Skip to main content

Why Couldn't Esau Repent?

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.

Popular posts from this blog

A Personal Testimony

I grew up in a loving home with Christian parents and Christian siblings (an older brother and sister). My dad felt God's call on his life to become a pastor before I even started school so I have been a preacher's kid for practically all of my life.  Yeah, I'm that kid.  The one that got to go on the youth group snow skiing trip before I was in the youth group because I got to tag along with my pastor/dad. I have heard a lot of stories of preacher's kids (pk's) who are bitter about their experiences; the perceived constant scrutiny from church members, the lack of privacy, having to share their dad with hundreds of other people, missing out on family vacations because someone's aunt so-and-so died, etc. Those are real experiences, but I consider it a privilege to have the example of a godly dad who gave himself to minister to others as their pastor.  The blessings of being a pk far outweigh the challenges in my opinion. When I was around five years old, my ni...
Read more

The Lord's Supper and Eating Unworthily

By far the most popular passage in Baptist churches concerning observing the Lord's Supper is 1 Corinthians 11:17-34.  A particular focus has been placed on verses 27-31 quoted below from the King James Version that many of us grew up with. 27  Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. 28  But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. 29  For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. 30  For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. 31  For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. (1 Cor. 11:27-31 KJV) photo courtesy of www.freeimages.com Pastors often point to these verses as a warning to would be participants in the ordinance that they should first examine themselves so that they don't partake unworthily ...
Read more

Isaac Asimov's book "In the Beginning": Part One- The Introduction

With this post I am starting a series of articles about the book In the Beginning  by Isaac Asimov. Asimov was a well known science fiction writer.  In addition to science fiction, he also wrote over 200 books of both fiction and non-fiction and edited hundreds more.  He was president of the American Humanist Association, a college professor, and a self-proclaimed atheist.  The book has eleven chapters, an introduction, and an appendix.  It is my intention at this point to discuss each part of the book, making for a 13-part series. photo courtesy of www.freeimages.com I hope to accomplish several things by reviewing Asimov's book.  First, I expect that we will discover that Asimov, though an atheist, was in reality a person of blind faith.  His religion was secular humanism. Therefore he viewed the world through the belief system that presupposed that there is no God.  Secondly, I think we will find that Asimov had a wrong view of science, c...
Read more