Malachi 1:2,3 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

Yet I loved Jacob, &c.— These words are not to be taken according to modern ideas; for in Scripture, when love and hatred are spoken of God, are set in opposition to each other, and applied to his dispensations towards particular people, the propositions are not to be understood separate, but are to be taken together; and they will then only imply a preference of one to the other, or that he loved Esau less than Jacob, or shewed him less favour, when he gave him and his posterity the desert mountains, and Jacob and his sons a land flowing with milk and honey; for God is the supreme arbiter of his own gifts. St. Paul accommodates the present sentence to his subject, Romans 9:13 proving by this example that God hath mercy, or shews his distinguished favour to whom he will, and in like manner withholds it. The reader will observe, that this is not spoken of Esau and Jacob personally, but of their posterity. Houbigant renders the latter part of Malachi 1:3. And made his mountains desert, and his inheritance the habitations of the wilderness.