Malachi 1:1-5. "I have loved you" says the Lord. But the people ask for proof of his love "How has thou loved us?" So God says look at the land of Edom, the land established by Esau. Was not Esau Jacob's brother? But God chose Jacob and not Esau and Esau's land has been destroyed. "I have laid waste his hill country and left his heritage to jackals." When Esau's people say "we will rebuild," God will just tear it down again. They are people with whom the Lord is angry forever. When God's people see this, they will realize God's love and proclaim his greatness.

This seems so harsh - Esau was cheated out of his inheritance by Jacob and now his land and his people are cursed by God and God uses that as an example of his love for Jacob's descendants, his chosen people! God is so unfathomable to us. His ways are most definitely not our ways. So while this seems unfair to us, we have to remember that we do not know everything about Esau and the people of Edom that God does. There is a reason for everything he permits and everything he does and his reasons are always good.

Also, we can read this as a way of seeing his love for his Church. The Church is now God's chosen people, and we are all called to it - every single person is welcome in Christ's Church. But those who willfully stay away, who refuse to come to him and instead try to build and rebuild their own havens according to their own rules will be constantly thwarted. God will destroy their efforts because the things they are building are, essentially, idols - comforting earthly shelters that keep them from coming into the Church.

So all of our institutions and our governments are subjects to this fate of Edom. When they become something turned away from God and offering an alternative to his Church and his teaching they will be destroyed. We can try to rebuild them all we want, but he will just destroy them again until we wake up and put him first.