11 The burden of the word of Jehovah to Israel by Malachi. 2 I have loved you, saith Jehovah; but ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother? saith Jehovah, and I loved Jacob, 3 and I hated Esau; and made his mountains a desolation, and [gave] his inheritance to the jackals of the wilderness. 4 If Edom say, We are broken down, but we will build again the ruined places,—thus saith Jehovah of hosts: They shall build, but I will throw down; and [men] shall call them the territory of wickedness, and the people against whom Jehovah hath indignation for ever.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Malachi 1:1-4
Commentary on Malachi 1:1-5
(Read Malachi 1:1-5)
All advantages, either as to outward circumstances, or spiritual privileges, come from the free love of God, who makes one to differ from another. All the evils sinners feel and fear, are the just recompence of their crimes, while all their hopes and comforts are from the unmerited mercy of the Lord. He chose his people that they might be holy. If we love him, it is because he has first loved us; yet we all are prone to undervalue the mercies of God, and to excuse our own offences.