ishmael or Jacob better than Esau.  God loved Jacob, and so He chose Jacob.  Thus, as Malachi said (Mal. 1:2-3 quoted in Rom. 9:13) God hated Esau.  Some take these words simply as they are.  Others relate it to the kind of hatred followers of Christ are to have for their parents in comparison with their love for Christ (Luke 14:26).  The fact that God so loved the world (John 3:16) indicates the latter explanation is more consistent with the nature of God.  Regardless of your view on that matter note that the question still has to do with God’s choice of one nation above others.  In choosing Jacob it meant Israel would receive many blessings that others would not receive (i.e. Rom. 9:4-5).  Of course it also meant Israel would be judged before other nations because God would require more of her.

So the question is, “Is God unrighteous for choosing one over the other without taking into account which one would have more good or evil” (9:14)?  The answer is “no” because God is free to choose the nation He wants (9:18).  Further He is also able to harden the heart of Pharaoh for His purpose in the formation of this nation in Egypt.  Clearly God hardened Pharaoh’s heart; numerous times we hear these words in the record (Exodus 1-15).  Remember too that the same record says that Pharaoh hardened his own heart.  These are not mutually exclusive nor is one to be favored over the other.  Both are true!  Remember how Esau refused to submit to Jacob according to God’s revealed plan (Gen. 25:20-34).  Likewise, remember that Pharaoh subjected the people Israel to terrible bondage, even requiring the killing of the male babies (Ex. 1).  God chose one nation that turned out to be a stiff-necked and rebellious nation.  This does not make God unrighteous.  As we will yet see in Rom. 9, Israel’s unrighteousness, like Esau’s and Pharaoh’s, was the result of unbelief.

Worship God today as the “righteous” One!