Romans 9:10-12 : And not only so; but Rebecca also having conceived by one, even by our father Isaac--for the children being not yet born, neither having done anything good or bad, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth, it was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger. In working out his plan to bless the world through the seed of Abraham, God selected Isaac to be heir of the promise, and rejected the other sons of Abraham. The Jew might say that as Isaac was the only son of Abraham's real wife, his selection was natural and right. But it was different with his selection of Jacob over Esau. Jacob and Esau were full brothers; and though they were twins, Esau the first-born was the natural heir of the promise. Yet of the two, God selected Jacob, even before they were born, and therefore before they had done anything good or bad, "that the purpose of God according to election might stand." The purpose inhered in the promise. God was selecting his own instruments to work out his own plans. In choosing Jacob, God chose his descendants; and every Jew gloried in that choice. But the selection of Jacob and the rejection of Esau had nothing to do with their salvation. If it had pertained to their salvation, there would have been no point in mentioning the fact that the younger was selected instead of the older; for even the most dogmatic predestinarian would not say that the oldest son is the natural heir of salvation and all the other sons reprobates. The fact is that the selection of Jacob was the selection of a people rather than an individual. Had it been the election to salvation, then the nations descending from Jacob were all elected to salvation, and Esau's descendants were all lost. Jehovah's language to Rebekah shows plainly that he was speaking of the descendants of Jacob and Esau rather than of them as individuals: "Two nations are in thy womb, and two peoples shall be separated from thy bowels: and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger" (Genesis 25:23). Nor does the statement that the elder shall serve the younger apply to Jacob and Esau as individuals, for as individuals Jacob came nearer serving Esau. However, it did come to pass that the descendants of Esau served the descend-ants of Jacob (1 Chronicles 18:12-13).