15Look after each other so that none of you fails1 to receive the grace of God. Watch out that no poisonous root of bitterness grows up to trouble you, corrupting2 many. 16Make sure that no one is immoral3 or godless4 like Esau, who traded his birthright as the firstborn son for a single meal. 17You know that afterward, when he wanted his father’s blessing, he was rejected. It was too late for repentance, even though he begged with bitter tears.
Hebrews 12:15-17
We are encouraged again to look after each other in verse 12:15 so that no one fails to receive the grace of God. The writer then goes on to warn about the danger of being corrupted, then he warns the Jewish believers of the danger of immorality and / or being godless like Esau. We have arrived at another of the writers warnings of which we have encountered a number. But this one contains a curious list of the conditions or the states of mind or lifestyle he was warning the Jewish Christians against. I have coloured the four words describing the different states or categories that the writer warns against. There is difficulty with how we ought to interpret these words and then how Esau fits into this warning given to the believers at the time the author wrote the letter or how we ought to interpret the warnings now two millennia later.
The four words at the centre of the warnings are:-
1 [ὑστερέω – hustereō] – Failing to receive the grace of God – defecting, coming up short, missing the mark, opting out.
2 [μιαίνω – miainō] – Becoming defiled, corrupted, tainted, stained.
3 [πόρνος – pornos] – Becoming immoral, impure, based, debauched, having prostituted yourself.
4 [βέβηλος – bebēlos] – Becoming profane, irreligious, unholy, or treating holy matters with contempt or disdain.
Firstly these words used to describe the four states of mind or categories the writer is talking about need some explanation. Following that, we need to work out how Esau is being used as an example of any or all of them. There are some commentators who think Esau exemplifies all four, there are others who think he is categorised by the last two and still others who think Esau is simply an example of the last category. I am sure you have gathered that it’s complicated.
Hustereō has the idea of some one who just gives up and quits, i.e. someone who becomes a defector, who ceases to follow Christ and who likely as not in this case goes back to the synagogue once more to embrace Judaism.
Miainō describes someone who has succumbed to the Roman world around them and has become tainted or stained with the lifestyle of the world. They have become captivated with the worldly things and no longer trying to live a Christian life in the midst of Rome and all that was available to them.
Pornos I am sure you can probably glean the meaning for yourself but you maybe wrong. Pornos, as the word suggests, has the idea of living an impure, debauched lifestyle focused on sexuality. But there is another possibility with this word. There is debate among the experts as to whether this word is being used in the literal sense or whether the author was using it figuratively. If the latter, then it is likely to mean forsaking Christ and following other gods or idols in the Roman world. Or the word could even have been used as a very strong condemnation of going back to the Judaism. Many times in the Old Testament God talks of the Israelites prostituting themselves with other gods.
Bebēlos describes someone who is profane and no longer religious or a follower of a religion. But rather someone who is unholy or treats holy things or practices with contempt, regarding the holy as common place and not worth a second thought.
As I have indicated above, there are those who think that Esau is being used as an example of all four states of mind or reactions. There are many commentators who don’t see any evidence in the Bible for concluding that Esau just gave up and quit following God (YHWH). But some think the fact that Esau became the patriarch of the Edomites, means that he embraced other gods.
Did he then become focused on sex and debauchery? Or could we conclude that Esau was an example of someone who prostituted himself with the gods of the Edomites. The god of the Edomites was Qos or Koze, who was seen by the experts of the Ancient Near East to be a god who was a parallel to YHWH. I will let you make up your mind on that category.
There is debate among the experts as to why the third word pornos and the fourth word bebēlos are separated by ‘or’ and not ‘and’. In other words was Esau an example of pornos and bebēlos? Or was he an example of pornos or bebēlos? Again I will leave you to ponder that one and come to your conclusions. I am just simply laying out the complexity for you.
I had intended at this point to give you my conclusions and draw this to a close but I have changed my mind. If I give you my thoughts it will make this Gem overly long. Rather I think it best to leave the conclusion hanging and give you some time to weigh up the options and decide which type of example Esau best fits for yourself. I will add my opinion in the following Gem.
Whatever we decide, it is clear that the writer of the letter to the Hebrews has been encouraging the Jewish Christians to look after one another in order to ensure no one slips away and loses out on the grace of God and their place in the Life of the Age to Come (Eternal Life). He saw there were dangers all around them and if they were not careful, they would fall away from the grace of God and defile themselves and as a consequence they would put themselves in a situation where they could no longer repent. Your decision as to which category Esau exemplifies must somehow fit with the story of Esau and the point of his story relating to repentance.
My conclusion in the next Gem.
Learn to recognise the answer in the small beginnings or in the details. When you do you expand your faith capacity to receive.
Ian
Start volunteering. You were not meant to be a faithful spectator.
Alvi Radjagukguk
Dare to resolve the questions I posed in this Gem for yourself; if you do you will grow in your ability to wrestle with the deeper things of Scripture.
Ian
But be careful, you might end up walking with a limp. (See the quote at the end of Gem 2158)
Ian