Why would God have favourites?

[marco]

We are told, puzzlingly:

" Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. " We undestand, too, that God favoured the Israelites. Today we have groups that claim God favours them and they'll be rewarded with the equivalent of divine sweets when the time comes.

We can understand why some nomad tribesman might favour one son over another or might hate a daughter. But why would God show the same despicable tendencies?


Is the answer - as some suggest - to say that "hate" means liking less?
Or that God, being God, can do what he wants?
Or does this indicate that the God of the Bible is modelled on men - and not particularly good men?

[marco]

[Replying to post 1 by marco]

God has favorites because humans have favorites. God was created by humans and therefore has the same traits humans have.

Exactly. It seems that humans want to view God or gods in human terms. Apollo loved Hyacinthus, the moon goddesss Selene loved Endymion and of course Zeus had a few favourite mortals that have become Jupiter's satellites today. Jesus seems to follow the same model to the extent that we have God ludicrously screaming from the sky that he loved Jesus as a son. The Earth must have stopped rotating.

[Tcg]

[Replying to post 1 by marco]

God has favorites because humans have favorites. God was created by humans and therefore has the same traits humans have.

Exactly. It seems that humans want to view God or gods in human terms.

Yes indeed. It is our only frame of reference. We add a few superpowers to God or the gods perhaps, but they are still modeled after humans.

Humans have had and continue to have favorites in order to protect their own group. This was at least at one time an advantage for some groups. When humans invented God/gods they were of course invented to favor the group that invented the God/gods. Who would invent a God or gods that hated the inventors?