Hebrews 12:17 “Lessons from Esau’s Repentance”

Translation & Sermon by Nate Wilson for Christ the Redeemer Church of Manhattan, KS, 19 Jan. 2019

Omitting greyed-out text should bring presentation time down around 45 minutes.

Intro

• In the last sermon we looked at tackling the problems of gracelesness, unbelief, and profane-ness in the church by pursuing peace and purity with all men. Dr. John Brown of Edinborough Scotland, summarized the process neatly in in his classic commentary on Hebrews: “Every member of such a [church] society should consider himself as his ‘brother’s keeper;’ and recol­lecting that not only the best interests of the individual but of the society are concerned – that his own interests, and, what is of highest consideration, the interests of his Lord and Master, are concerned – every member of a Christian church should ‘look earnestly lest any’ of his breth­ren ‘fail of the grace of God.’ If he discovers anything in his opinions, or temper, or language, or conduct which endangers his final salvation, he ought to attend to our Lord’s rule, by first speaking to the individual by himself; then, if this does not serve the purpose, by speaking to him in the presence of one or two other brethren; then, if this does not serve the purpose, by bringing the matter before the assembly appointed for that purpose, that is, according to our views of Church discipline, the assembly of the elders. In this way a constant watch should be kept ‘lest any man fail of the grace of God;’ ‘lest any root of bitterness spring up;’ ‘lest there be any profane’ or sensual ‘person,’ who, in the day of trial, will abandon his profession.”

• Now we get to verse 17, which deals with an issue so powerful, I’ve seen grown men come unglued over it:

  • A few years ago, I received a phone call from one man who was in a bit of a panic. He was a member of our church, so he had made a fine confession of faith before our elders and before our congregation, and he was living an exemplary life of repentance from sin and pursuing peace and holiness. I had no question in my mind about his salvation. But he still struggled with doubts. On this occasion, he had embarked on a trip to visit his family, but, while driving there, the thought came to him that maybe he shouldn’t go to see his family after all. It occurred to him that if this thought about not seeing his family was from the Holy Spirit, and if he kept driving to see them anyway, then he would be grieving and quenching the Spirit willfully. And if he was willing to flagrantly disobey the Spirit of God, then his relationship with God should be called into question. Was he really an unbeliever, so hardened against God that he could pretend to be a good church person and not even flinch at being hypocritical and disobeying God? Then he remem­bered the verse in Hebrews 12:17, which, in his mind, was about Esau crying out for a second chance, weeping and wanting to experience repentance but totally unable to, a miserable man going down to damnation and not able to be saved even when he wanted to be saved. Our church brother was coming unglued at these thoughts about the state of his soul, but the very fact that it would trouble him in the first place was proof to me that he was saved, so we reviewed together his faith in Jesus and the evi­dences of the Holy Spirit in his life, from his confession of Jesus as Lord to his convic­tion of sin and desire to be right with God. We concluded with the scripture’s exhorta­tions to test our thoughts according to the touchstone of Scripture and God’s character, and we concluded that pressing past second thoughts about taking this trip could be done to the glory of God with faith in Jesus without questioning his salvation. He was greatly relieved!

  • Another church member told me that Hebrews 12:17 was a reason he became a Christian. He had grown up hearing about Jesus but had never committed his life to obeying Jesus in faith. He was involved in drug-dealing, sexual sin, and who knows what all else. Then one day, the Holy Spirit used a friend of his to cut through his careless, profane attitude toward God like a laser. His friend called him on the phone and told him that unbelievers can reach a point when it’s too late to be saved, when, like Esau, there’s no opportunity for repent­ance anymore – no more off-ramps on the highway to hell. It unglued him, and that very night he called a pastor and said something like, “What must I do to be saved? I need to do it right now before it’s too late!” The realization that we can’t take second chances for granted with God startled him out of his spiritual lethargy so that he became passionate about leaving his life of sin and getting right with God. His spiritual journey led him to becoming a member at our church and on to continued faithfulness with God.

• The words of Hebrews 12:17 should grip us all:

v.17 For indeed y’all should know that afterward when he [Esau] was wanting to inherit the blessing he was rejected, for he didn’t find a place of repentance, although he sought it out with tears.

• Genesis 25:19ff gives us the background:

  • Abraham’s son Isaac had married Rebekah

  • and the LORD had given them twin sons, whom they had named Jacob and Esau.

    • (Jacob means “he grabs the heel” - or figuratively “he deceives,”

    • and Esau simply means the color “red.”)

  • At the end of Genesis 25, we read: “So the boys grew. And Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field; but Jacob was a mild man, dwelling in tents. And Isaac loved Esau because he ate of his game [meat], but Rebekah loved Jacob.

  • “Now Jacob cooked a stew; and Esau came in from the field, and he was weary. And Esau said to Jacob, ‘Please feed me with that same red stew, for I am weary.’ Therefore his name was called Edom. But Jacob said, ‘Sell me your birthright as of this day.’ And Esau said, ‘Look, I am about to die; so what is this birthright to me?’ Then Jacob said, ‘Swear to me as of this day.’ So he swore to him, and sold his birthright to Jacob. And Jacob gave Esau bread and stew of lentils; then he ate and drank, arose, and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.” (Genesis 25:27-34, NKJV)

• Then in chapter 27 of Genesis we read, “Now it came to pass, when Isaac was old and his eyes were so dim that he could not see, that he called Esau his older son and said to him, ‘My son.’ And he answered him, ‘Here I am.’ Then he said, ‘Behold now, I am old. I do not know the day of my death. Now therefore, please take your weapons, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field and hunt game for me. And make me savory food, such as I love, and bring it to me that I may eat, that my soul may bless you before I die.’" (Gen. 27:1-4, NKJV)

• As we heard in our lectionary passage from the middle of chapter 27, Rebecca helped Jacob deceive Isaac into giving him the blessing of the firstborn, and when Esau came back with his game meat for his dad, he was bitterly frustrated to discover that there was no blessing left for him except the dubious blessing of the sword.

• This is the occasion spoken of in Hebrews 12:17 “when [Esau] was wanting to inherit the blessing he was rejected/ἀπεδοκιμάσθη/removed from consideration.”

  • The wording seems to imply more than Esau merely being edged out unjustly by his brother’s scheme; the rejection was not on his father’s part, but from God Himself.

  • The Apostle Paul expounded on this in Romans 9:10ff, “...when Rebecca also had con­ceived... by our father Isaac (for the children not yet being born, nor having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works but of Him who calls), it was said to her, ‘THE OLDER SHALL SERVE THE YOUNGER.’ As it is written, ‘JACOB I HAVE LOVED, BUT ESAU I HAVE HATED’ [Malachi 1:2]. What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? Certainly not! For He says to Moses, .I WILL HAVE MERCY ON WHOMEVER I WILL HAVE MERCY, AND I WILL HAVE COM­PASSION ON WHOMEVER I WILL HAVE COMPASSION. [Ex. 33:19]. So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy. For the Scripture says to the Pharaoh, ‘FOR THIS VERY PURPOSE I HAVE RAISED YOU UP, THAT I MAY SHOW MY POWER IN YOU, AND THAT MY NAME MAY BE DECLARED IN ALL THE EARTH’ [Ex. 9:16]. Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens. You will say to me then, ‘Why does He still find fault? For who has resisted His will?’ But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, ‘Why have you made me like this?’ Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dis­honor? What if God, wanting to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuf­fering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had prepared before­hand for glory, even us whom He called...? (NKJV)

  • God rejects some people. In fact, God prepares some people to come into the world only to be dishonorable and to be destroyed in order to show off His power and justice in contrast to His grace and mercy. Hebrews 12:17 tells us that we need to know that this happens. “For indeed y’all should know that... [Esau] was rejected...”

  • Now, if we stop there, we will be fatalists, like the Hindus and Muslims, figuring some folks get it bad, and others get it good ,and you can’t do anything about it. If we stop at the bare sovereignty of God, we will be everything that the free-will and Arminian camp has rightly pointed out as problematic with do-nothing hyper-Calvinism and bump-on-a-log Sovereign Grace.

  • That’s why there’s a second half to verse 17. It doesn’t stop with the bare assertion of God’s determination, it moves on to the human element of the relationship. “Esau was rejected...

• for he didn’t find a place of repentance, although he sought it out with tears.”

• The earliest-known commentator on this passage, John Chrysostom, a Greek-speaking pastor in Constantinople around the year 400, said, “What now is this? Doth he indeed exclude re­pent­ance? By no means. ‘But how,’ you say, ‘was it that “he found no place of repent­ance”? For if he condemned himself, if he made a great wailing, why did he “find no place of re­pent­ance”?’ Because it was not really a case of repentance. For... his words were not those of re­pentance, and the [intent to] murder afterwards proved it... For ‘The days of mourning for my father,’ he said, ‘are at hand; then will I slay my brother Jacob’ [Gen. 27:41]. ‘Tears’ had not power to give him ‘repentance’ ... For he who repents ought not to be angry, nor to be fierce, but to be contrite... as one on whom sent­ence has been passed, as one who ought to be saved by mercy alone, as one who has shown himself un­grateful toward his Benefactor... as worthy of punishments innumerable.”

• Calvin wrote: “‘[R]epentance’ here is not to be taken for sincere conversion to God; but it was only that terror with which the Lord smites the ungodly... but as the tears of Esau were those of a man past hope, they were not shed on account of having offended God; so the ungodly, however they may deplore their lot, complain and howl, do not yet knock at God’s door for mercy... Sometimes, indeed, they break out into such words as these, "Oh! if only— if only;" ... but despair cuts short their prayers and... they proceed no farther.”

• God would have responded in mercy if Esau had sought His mercy. God had told even Cain (the first murderer) that if he would subdue his sin and do what was right he could be lifted up, but neither Cain nor Esau were willing to go there. Esau “found no place” in his heart for getting right with God. He chose instead to pity himself, and rebel against his parents and their God, and pass down his bitter hatred of Jacob to his descendants, creating millenia of war between the nations of Edom and Israel.

• I think it is significant that the last time this word “sought out” was used, the object that was commended to our inquiry was God Himself. Hebrews 11:6 “God... is a rewarder of those who are seeking Him out." (NAW) Esau, on the other hand, was not seeking Him, Esau was seeking “it.”

• What is the “it” which Esau was seeking? “Blessing” is the closest match in the Greek gram­mar of the sentence. The words for “blessing” and for “it” are both in the accusative position as the object of their respective verbs, very much in parallel with each other¹.

• And “he sought it with tears.” Tears are a legitimate way to add heartfelt intensity to a request,

  • such as when Esther begged for the life of her people,

  • and Jeremiah called upon God’s pity to heal his people,

  • and the father of the demon-possessed boy cried out to Jesus for help with tears,

  • and when the Apostle Paul passionately warned his church leaders against the dangers of false doctrine.²

  • But tears aren’t always a sign of genuineness. The Prophet Malachi saw through the façade of his people when they came to pray in the temple and cried real tears, but were only cry­ing because they missed the wealthy lifestyle that they had lost. In reality they were selfish, adulterous, God-dishonoring idol-worshipers, so God wasn’t moved by their tears.³

• As contemporary commentator P.E. Hughes put it concerning Esau, “[H]is was not the ‘godly grief’ which produces ‘repentance that leads to salvation,’ but the ‘worldly grief’ which produces death [according to] 2 Cor. 7:10. It was his loss, not his profanity, that he mourned … Christians will be guilty of a much greater act of profanity if, disheartened by the diffi­culties of the contest [of faith in this life], they barter - not an earthly but - a heavenly birth­right for a short period of worldly ease and prosperity.”

• Now, most of the other Bible commentators I consulted⁴ explained “metanoias/repentance” in terms of a “change of mind” on the part of Isaac. In other words, Esau couldn’t get his Dad to revoke the blessing he had placed upon Jacob. This seems a little bit of a stretch to me gram­matically⁵, but true, all the same, in result.

• I also found a couple of Bible scholars⁶ who interpreted this passage along the lines that, if you cross a certain line in this life, God will damn you, even if you ask forgiveness. While I see something like that maybe happening on Judgment Day, Scripture teaches us that genuine repentance before that Day will never be rejected by God.

  • If you have genuine repentance, it’s because God has chosen to save you and has given you the grace to repent in the first place.

  • God does not put us in a bind of wanting to truly repent in this life without being able to.

  • That would be like a government that issues dollar bills for currency and then refuses to accept taxes paid in dollar bills. God is consistent and faithful.

  • Jesus said in John 6:37 “All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.” (KJV)

• It is because Jesus “found eternal redemption” and “entered once-for-all into the holy places... by means of His own blood" (Heb. 9:12), that we who trust in Jesus can have a “confidence” - that Esau never had - that we will “find grace for timely salvation... when we approach the throne of grace..." (Heb. 4:16, NAW).

• The point of this passage is not to get you questioning whether you have done a good enough job of repenting and not to make you worry that maybe God won’t save you.

  • Your repentance is not what earns your favor with God. Jesus is the only one who could ever earn God’s favor. Those who are saved simply come to Jesus asking Him to save them.

  • Sure, God’s children become more and more like God in choosing to live in holiness rather than in sin, but repentance is a result that comes after regeneration, not the per­formance basis upon which we are justified with God⁷.

• The point of this passage is for you to “Keep chasing down peace with all men, along with the holiness without which no one will see [a good relationship with] the Lord, exercising supervision lest someone be lacking of the grace of God, lest some root of bitterness cause trouble… and many be defiled, and lest someone be sexually-immoral or unholy – like Esau...”

  • The example of Esau is to remind us to spread God’s grace to others, encourage their faith in Jesus, and challenge them not to participate in rebellious thoughts and actions against God, and thus join God in His saving and sanctifying work in others.

• Now, since I have stated a couple of times a very Calvinistic position on the Perseverance of the Saints, I feel it appropriate to give a more adequate Biblical basis for this position than I have given so far:

The Doctrine of the Perseverance of the Saints

A couple of guys in our congregation have pointed me to John Piper’s sermon entitled, “When is Saving Repentance Impossible⁸.” I was impressed by the arguments Dr. Piper made from the book of Hebrews in favor of the doctrine that everybody who wants to be saved gets saved and nobody loses their salvation. After arguing that Christians can get confused by similarities between the experi­ences of saved and unsaved persons in the church community, he recommended considering five passages in Hebrews:

1. “Consider [Hebrews 6] verses 7–8... The picture is of two different kinds of fields — one is fruitful and blessed; the other is barren and cursed... the picture is not of a field that had life and vegetation and then lost it. [I]f we have sat in church with the light and the Spirit and the word and the work of God coming to us and blessing us and... then turn our back on it, we are like a field without vegetation...

2. “Consider [Hebrews 6] verse 9: ...‘But, beloved, we are convinced of better things concern­ing you, and things that accompany salvation’... The phrase ‘things that accompany salva­tion’ shows that the writer really believes that they have salvation and therefore will have the things that always accompany salvation: persevering faith and fruitfulness. He does not be­lieve that fruitlessness and apostasy accompany salvation. Better things do.

3. “Consider Hebrews 3:14 ... The key point here is the tense of the verb, ‘we have become partakers of Christ.’ Not we ‘will become partakers’ and not ‘we are now partakers,’ but ‘we have become partakers of Christ — if we hold fast our assurance.’ In other words, persever­ance in faith proves that you became a partaker in Christ. Which means that if you do not persevere in faith, it does not show that you fall out of partaking in Christ, but that you never became a partaker in Christ... Therefore, it seems clear that this writer does not believe you can be in Christ and then out again.

4. “Consider Hebrews 10:14 ‘By one offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified’ ... ‘For all time’! In other words, to become a bene­ficiary of the perfecting, justi­fying work of Christ on the cross is to be perfected in the sight of God forever. This reality sug­gests that Heb. 6:6 does not mean that those who re-crucify Christ were once really justified...

5. “[Finally] Consider Hebrews 13:20–21...Verse 20 speaks of an eternal covenant sealed by the blood of Jesus... So in verse 21 he says that it is not finally dependent on us whether we per­severe in faith and bear fruit. It is finally dependent on God: He is working in us that which is pleasing in his sight. ...[I]f... people could be truly justified members of the new covenant and then commit apostasy and be rejected[, t]hat would mean that God did not fulfill his promise to ‘work in them what is pleasing in his sight.’ He would have broken his new covenant pro­mise. For these five reasons,” Piper said, “I conclude that, if a person falls away... he has never been justified. His faith was not a saving faith.”

• That is just from the book of Hebrews. For a fuller treatment, I’d recommend reading the fifth section of the Canons of Dordt, written by representatives of all the protestant churches in Europe in the early 17^th Century, which quotes proofs from all over the New Testament.

CONCLUSION

• Instead of worrying that we might lose our salvation, we should boldly relate to God with confidence that Jesus will make sure we’re all right.

• And we need to maintain a lifestyle of confessing our own sins and looking out for ways to help our brothers and sisters in Christ persevere in true repentance and faith. I love the way old pastor Chrysostom put it in one of his ancient sermons on Hebrews 12:

  • “I know that conscience starts back, and endures not to be scourged by the remembrance of evil deeds; but hold tight thy soul and place a muzzle on it. For like an ill-broken horse, so it bears impatiently [what is put upon it], and is unwilling to persuade itself that it has sin­ned: but all this is the work of Satan. But let us persuade it that it has sinned... that it may also repent, in order that, having repented, it may escape torment. How dost thou think to obtain pardon for thy sins, tell me, when thou hast not yet confessed them? ... Let us not [merely] call ourselves ‘sinners,’ but also count over our sins, going over them each specifically... ‘Reveal thy way unto the Lord.’ (Psalm 37:5) ... Confess before the Judge thy sins with prayer – if not with tongue, at least mentally, and be worthy of mercy.

  • “[Such true repentance will bear good fruits.] If thou keep thy sins continually in remem­brance, thou wilt never bear in mind the wrongs of thy neighbor… thou wilt feel no anger, thou wilt not revile, thou wilt have no high thoughts, thou wilt not fall again into the same [sins], thou wilt be more earnest towards good things.”

  • “...Then if thou see [a brother] going off ... to parties where there is nothing but drunken­ness... intreat him... [not to go. Then] say to him, ‘I have done thee a service in reminding thee of things expedient; do thou also, whatever failing thou seest me have, hold me back and set me right. If thou see me irritable, if avaricious, restrain me, bind me by exhorta­tion.’ This is friendship; thus ‘brother aided by brother becomes a fortified city.’ [Prov 18:19] ...”

Appendix 1: Canons of Dort, Denials in Ch. 5

“Having set forth the orthodox teaching, the Synod rejects the errors of those…

• Who teach that those who truly believe and have been born again not only can forfeit justify­ing faith – as well as grace and salvation – totally and to the end, but also in actual fact do often forfeit them and are lost forever. For this opinion nullifies the very grace of justification and regeneration – as well as the continual preservation by Christ,

  • contrary to the plain words of the Apostle Paul: ‘If Christ died for us while we were still sinners, we will therefore much more be saved from God's wrath through Him, since we have now been justified by His blood’ (Rom. 5:8-9);

  • and contrary to the Apostle John: ‘No one who is born of God is intent on sin, because God's seed remains in him, nor can he sin [continuously], because he has been born of God’ (1 John 3:9);

  • also contrary to the words of Jesus Christ: ‘I give eternal life to my sheep, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand...’ (John 10: 28-29)…

• [the Synod rejects the errors of those] Who teach that the faith of those who believe only temporarily does not differ from justifying and saving faith except in duration alone. For Christ Himself in Matthew 13:20ff and Luke 8:13ff clearly defines these further differences between temporary and true believers: He says that

  • the former receive the seed on rocky ground, and the latter receive it in good ground, or a good heart;

  • the former have no root, and the latter are firmly rooted;

  • the former have no fruit, and the latter produce fruit in varying measure, with steadfastness, or perseverance.

• [the Synod rejects the errors of those] Who teach that it is not absurd that a person, after losing his former regeneration, should once again – indeed quite often – be reborn. For by this teaching they deny the imperishable nature of God's seed by which we are born again, contrary to the testimony of the apostle Peter: ‘Born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable’ (1 Pet. 1:23).

• [and the Synod rejects the errors of those] Who teach that Christ nowhere prayed for an unfailing perseverance of believers in faith. For they contradict

  • Christ Himself when He says: ‘I have prayed for you, Peter, that your faith may not fail’ (Luke 22:32);

  • and John the gospel writer when he testifies (in John 17) that it was not only for the apostles, but also for all those who were to believe by their message that Christ prayed: ‘Holy Father, preserve them in your name’ (v. 11); and ‘My prayer is not that you take them out of the world, but that you preserve them from the evil one’ (v. 15).”

Appendix 2:Seven Classic Commentators on Esau’s “repentance”

Jameison, Faucett & Brown (Scottish Presbyterians, late 1800's)
He found no place of repentance — The cause is here put for the effect, “repentance” for the object which Esau aimed at in his so-called repentance, namely, the change of his father’s determination to give the chief blessing to Jacob. Had he sought real repentance with tears he would have found it (Mat. 7:7). But he did not find it because this was not what he sought. What proves his tears were not those of one seeking true repentance is, immediately after he was foiled in his desire, he resolved to murder Jacob! He shed tears, not for his sin, but for his suffering the penalty of his sin. His were tears of vain regret and remorse, not of repentance... The language is framed to apply to profane despisers who willfully cast away grace and seek repentance (that is, not real; but escape from the penalty of their sin), but in vain. Compare “afterward,” Mat. 25:11-12. Tears are no proof of real repentance (1Sam. 24:16-17; contrast Psalm 56:8).

Albert Barnes (mid 1800's)
For he found no place of repentance - Margin, “Way to change his mind,” That is, no place for repentance “in the mind of Isaac,” or no way to change his mind. It does not mean that Esau earnestly sought to repent and could not, but that when once the blessing had passed the lips of his father, he found it impossible to change it. Isaac firmly declared that he had “pronounced” the blessing, and though it had been obtained by fraud, yet as it was of the nature of a divine prediction, it could not now be changed... Though he sought it carefully with tears - Gen_27:34. He sought to change the purpose of his father, but could not do it. The meaning and bearing of this passage, as used by the apostle, may be easily understood: (1) The decision of God on the human character and destiny will soon be pronounced. That decision will be according to truth, and cannot be changed. (2) If we should despise our privileges as Esau did his birth-right, and renounce our religion, it would be impossible to recover what we had lost. There would be no possibility of changing the divine decision in the case, for it would be determined forever. This passage, therefore, should not be alleged to show that a sinner. “cannot repent,” or that he cannot find “place for repentance,” or assistance to enable him to repent, or that tears and sorrow for sin would be of no avail, for it teaches none of these things; but it should be used to keep us from disregarding our privileges, from turning away from the true religion, from slighting the favors of the gospel, and from neglecting religion until death comes…

Adam Clarke (early 1800's)
When he would have inherited the blessing - When he wished to have the lordship over the whole family conveyed to him, and sought it earnestly with tears, he found no place for a change in his father’s mind and counsel, who now perceived that it was the will of God that Jacob should be made lord of all. Repentance - Here μετανοια is not to be taken in a theological sense, as implying contrition for sin, but merely change of mind or purpose; nor does the word refer here to Esau at all, but to his father, whom Esau could not, with all his tears and entreaties, persuade to reverse what he had done. I have blessed him, said he, yea, and he must be blessed; I cannot reverse it now. See the whole of this transaction largely considered and explained, See the notes on Gen. 25:29, etc., and see Gen. 27:1 (note), etc. Nothing spoken here by the apostle, nor in the history in Genesis to which he refers, concerns the eternal state of either of the two brothers. The use made of the transaction by the apostle is of great importance: Take heed lest, by apostatizing from the Gospel, ye forfeit all right and title to the heavenly birthright, and never again be able to retrieve it; because they who reject the Gospel reject the only means of salvation.

John Gill (mid-1700's)
for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears, Gen.27:34 though he was very solicitous for the blessing, and shed many tears to obtain it, yet he had no true repentance for his sin in soiling the birthright. Tears are not an infallible sign of repentance: men may be more concerned for the loss and mischief that come by sin, than for the evil that is in it; and such repentance is not sincere; it does not spring from love to God, or a concern for his glory; nor does it bring forth proper fruits: or rather, the sense of the words is, that notwithstanding all his solicitude, importunity, and tears, he found no place of repentance in his father Isaac; he could not prevail upon him to change his mind; to revoke the blessing he had bestowed on Jacob, and confer it on him, Gen. 27:33 for he plainly saw it was the mind of God, that the blessing should be where it was; whose counsel shall stand, and he will do all his pleasure.

John Chrysostom (AD400, Bishop of Constantinople)
“For ye know” (he says) “how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected. For he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.” What now is this? Doth he indeed exclude repentance? By no means. ‘But how, you say, was it that “he found no place of repentance”?’ For if he condemned himself, if he made a great wailing, why did he “find no place of repentance”? Because it was not really a case of repentance. For as the grief of Cain was not of repentance, and the murder proved it; so also in this case, his words were not those of repentance, and the murder afterwards proved it. For even he also in intention slew Jacob. For “The days of mourning for my father,” he said, “are at hand; then will I slay my brother Jacob.” [Gen. xxvii. 41 ] “Tears” had not power to give him “repentance.” And [the Apostle] did not say “by repentance” simply, but even “with tears, he found no place of repentance.” Why now? Because he did not repent as he ought, for this is repentance; he repented not as it behoved him... For he who repents ought not to be angry, nor to be fierce, but to be contrite, as one condemned, as not having boldness, as one on whom sentence has been passed, as one who ought to be saved by mercy alone, as one who has shown himself ungrateful toward his Benefactor, as unthankful, as reprobate, as worthy of punish­ments innumerable. If he considers these things, he will not be angry, he will not be indignant, but will mourn, will weep, will groan, and lament night and day. He that is penitent ought never to forget his sin, but on the one hand, to beseech God not to remember it; while on the other, he himself never forgets it. If we remember it, God will forget it. Let us exact punishment from ourselves; let us accuse ourselves; thus shall we propitiate the Judge. For sin confessed becomes less, but not confessed worse. For if sin add to itself shamelessness and ingratitude, how will he who does not know that he sinned before be at all able to guard himself from falling again into the same [evils]? Let us then not deny [our sins], I beseech you, nor be shameless, that we may not unwillingly pay the penalty. Cain heard God say, “Where is Abel thy brother?” And he said, “I know not; am I my brother’s keeper?” [Gen. iv. 9] Seest thou how this made his sin more grievous? But his father did not act thus. What then? When he heard, “Adam, where art thou?” ( Gen. iii. 9 ), he said, “I heard Thy voice, and I was afraid, because I am naked, and I hid myself.” (Gen. iii. 10 .) It is a great good to acknowledge our sins, and to bear them in mind continually. Nothing so effectually cures a fault, as a continual remembrance of it. Nothing makes a man so slow to wickedness. I know that conscience starts back, and endures not to be scourged by the remembrance of evil deeds; but hold tight thy soul and place a muzzle on it. For like an ill-broken horse, so it bears impatiently [what is put upon it], and is unwilling to persuade itself that it has sinned: but all this is the work of Satan. But let us persuade it that it has sinned, that it may also repent, in order that, having repented, it may escape torment. How dost thou think to obtain pardon for thy sins, tell me, when thou hast not yet confessed them? Assuredly he is worthy of compassion and kindness who has sinned. But thou who hast not yet persuaded thyself [that thou hast sinned], how dost thou think to be pitied, when thou art thus without shame for some things? Let us persuade ourselves that we have sinned. Let us say it not with the tongue only, but also with the mind. Let us not call ourselves sinners, but also count over our sins, going over them each specifically. I do not say to thee, “Make a parade of thyself, nor accuse thyself before others,” but be persuaded by the prophet when he saith, “Reveal thy way unto the Lord.” (Ps. xxxvii. 5) Confess these things before God. Confess before the Judge thy sins with prayer; if not with tongue, yet in memory, and be worthy of mercy.

John Calvin (1551)
Another question also arises, Whether the sinner, endued with repentance, gains nothing by it? For the Apostle seems to imply this when he tells us that Esau’s repentance availed him nothing. My reply is, that repentance here is not to be taken for sincere conversion to God; but it was only that terror with which the Lord smites the ungodly, after they have long indulged themselves in their iniquity. Nor is it a wonder that this terror should be said to be useless and unavailing, for they do not in the meantime repent nor hate their own vices, but are only tormented by a sense of their own punishment. The same thing is to be said of tears;  whenever a sinner sighs on account of his sins, the Lord is ready to pardon him, nor is God’s mercy ever sought in vain, for to him who knocks it shall be opened, (Mt 7:8); but as the tears of Esau were those of a man past hope, they were not shed on account of having offended God; so the ungodly, however they may deplore their lot, complain and howl, do not yet knock at God’s door for mercy, for this cannot be done but by faith.

John Owen (mid-1800's)
"He sought for it with tears" The difficulty about "it" is removed, when we consider that here, as in some previous instances, the Apostle arranges his sentences according to the law of parallelism [or chiasm, as I (Nate) like to call it]; there are here four clauses; the first and last are connected ["wishing to inherit the blessing... he sought for it with tears"], and also the middle clauses... "He was rejected... he found no room for repentance" ... Neither did he seek it in a due manner; he sought it not from God; he sought the end without using the right means of faith and repentance; and herein lies the folly of most men, they would have the blessing of mercy and glory without the use of the means in faith, repentance, and obedience.

Appendix 3: Greek Text & English Versions of Hebrews 12:14-17^A