For thou lovest all the things that are, and abhorrest nothing which thou hast made: for never wouldest thou have made any thing, if thou hadst hated it.
All Commentaries on Wisdom of Solomon 11:24 Go To Wisdom of Solomon 11
Augustine of Hippo
AD 430
We must try, with God"s help, to reconcile the truth of this text, "You despise nothing that you have made," with that other, "I loved Jacob and hated Esau." If, in fact, God hated Esau, because he was made as a vessel for common use, and the same potter made a vessel for noble use and another for common use, how can it be that "you despise nothing that you have created"? He in fact hates Esau, whom he himself made for common use. This difficulty is resolved bearing in mind that God is the creator of all creatures. Now, every one of God"s creatures is good, and every person is a creature"as a person, not as a sinner. God is therefore the creator of the body and the soul of the person. Neither of these two realities is evil, and God does not hate them, since he hates nothing that he has created. Now the soul is superior to the body. But God, author and creator of both, hates only sin in human beings. A person"s sin is disorder and perversion, that is, separation from the supreme Creator and attachment to inferior creatures. Therefore God does not hate Esau the man but Esau the sinner.
