What a terrible thing to want to repent and not be allowed
to. Why would God withhold repentance
from Esau who was obviously broken in spirit?
Unfortunately for Esau, that seems to be what Hebrews 12:17 is
saying. Here’s the verse in its
immediate context:
Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled; lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears. Heb. 12:15-17 (KJV)
You are probably familiar with the story from Genesis
chapter 25. Esau, the firstborn, returns
from an exhausting day in the field and is hungry. He asks for some of Jacob’s stew and Jacob
offers to sell a bowl of stew to Esau in exchange for Esau’s birthright. Esau foolishly agrees and sells his
birthright to Jacob. Later, their blind
father Isaac is tricked into blessing Jacob when he thinks that he is blessing
his firstborn, Esau. When Esau discovers
that Jacob has stolen his blessing from Isaac, and that Isaac will not rescind
the blessing he bestowed on Jacob, Esau cries out and weeps heavily.
Now back to Hebrews 12:17.
This verse sounds as though brokenhearted Esau was unable to repent even
though he desperately desired to. That
has always seemed strange to me. Why
couldn’t Esau repent? Does this verse
teach us that Esau was not allowed to repent?
What should we make of this verse?
To understand this verse better we need to define the word repent.
The word in Greek is metanoia and
in its most basic sense means “a change of mind”. It is not necessary to associate repentance (metanoia) with sin, though most of us usually
think of it this way. If we recognize
that a change of mind is the basic definition, and that repentance is not
always referring to turning from sin, we get a step closer to understanding
Hebrews 12:17.
Defining repentance as a change of mind does not completely solve
the mystery of this verse. Another
question needs to be asked: To whom is the word repentance linked, Esau or Isaac? I have always thought that Esau was the one trying
to repent in this verse. If Esau is in
view here then this verse would mean that Esau wanted to change his own mind
but couldn’t, which doesn't make a lot of sense. It is helpful to
understand that Esau, in his weeping, was not
seeking the opportunity to repentance, rather he was seeking the blessing that
he missed out on. It seems better to say
that the word repentance is linked to Isaac, not Esau.
It appears that the most satisfactory explanation is that
Esau begged Isaac to change his mind (metanoia)
about blessing Jacob but Isaac would not (or could not) change his mind- what
was done was done. Isaac’s blessing upon
Jacob was irreversible. Esau’s tears
could not undo what had already occurred.
This explanation fits perfectly with the events described in Genesis 27
and also fits nicely with the context of Hebrews chapter 12.
Hebrews 12 uses Esau as an example of who not to imitate as Christians. Esau was foolish to sell his birthright so
cheaply. Esau treated his birthright
with contempt, considering it to be virtually worthless. Afterwards, Esau couldn’t cause Isaac to
change his mind (repent) even though Esau begged him to. Similarly, this chapter in Hebrews reminds us
that God will not change His mind about His grace being the hope of the
believer rather than our own righteousness.
To try to receive God’s blessing by returning to the inferior Old
Covenant is equivalent to treating God’s grace as worthless. Hebrews 12:28 says:
Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us hold on to grace. By it, we may serve God acceptably… (HCSB)
We can conclude that verse 17 is not saying that Esau was
not allowed to turn from his sin even though he sincerely wanted to. Instead we see that Esau begged his
father Isaac to repent (change his mind) and give the stolen blessing back to
Esau. Isaac either would not or could not
revoke the blessing he gave to Jacob, even though Esau wept bitterly before
him.