Genesis 27:30—28:1-5 NKJV
32 And his father Isaac said to him, “Who are you?”
So he said, “I am your son, your firstborn, Esau.”
33 Then Isaac trembled exceedingly, and said, “Who? Where is the one who hunted game and brought it to me? I ate all of it before you came, and I have blessed him—and indeed he shall be blessed.”
34 When Esau heard the words of his father, he cried with an exceedingly great and bitter cry, and said to his father, “Bless me—me also, O my father!”
35 But he said, “Your brother came with deceit and has taken away your blessing.”
36 And Esau said, “Is he not rightly named Jacob? For he has supplanted me these two times. He took away my birthright, and now look, he has taken away my blessing!” And he said, “Have you not reserved a blessing for me?”
37 Then Isaac answered and said to Esau, “Indeed I have made him your master, and all his brethren I have given to him as servants; with grain and wine I have sustained him. What shall I do now for you, my son?”
38 And Esau said to his father, “Have you only one blessing, my father? Bless me—me also, O my father!” And Esau lifted up his voice and wept.
39 Then Isaac his father answered and said to him:
“Behold, your dwelling shall be of the fatness of the earth,
And of the dew of heaven from above.
40 By your sword you shall live,
And you shall serve your brother;
And it shall come to pass, when you become restless,
That you shall break his yoke from your neck.”
41 So Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father blessed him, and Esau said in his heart, “The days of mourning for my father are at hand; then I will kill my brother Jacob.”
42 And the words of Esau her older son were told to Rebekah. So she sent and called Jacob her younger son, and said to him, “Surely your brother Esau comforts himself concerning you by intending to kill you. 43 Now therefore, my son, obey my voice: arise, flee to my brother Laban in Haran. 44 And stay with him a few days, until your brother’s fury turns away, 45 until your brother’s anger turns away from you, and he forgets what you have done to him; then I will send and bring you from there. Why should I be bereaved also of you both in one day?”
46 And Rebekah said to Isaac, “I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth; if Jacob takes a wife of the daughters of Heth, like these who are the daughters of the land, what good will my life be to me?”
28 Then Isaac called Jacob and blessed him, and charged him, and said to him: “You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan. 2 Arise, go to Padan Aram, to the house of Bethuel your mother’s father; and take yourself a wife from there of the daughters of Laban your mother’s brother.
3 “May God Almighty bless you,
And make you fruitful and multiply you,
That you may be an assembly of peoples;
4 And give you the blessing of Abraham,
To you and your descendants with you,
That you may inherit the land
In which you are a stranger,
Which God gave to Abraham.”
5 So Isaac sent Jacob away, and he went to Padan Aram, to Laban the son of Bethuel the Syrian, the brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau.
Hebrews 12:7 says that Esau “found no place for repentance, though he sought it diligently with tears.” This can be understood in reference to Isaac. Esau found no place in Isaac for repentance. Realizing that he could not circumvent God’s word, “The older shall serve the younger” (Gen 25:23), Isaac would not repent of the blessing.
The other way is to understand Esau as the one who found no place for repentance, meaning that he found no place in his heart for true repentance. Esau was not sorry that he had offended God by his behavior. He was sorry for what he lost. This is evident by the fact that he blames Jacob for his own sin, saying, “He took away my birthright” (36). It is also evident in the fact that Esau planned to murder Jacob once their father died and the mourning period is complete. True repentance is sorry, not only for what is lost, but for offending God and provoking Him to wrath. True repentance takes responsibility for one’s sin and humbly accepts whatever chastisement the Lord sends. True repentance does not seek other ways to sin. It believes God’s promised mercy and fights against future temptations.
Esau’s plot makes its way to Rebekah’s ears. She suggests that Isaac send him to her homeland to find a wife. Isaac consents and blesses Jacob with the blessing of Abraham. This includes descendants, the land of Canaan, and the promise of the Seed by whom all the families of the earth shall be blessed (Gen 28:14). The Seed will be a blessing to all families of the earth—including Esau’s—by atoning for the sins of the world, so that whoever truly repents will receive the forgiveness earned by the Promised Seed and be counted righteous by God.
We must be careful that our repentance is not the repentance of Esau which is only sad for what it has lost. Rather, true repentance sorrows over offending God. It also trusts that through the atonement won by the Promised Seed—Christ Jesus—God promises to forgive us and declare us righteous.
Let us pray: Give us true repentance, O Lord, to be contrite for our sins, and believe Your promised mercy for Jesus’ sake, and to fight against sin when temptations come. Amen.