{"author":null,"canonical_references":[],"database_sha256":"8cfbe7284c6936871d57c02dc6aa63ebbdfd4722422d539dd9f716e46e91112e","date_end":null,"date_start":null,"edition_year":null,"id":"sermonindex-ecf-6576","native_reference":{"book_number":650,"chapter_from":12,"chapter_to":12,"system":"MyBible module coordinates (mapping unverified)","verse_from":16,"verse_to":16},"public_import_allowed":false,"record_kind":"verse-keyed-module-record","review_required":["English edition and exact text","author/work attribution","dating","verse mapping and citation kind","reuse and attribution","split author quotations and deduplicate"],"review_status":"unreviewed","source_html":"<p><b>Ephrem the Syrian</b>: 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.<br/><i>— COMMENTARY ON Genesis 23.2</i></p><p><b>Ephrem the Syrian</b>: 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.<br/><i>— COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS</i></p><p><b>John Chrysostom</b>: \"Lest there be any fornicator: or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.\"</p><p>And wherein was Esau a \"fornicator\"? He does not say that Esau was a fornicator. \"Lest there be any fornicator,\" he says, then, \"follow after holiness: lest there be any, as Esau, profane\": that is, gluttonous, without self-control, worldly, selling away things spiritual.</p><p>\"Who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright,\" 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. This [was the conduct] of an abominable, of an unclean person. So that 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, he is forced 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 nothing worth. That is, providing for temporary refreshment, he went even to the [sacrifice of his] \"birthright.\" So henceforth \"the birthright\" belongs to us, not to the Jews. And at the same time also this is added to their calamity, that the first is become last, and the second, first: the one, for courageous endurance; the other last for indolence.<br/><i>— Homily on Hebrews 31</i></p><p><b>Oecumenius</b>: \"that no one is sexually immoral.\" He did not say sexually immoral, referring to Esau, but it is placed in opposition to what preceded, \"Pursue holiness.\" The defiled is indeed placed as if it refers to Esau; however, he called him a glutton, because he had sold away God's gift, namely the birthright, for a single meal. For it is written in the book of Genesis: \"And the boys grew; and Esau was a cunning hunter, a man of the field: but Jacob was a plain man, dwelling in tents. And Isaac loved Esau, because he did eat of his venison: but Rebecca loved Jacob. And Jacob boiled pottage. And Esau came from the field, and he was faint: and Esau said to Jacob, 'Feed me, I beg you, with that same red pottage; for I am weak.' Therefore was his name called Edom. And Jacob said, 'Sell me this day your birthright.' And Esau said, 'Behold, I am at the point to die: and what profit shall this birthright do to me?' And Jacob said, 'Swear to me this day.' And he swore to him: and he sold his birthright to Jacob.\" (Gen. 25:26-33) Therefore, at that time, the right of the firstborn is ours, and not that of the Jews. For we are descended from Isaac and Jacob.<br/>\"he was rejected.\" He was rejected by God. For God is the cause of Isaac being deceived, to bless Jacob.<br/><i>— The Pseudo-Oecumenian Catena on Hebrews</i></p><p><b>Oecumenius</b>: \"though he sought it with tears.\" Some interpret it this way: Although he had sought it with tears, namely the blessing: and what is said: and there was no place found by means of repentance for him.<br/><i>— The Pseudo-Oecumenian Catena on Hebrews</i></p><p><b>Oecumenius</b>: \"though he sought it.\" Does he therefore reject repentance? Certainly not. How then, if he sought repentance with tears, did he not attain it? He did seek it, but he did not find it; for he did not seek it rightly. How so? Because he was not properly repentant. For what kind of words of repentance did he speak? \"The days of mourning for my father are approaching, and I will kill my brother Jacob.\" (Gen. 27:41) Therefore, for this reason, he does not find repentance, because he did not seek it as he ought. Either this is the case, or Paul terrifies those who have not yet fallen so that they do not fall, as if the greatest sins do not deserve repentance: and to those who have not yet sinned, he speaks in such a way, preserving them from falling by fear. But when he sees that some have completely fallen, consider how he changes his speech. For Paul says: \"My little children, for whom I am again in labor until Christ is formed in you.\" (Gal. 4:19) For that he writes this to those who have already fallen is evident. For he says: \"You who are justified by the law have fallen from grace.\" (Gal. 5:4) You see that when he testifies with them that they have fallen, lest they come to despair, he says: \"Of whom I am again in labor until Christ is formed in you?\" (Gal. 4:19) Do you not recognize that he does not reject this holy repentance, but is speaking in an economical manner [οἰκονομικῶς]?<br/><i>— The Pseudo-Oecumenian Catena on Hebrews</i></p><p><b>Philoxenus of Mabbug</b>: Whosoever then wisheth to travel along the path of heaven should unfasten the shackles of lusts from his feet, and should remove every weight from the wings of his mind, in order that his person may travel easily towards greatness, and may hear the promise of the holy man Paul, who taught and admonished us, saying, \"Take ye heed lest there be among you any man who is wanton or slack like Esau, who for one mess of meat sold his birthright; for also when he afterwards desired to inherit the blessings, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought it with tears.\"<br/><i>— 13 Ascetic Discourses, Discourse 10 -- On Gluttony</i></p><p><b>Philoxenus of Mabbug</b>: Now that thou mayest understand that it is everything that is eaten with lust, even though it be common, that is reprehensible, set before thine eyes these two examples, the eating of Esau, and the eating of Elijah. Esau, because he ate lentiles, was condemned, and therefore Paul calleth him \"dissolute\", and \"fornicator\", because \"for one mess of meat he sold his own birthright;\" and Elijah, though eating meat, was pure and holy, and a spiritual being, and like a spiritual being was removed unto the place of spiritual beings. Behold then, and understand from the two examples of Elijah and Esau, that it is lust which causeth condemnation and not meat. Seek then to eat everything and not to be condemned, and be above lust in everything, and eat everything; but if thou canst not be superior to lust, everything that thou eatest will be a condemnation unto thee, even though it be a common thing, as Eve was condemned for eating the fruit, and as the Jews were censured for gathering the manna, and as Esau was condemned for eating the lentiles, and as the people also who perished, because they ate and drank with lust before the calf.<br/><i>— 13 Ascetic Discourses, Discourse 11 -- On Abstinence</i></p><p><b>Theodore of Mopsuestia</b>: 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.<br/><i>— FRAGMENTS ON THE EPISTLE TO THE Hebrews 12.17</i></p><p><b>Theodoret of Cyrus</b>: 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.<br/><i>— INTERPRETATION OF Hebrews 12</i></p>","source_html_sha256":"765acfe92baa98e6b789b36b28f30716b63d0a62ca9acd8706445ade42e0a150","source_module":"ECF","source_row_id":6576,"source_url":"https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/ecf/","text_sha256":"561fa6a8ce21c56d2ced98b0b7daea37f92615a573b679fc3a58289e6069137d","translator":null,"work":null}