Does God punish people unfairly and unjustly?

This morning, I found myself looking at one of the most difficult parts of the Bible for people understand and accept, which is found in Malachi 1:2-5:

"I have loved you," says the LORD. But you say, "How have You loved us?" "Was not Esau Jacob's brother?" declares the LORD. "Yet I have loved Jacob; but I have hated Esau, and I have made his mountains a desolation and appointed his inheritance for the jackals of the wilderness"...Your eyes will see this and you will say, "The LORD be magnified beyond the border of Israel!"

What is God's point here? Does God just randomly flip a coin to decide who He loves and who He going to hate? Does God punish people unjustly? Is God unfair?

What God was trying to get His people to understand was they they were loved in spite of their behavior, not because of their behavior. We find Jacob and Esau in the 1st book of the Bible, Genesis. Jacob and Esau were brothers who both lived lives that did not follow God's teachings. Jacob was a deceiver and manipulator; Esau rejected his position of leadership as the older brother and rebelled against his parents and God. Both Jacob and Esau were worthy of punishment by God. Yet, while both were worthy of punishment, God chose to lovingly extend grace to Jacob. God did not punish Esau unjustly; Esau and his descendants received the punishment that their rebellious actions deserved. Jacob and his descendants, who became the Jewish people, were chosen by God to receive grace and forgiveness, in spite of their selfishness and sin. God's point through the prophet Malachi was that the Jewish people should respond to God's gracious choice by giving honor and glory to Him and to proclaim His love and grace to others.

In the same way, those who have become followers of Jesus are not better than those who have rejected Jesus; the only difference between a Christian and a non Christian is that a Christian has been forgiven as a result of God's sovereign and gracious activity in our lives. God is unfair; God is unfairly generous and gracious by offering grace and forgiveness in spite of what we have done. And the fact that we have received forgiveness in spite of what we have done should drive us to give honor and glory to God as we worship and proclaim God's grace to others.

So what do you think? Is God unfair? Is God unjust? Do you want God to be fair?