In his letter to the Jewish Christians who were beginning to buckle under the pressure of persecution, the author of Hebrews offers a series of severe warnings to keep them on the path of faith and obedience. The author doesn’t offer these warnings to discourage these struggling believers or to make them doubt their salvation. Rather, by announcing these warnings, the author aims to bolster their assurance and strengthen their resolve to maintain their heavenly course. Amid great suffering, the temptation to yield to one’s persecutors and turn from Christ can be powerful, and only sharp, serious, and sobering warnings can wake the weary soul and promote perseverance. (For a fuller explanation of the function of these warnings and the audience to whom they were written, please see my previous articles here, here, here, and here.)
The second-to-last warning occurs in chapter twelve. While each warning is terrifying in its own right (2:1-5; 3:12-15; 6:1-6; 10:26-31; 12:15-17; 12:25-29), the author’s cautionary tale of Esau is especially sobering because it tells of someone who desired to repent and inherit a blessing he had previously rejected, but found himself unable to once he realized the gravity of his mistake.
Remaining Faithful in the Face of Life’s Difficulties
The reference to Esau falls within a section where the author is helping these Jewish Christians interpret their present sufferings. Rather than conclude that their earthly troubles were the result of God’s displeasure, they were to see their trials as God’s loving discipline (Heb 12:5-6). The persecution they were undergoing was the training ground where God shapes his saints into holy, obedient people. These suffering Christians were God’s children, and they needed to be reminded that God always trains and disciplines his children so that they might enjoy “the peaceful fruit of righteousness” (12:11). The trials and difficulties of life help ween us off sin and train us in vital aspects of Christian obedience. God loves us, and he knows what he is doing.
The right response to these difficulties, then, is to establish our resolve, faithfully endure these trials, not grumble nor throw in the towel. These believers needed to strengthen their stride, pick up their pace, and look out for one another’s spiritual well-being (12:12, 15). Importantly, they were to make holiness the top priority of their lives: “Strive for peace with everyone without which no one will see the Lord” (12:14). A failure to pursue holiness would serve as evidence that they were not on their way to see the Lord (see also Matt 5:8).
To emphasize the need for holiness, the author exhorts the congregation to watch out for each other so that no one among them would be found to be “sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal” (v. 16). This reference to Esau hearkens back to a passage in Genesis where Jacob entices Esau to give up his firstborn status.
Don’t Be Like Esau
Esau held the status of firstborn and was therefore entitled to important inheritance and leadership privileges within the family. But Jacob wanted this title and its privileges, so he approached Esau in a vulnerable moment and persuaded him to relinquish his birthright. Here’s how the story unfolded:
Once when Jacob was cooking stew, Esau came in from the field, and he was exhausted. And Esau said to Jacob, “Let me eat some of that red stew, for I am exhausted!” (Therefore his name was called Edom.) Jacob said, “Sell me your birthright now.” Esau said, “I am about to die; of what use is a birthright to me?” Jacob said, “Swear to me now.” So he swore to him and sold his birthright to Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew, and he ate and drank and rose and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright (Gen 25:29-34).
Although it was Jacob’s intention to acquire Esau’s birthright, the narrative places the blame squarely on Esau, and interprets his actions as “despis[ing] his birthright.” The birthright was a precious possession in the Ancient Near East due to the privileges it bestowed upon its owner. Beyond these cultural advantages, the birthright within God’s redemptive plan was tied to divine promises and blessings. His apathy toward his birthright demonstrated that Esau was indifferent to God’s blessing in his life.
Not long after this incident, Jacob went to his father Isaac to receive the firstborn blessing. Moments later, after Jacob had obtained the blessing, Esau realizes he had been tricked and pleads with his father to grant him a blessing as well. Isaac then prophesies over Esau, withholding a blessing and proclaiming that Esau, despite being the chronological firstborn, would serve his brother (see Gen 27:1-40).
The author of Hebrews warns his readers to take care that no professing Christians among them turn out like Esau, who “sold his birthright for a simple meal” (Heb 12:16). The reason his readers must heed this cautionary story is so that they would avoid Esau’s horrific fate: “For you know that afterward when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears” (Heb 12:17). Just like Esau regretted selling his birthright for a temporal sensual enjoyment, so would these professing Jewish believers regret turning their backs on Christ for the fleeting pleasures of sin. Once the initial pleasure wore off, they might find that they were, like Esau, unable to repent, turn back to Christ, and inherit the blessing. What a terrifying place to be.
We might ask why the author of Hebrews uses Esau as an example of sexual immorality when Esau wasn’t apparently guilty of such a sin. Some Bible interpreters suggest that Esau was guilty of immorality because he married two Hittite women when he was forty years old (Gen 26:34-35). But it is more likely that the author is simply using Esau as a picture of someone who was willing to trade in his future blessings from God for temporary sensual pleasures. The author warns these Jewish Christians not to yield to the same kind of temptation.
Take Care that You Don’t Lose Everything
The application for us, then, is to make sure that there are no professing believers in our midst who are, like Esau, failing to rein in their appetites and appear to be willing to trade in their future inheritance for momentary sinful pleasures. The stakes could not be higher. The author uses Esau as an example of someone who exchanged the promises of God for a short-lived, momentary pleasure and, as a result of his folly, lost everything.
Those who profess Christ only to turn their back on him to pursue sinful pleasures are in imminent danger of eternal judgment. The most dreadful aspect of the warning is that those who traverse such a path may come to a point in their lives when they realize that the pursuit of sin wasn’t worth it. They may then desire to retract their decision to leave Christ, only to find out that they are unable to. Like Esau, they may search for the blessing with tears, only to find no place for repentance. The author of Hebrews cites Esau as an example to warn us against such a fate.
Keep Eternity Always in View
This warning, like the other warnings in Hebrews, are not meant to make us wallow in despair and doubt our salvation— just the opposite. This warning about Esau, like the other warnings, is designed to provoke our repentance and strengthen our resolve to remain on the path of faith, holiness, and obedience, and to make sure that the professing Christians in our midst are not taken captive by the deceitfulness of sin (see also Heb 3:13).
We only have a few short years on this earth. Although the pull toward sin and compromise may feel intense at times, we must keep eternity clearly in view so that we can resist the temporary pleasures of sin and strive hard after holiness. It will be worth it.
