Last week we were looking at Hebrews 12:15-17 in this passage which enjoins all of us to be looking not only after our own lives but also those of our brothers and sisters, lest they
15 … fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; 16 that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. 17 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.
We were talking about this “root of bitterness” that springs up and causes trouble and defiles many. Many believe that this is talking about the wrong attitude we can take towards those who hurt and wound us.
Certainly, Esau struggled with bitterness towards his younger brother. While Hebrews 11 showed us many role models to imitate, here he introduces us to a familiar Old Testament character who show us what lack of faith in the Lord looks like and what it produces in those who do not believe in the promises of God.
Esau should have possessed the birthright and the blessing, but Jacob had “stolen” them from him. He burned with resentment and a desire for vengeance for many years.
However, a study of the original passage from which this image arises shows that the “bitter root” is not an attitude, but rather it a person or a type of person. I say this because Deuteronomy 29:18, from which this metaphor comes, is clearly talking about a person who apostatizes and is trying to influence others away from God.
Beware lest there be among you a man or woman or clan or tribe whose heart is turning away today from the LORD our God to go and serve the gods of those nations. Beware lest there be among you a root bearing poisonous and bitter fruit,
I say this also because vv. 16-17 illustrate this idea of a bitter root by referring to the person of Esau as an example. So the “root bearing poisonous and bitter fruit” is “a man or woman or clan or tribe whose heart is turning away today from the LORD our God to go and serve the gods of the nations.”
The biggest danger is that it is first a hidden root which no one notices, but when it springs up it is “poisonous” and “bitter.” So it is important for us to be carefully watching one another’s lives so that this initially hidden root never has a chance to spring up and bear the fruit of discord and further apostasy.
In Deuteronomy 29, Moses is reminding the people of the gross idolatry that they had witnessed while enslaved in Egypt and while they had wandered in the wilderness (Deut. 29:16-17). If they witnessed it with hearts committed to Yahweh alone, they couldn’t help but be repulsed by what they had seen, and they surely would never want to participate in it.
But God knows our unfaithful hearts and He warns His people through Moses that nobody in Israel—neither individuals, nor families, nor tribes—was to get involved in idolatry; for any idolator would become that “bitter root” and could then defile the whole nation.
The writer of Hebrews is applying this warning to the local assembly because he knew that “one sinner destroys much good” (Eccl. 9:18), like our saying, “One bad apple can spoil the bunch.” Even if the offenders kept their sins hidden and private and were therefore confident that they could escape judgment, the Lord would know and He would judge and sooner or later it would come to light.
In the case of the ancient Israelites, they would be plagued and killed and their names would be blotted out from under heaven (Deut. 9:14; Exod. 32:32-33). They would suffer from all the plagues named in Deuteronomy 28. The penalty for these first century apostates is spelled out later in this chapter.
John MacArthur says about the situation our author of Hebrews is addressing:
The root of bitterness refers to a person who is superficially identified with God’s people, and who falls back into paganism. But he is no ordinary apostate. He is arrogant and defiant concerning the things of God. He thumbs His nose at the Lord. God’s response to such boastful unbelief is harsh and final.
Kent Hughes reminds us:
The call here is for vigilance. Certainly this does not enjoin a witch hunt. The Lord specifically warned against such a response because such actions would tear out real wheat with the weeds (Matthew 13:24–30). Nevertheless, we must be alert. Every fellowship of any size has a few “bitter roots” who follow false gods and subtly poison those around them. If we are to run well, the price is vigilance—especially in the good times.
The second way that one might fall short of God’s grace was to imitate the “sexually immoral” practice of Esau. It is likely that these last two dangers are to be taken together, both expressing the minefield of our appetites, our sexual appetite and our physical appetite. Sexual immorality is a defilement of the body; “godlessness” is a defilement of the soul. Listen to the words of our author:
that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal.
The word “sexually immoral” is pornos, from which we get the word pornography. It refers to any act which excites and fulfills physical lust in a sexual way which is “out of bounds” according to God’s Word.
Let’s look at the Old Testament text, from Genesis 25. Remember that there was struggling in the womb in their birth, and God had revealed to Rebekah, their mother:
“Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you shall be divided; the one shall be stronger than the other, the older shall serve the younger” (Genesis 25:23).
Esau was the firstborn of twin sons. His name meant “red.” His younger brother came out grabbing his heel, so he was named “Jacob” which means grabber. And that’s pretty much what Jacob did all his life.
Then later we read…
27 When the boys grew up, Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field, while Jacob was a quiet man, dwelling in tents. 28 Isaac loved Esau because he ate of his game, but Rebekah loved Jacob.
29 Once when Jacob was cooking stew, Esau came in from the field, and he was exhausted. 30 And Esau said to Jacob, “Let me eat some of that red stew, for I am exhausted!” (Therefore his name was called Edom.) 31 Jacob said, “Sell me your birthright now.” 32 Esau said, “I am about to die; of what use is a birthright to me?” 33 Jacob said, “Swear to me now.” So he swore to him and sold his birthright to Jacob. 34 Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew, and he ate and drank and rose and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.
Some question whether the adjective “sexually immoral” should be attached to Esau or if it is simply indefinite, (that is, “anyone who is sexually immoral”) and only the adjective “godless” is to be attached to Esau’s record.
Interestingly, the Old Testament does not say he was a fornicator unless it is implied in his marrying the two Canaanite daughters of Heth, who subsequently made life miserable for his parents (cf. Genesis 26:34, 35). Rabbinical tradition, however, both Palestinian and Hellenistic, paints Esau as a man completely subject to his libido.
Philo of Alexandria in his Questions and Answers on Genesis made this observation regarding Esau: “The hairy one is the unrestrained, lecherous, impure and unholy man” (Philo, Question and Answers on Genesis , trans. Ralph Marcus, The Loeb Classical Library (Cambridge, MA: Harvard, 1979), p. 494).
The Palestinian Targum on Genesis 25:29 describes him as coming home exhausted on the same day he sold Jacob his birthright and saying that on “that day he had committed five transgressions,” one of which was adultery with a betrothed maiden ( Bruce, The Epistle to the Hebrews , p. 367). This is Jewish tradition and not inspired Scripture, but clearly these commentators took the whole life story of Esau and attributed these behaviors to him.)
So R. Kent Hughes concludes, “The indictment from extra-Biblical literature parallels the revelation of Holy Scripture—that Esau was a pornos subject to the whims of his tomcat nature—the archetype of the modern-day testosterone man. His essential sensuality made God quite unreal to him—as lust always does” (Hebrews: Volume 2, p. 183).
God’s Word regards sexual sins as particularly heinous, and persistent engagement in sexual sin evidences a heart that is hardened against the Lord (Lev. 18; Rom. 1:26-27). Of course, the Lord will forgive all those who truly repent of sexual sin (1 John 1:8-9; 1 Cor. 6:9-11), but we dare not trifle with it. Sexual immorality has caused many professing believers to fall away from the Christian faith over the centuries.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Temptation (London: SCM Press, 1961), p. 33, writes:
It makes no difference whether it is sexual desire, or ambition, or vanity, or desire for revenge, or love of fame and power, or greed for money, or, finally, that strange desire for the beauty of the world, of nature. Joy in God is in the course of being extinguished in us and we seek all our joy in the creature. At this moment God is quite unreal to us, he loses all reality, and only desire for the creature is real; the only reality is the devil. Satan does not here fill us with hatred of God, but with forgetfulness of God. And now his falsehood is added to this proof of strength. The lust thus aroused envelops the mind and will of man in deepest darkness. The powers of clear discrimination and of decision are taken from us. The questions present themselves: “Is what the flesh desires really sin in this case?” “Is it really not permitted to me, yes—expected of me, now, here, in my particular situation, to appease desire?” The tempter puts me in a privileged position as he tried to put the hungry Son of God in a privileged position. I boast of my privilege against God. It is here that everything within me rises up against the Word of God.
And this leads us directly into the third danger that causes us to miss God’s grace, and that is being “unholy” (Greek bebelos). Bebelos speaks of someone who was debarred from going across the threshold of the temple to worship, or possibly someone who trampled underfoot the threshold of the temple, thus treating it in a disrespectful way.
This describes a person who has no regard or respect for God, or basically goes through life not even giving God a thought. Why? Because their focus is so much on the pleasures and possessions of this life.
Calvin says of such that they are:
“. . . those in whom the love of the world so holds sway and prevails, that they forget heaven as men who are carried away by ambition, addicted to money and riches, given over to gluttony, and entangled with other kinds of pleasures, and give the spiritual kingdom of Christ either no place or the last place in their concerns” (William B. Johnston, trans., Calvin’s Commentaries: The Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Hebrews and the First and Second Epistles of St. Peter (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1963), p. 197
Esau, remember “despised his birthright.” He sold it for a pot of stew because he was famished! He totally devalued the things of God in order to meet a physical desire. Esau “sold his birthright for a single meal” (Heb. 12:16).
Esau, as firstborn, had the birthright and was entitled to the blessing, a double portion of the father’s estate (cf. Deut. 21:17), as well as religious leadership of the family.
This last aspect didn’t ever seem to interest Esau, however, so when the need came up, Esau traded was should have been most precious to him, his birthright, for a pot of stew to ease his hunger pangs for a few moments.
Again, Esau came in from the fields, having worked hard all day and said “Let me eat some of that red stew, for I am exhausted!” But Jacob said, “Sell me your birthright now.”
What was Esau’s response, but “”I am about to die; of what use is a birthright to me?”
Clearly exaggerating his near-death hunger, it reveals his attitude toward his birthright. Esau chose a cheap meal over the divine promise. And Jacob said, “”Swear to me now.” So Esau swore to him and sold his birthright to Jacob.
Now, Jacob may have been a jerk, but Esau was a fool. He is the consummate illustration of a person who, for the sake of immediate gratification, forfeits something of immeasurably greater value, in this case, his inheritance.
While it may not have seemed like a big deal, we get God’s perspective on this issue at the end of this chapter, “Thus Esau despised his birthright.”
Esau’s thinking, and thus his value system, was totally earthbound. He gave no thought to God, to eternal issues or to spiritual things. His thoughts were all about what he could touch and taste, in particular what would fill his stomach.
Thus, he was “godless,” showing ultimate disrespect to God and what God valued.
R. Kent Hughes concludes:
Esau was like a living beer commercial—bearded, steroid-macho, with two things on his mind: sexual pleasure and physical pleasure—food, drink, sports, and sleep. “Hey, you only go around once. You have to get it while you can.” He was the prototype of modern godlessness—like the forty-five-year old man who had spent all his post-college years devoted to money and when asked, “How is it with your soul?” answered candidly, “My soul? I don’t even know whether I have one.” Tragic! (Hebrews, Volume 2, p.
On the other hand Jacob, Esau’s brother, although he was not in these cases a model of ethics or integrity, did genuinely value the things of God. The birthright and the blessing were precious to him, although he tried to procure them by less than honorable means. There were times in his life when he trusted God and relied on God; but his brother disregarded God and trusted only in himself.
“Esau’s willingness to give up all that was his as the firstborn son reflected a contempt for the covenant by which his rights were warranted. By descriptive analogy, he is representative of apostate persons who are ready to turn their backs on God and the divine promises, in reckless disregard of the covenant blessings secured by the sacrificial death of Jesus. The immediate reference is to the objective blessings of ‘peace’ and ‘holiness,’ specified in v 14. With the example of Esau, apostasy is further defined as a decisive rejection of God’s gifts ” (William Lane, Hebrews 9—13, pp. 445-46)
Esau’s negative example is put here to warn this first-century audience and us in the 21st century not to be like Esau. We must be careful that we do not sell away what God considers precious for a few minutes of flesh-satisfying pleasure.
The next verse tells us that Esau could not reverse this decision. In spite of the fact that he “desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected…” He even repented with tears. But the situation was irreversible. We will deal with this issue next week.
Again, our author is supplying this negative example of Esau to warn his readers not to give up what was most valuable—the sufficiency and supremacy of Jesus Christ—and opt for something that was comfortable and convenient—to go back to the law. They would escape persecution this way. It would be more familiar and convenient, but they would be sacrificing Jesus Christ, the better sacrifice.
Grace Still Amazes 