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→Commentary: apologetic stuff
== Commentary ==
Some these this verse as posing a problem for the goodness of God. For Jacob (the younger brother) to dominate over Esau (the older brother) he had to sin and deceive Esau. It has been argued that for God to have known Jacob would be stronger, he would have aided Jacob.
One possibility is that God was pre-knowing (not predetermining) the future: God did not take any part in determining Jacob's domination over Esau. Because God knows all things before they happen, He knew what would happen. This "hands off approach" is reminiscent of [[Open Theology]], which would add that God does not know people's decisions before they know.
Another possibility is that this verse was written by Israelites who knew the end of the story. Genesis was not compiled until long after Jacob and Esau's life. The compiler of this narrative may have viewed the birth order as prophetic and wanted a way to tie it into later events. Therefore he wrote on God's behalf. In the Hebrew understanding of God, God knew everything before it happened. Thus the compiler was explaining what God was thinking.
However, given that there are so many prophecies about Christ and other that were clearly given beforehand, and yet God is said to not ever be the author of sin, we should conclude that it is possible for God to both clearly know the future and yet for people to remain free and accountable for their actions.
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