ACC ~ Hebrews 12 v16 - 17

ESAU’S BIRTHRIGHT. CHRYSOSTOM: He says, “strive after holiness, that no one be immoral or irreligious like Esau,” that is, gluttonous, without self-control, worldly, selling away things spiritual. “Who sold his birthright for a single meal,” who through his own slothfulness sold this honor which he had from God and, for a little pleasure, lost the greatest honor and glory. This was suitable to them, the conduct of an abominable, of an unclean person. So not only is the fornicator unclean, but also the glutton, the slave of his belly, for he also is a slave of a different pleasure. He is forced to be overreaching, to be rapacious, to behave himself unseemly in ten thousand ways, being the slave of that passion, and oftentimes he blasphemes. So he accounted “his birthright” to be worth nothing. That is, while providing for temporary refreshment, he even sacrificed his “birthright.” ON THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS 31.2.

NOT BECAUSE OF HUNGER. EPHREM THE SYRIAN: Scripture thus shows that Esau did not sell his birthright because of hunger, since it says that after he ate, “Esau rose and went away and despised his birthright.” He did not sell it because of hunger, therefore, but because he indeed considered it to be worthless and sold it for nothing. COMMENTARY ON GENESIS 23.2.

ESAU WANTED TO GAIN CONTROL. EPHREM THE SYRIAN: Even if the door is closed before him, it is not closed in the same manner before us. “Know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent.” Moreover, Esau’s repentance and his tears did not mean that he wanted to be blessed more than his brother but that he wanted to gain control over his brother. “Even though he sought the blessing with tears,” it was not conceded to him. He did not demand blessing, as I said, but the right of the firstborn. In fact, if he had demanded to be superior to his brother in the kingdom of heaven, this would have not been denied to him. But, since he neglected what was useful to his soul and asked for an estate more fertile than that of his brother, he did not receive the blessing that he begged and was deprived of those things that Jacob, by prevailing on him, received through his faith. COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS.

HE FOUND NO CHANCE TO REPENT. THEODORET OF CYR: Esau wept but did not repent; instead he envied his brother’s prosperity. … The divine apostle also suggested this in what he said: “for he found no chance to repent,” that is, he did not take the way to repentance, nor did he lament his evil intentions; instead, he grieved not for his sin but for Jacob’s success. … It was not without purpose that the divine apostle cited the story of Esau: it was to emphasize that, although the firstborn, he was stripped of the blessing for gluttony and depravity. Jews too, by honoring the firstborn and being enslaved to the obsolete requirements of the law through gluttony, lost their claim to salvation, whereas the Gentiles, the new people, of whom Jacob was a type, gained the privileges of the firstborn. So he urges the believers from Jews not to imitate the lawlessness of the firstborn but to participate in the blessing of the newer people. INTERPRETATION OF HEBREWS 12.

HE DOES NOT WISH TO PRECLUDE REPENTANCE. THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA: Through these words he does not wish to preclude the chance of repentance, but to teach that it is not possible for those who do not receive correction at the present time to receive it later. … For he has not been eager to say contradictory things, especially in so close proximity. And anyone could figure this out from the example that he uses. For first he made mention of Esau, who partly was disheartened when he did not obtain the blessing, but partly abided the decision even after this event owing to the malice of his character. Then when he repented of his assent to sin, he did not obtain the blessing. For he was not asking for repentance, but for the blessing that had been given to his brother in accordance with the worthiness of his character. It was impossible that the blessing would again be taken away and given to him again. Also, however, it is possible to discover that his tears were not altogether unprofitable. His father seems to have grieved thereafter for his careless son and seems to have given him some blessings. So he does not wish to preclude repentance through these words. FRAGMENTS ON THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS 12.17.

SEEKING THE BLESSING WITH TEARS? OECUMENIUS: Some interpret “and yet seeking the blessing with tears” as a time during which “he did not find an opportunity for repentance.” FRAGMENTS ON THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS 12.17.

REMEMBRANCE OF OUR SINS. CHRYSOSTOM: If you keep your sins continually in remembrance, you will never bear in mind the wrongs of your neighbor. I do not say, if you are persuaded that you are yourself a sinner; this does not avail so to humble the soul, as sins themselves, taken by themselves and examined specifically. You will have no remembrance of wrongs done you, if you have these things continually in remembrance; you will feel no anger, you will not revile, you will have no high thoughts, you will not fall again into the same sins, you will be more earnest toward good things. Do you see how many excellent effects are produced from the remembrance of our sins? Let us then write them in our minds. I know that the soul does not endure a recollection that is so bitter, but let us constrain and force it. ON THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS 31.6-7.

Heb