Romans 9:12

Romans 9:12. It was said unto her. Genesis 25:23; here cited, quite closely, from the Septuagint

The elder shall serve the younger; lit., ‘the greater shall serve the less.' As spoken to Rebecca, this language referred not only to the twin children, but to the nations springing from them respectively (Genesis 25:23: ‘two nations are in thy womb'). Hence it seems best to accept here both the national and personal reference. The former is required by the citation from Malachi (see Romans 9:13), but the latter is necessary to give point to the argument of the Apostle. As respects the nations, the prophecy was fulfilled in the days of David, who conquered the Edomites (2 Samuel 8:14), but how unlikely that Paul would, in this connection, separate the nations from their respective ancestors, especially when the prophecy became a fact in the history of the two brothers themselves; comp. Genesis 27:29; Genesis 27:37; Genesis 27:40. Eternal results in the case of these persons are not involved in the original prophecy; and doubtless theocratic privileges and promises are more prominently in the mind of the Apostle in both these historical cases.