Malachi 1:3

Heritage - Allotment; possession.

And I hated Esau - I have shown him less love; Genesis 29:30, Genesis 29:31. I comparatively hated him by giving him an inferior lot. And now, I have not only laid waste the dwelling-place of the Edomites, by the incursions of their enemies; but (Malachi 1:4) they shall remain the perpetual monuments of my vengeance. On the subject of loving Jacob and hating Esau, see the notes on Genesis 27 (note), and Romans 9:13 (note). Let it be remembered,

1. That there is not a word spoken here concerning the eternal state of either Jacob or Esau.

2. That what is spoken concerns merely their earthly possessions. And,

3. That it does not concern the two brothers at all, but the posterity of each.

And I made his mountains a waste, and his heritage for the jackals of the wilderness - o

Malachi attests the first stage of fulfillment of Joel's prophecy (Joel 3:19, vol. i. pp. 214, 215), "Edom shall be a desolate wilderness." In temporal things, Esau's blessing was identical with Jacob's; "the fatness of the earth and of the dew of heaven from above;" and the rich soil on the terraces of its mountain-sides, though yielding nothing now except a wild beautiful vegetation, and its deep glens, attest what they once must have been, when artificially watered and cultivated. The first desolation must have been through Nebuchadnezzar , in his expedition against Egypt, when he subdued Moab and Ammon; and Edom lay in his way, as Jeremiah had foretold Jeremiah 25:9, Jeremiah 25:21.

1:3 I hated - I loved not Esau's posterity as I loved Jacob's.His heritage - Mount Seir with the neighbouring mountains.Waste - By Nebuchadnezzar's arms five years after the sacking of Jerusalem, and whereas Jacob's captivity returned, and their cities were rebuilt, Esau's never were. The dragons - Creatures which delight in desolate places, by which the utter desolation of Esau is signified.