Commentary Par XXXII 67-75

Dante might have learned, for instance, from the Bible that God loves variously.  See Malachi 1:2-3: 'Yet I have loved Jacob but Esau I have hated.'  And this while they were still in the womb.  Distinguishing them was not what they have done (they have not done anything), but as though the color of their hair (Esau; see Genesis 25:25).  That is the uncomprehending human view.  God sees what we do not, and knows what we do not: the inner sight of our fellow beings.  Esau's red and Jacob's black here were only the outward manifestations of their inner differences, their abilities to know and love God.