Hebrews 12:17

For ye know that when he afterward desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected; for he found no place for a change of mind in his father though he sought it diligently with tears.

Esau had sold his birthright, and the bargain stood. He got the pot of lentils! His later grief and tears over his wretched lapse appear very pitiful, even though thousands of years have passed since that tragic event occurred. This shows how inexorably the tides of mortal affairs move to the wide seas, and how far past all human calculation are the consequences of sin. Of course, it would be a mistake to question or blame the judgment of Isaac in withholding from Esau the birthright he had consented to sell for a trifle. There is every reason to believe that Isaac loved Esau more than Jacob, and that only considerations of the greatest moment could have compelled him, at last, to permit the blessing to rest upon Jacob, who, as far as Jacob's intention was concerned, had procured it through fraud. But long before the "afterward" spoken of in this verse, it became apparent to Isaac that something had gone wrong in Esau, the profane; and Isaac's wisdom taught him that Esau was disqualified and incapable of so sacred a trust. Esau had become such a man as COULD NOT be the head of the tribes of Israel, nor stand in the forefront of the people as a priest of God. Whether or not Isaac, at the time it happened, knew that God's hand was in Jacob's receiving the blessing, he certainly knew it by the time mentioned here when Esau sought earnestly to change the matter; thus it is said that Esau found no place for a change in the mind of his father.

Perhaps, in this context, it should be noted that Jacob's procuring the blessing through means of deception, even though he bought it, was also reprehensible; and the judgment of God overtook him for that, and he received retribution in kind for what he had done. Jacob deceived and lied to his father; but he too was deceived and lied to by his sons in the matter of the sale of Joseph; and there is every reason to believe that Jacob carried the memory of that shameful hour of his deception of Isaac, like a burning coal in his bosom, throughout all the 147 years of his life. With all his sins, however, Jacob did possess the one redeeming characteristic of regard for sacred things and faith in the promise of God, which enabled him to become a true prince of God, that being the meaning of the name "Israel," given to Jacob by an angel of the Highest (Genesis 32:28).

The remaining 12 verses (Hebrews 12:18-29) present a contrast between the law and the gospel, particularly between the awesome events at Sinai, where the law was given, and the even more awesome spectacle of the enthronement of Christ on the right hand of God in heaven. The Hebrew law-giving was a frightening and awe-inspiring experience for Israel and Moses; but when properly understood, the Christian's law-giving is even more impressive. First, the author recalls from the book of Exodus some of the circumstances of that former event.