And when Esau heard the words of his father, he cried with a great and exceeding bitter cry, and said unto his father, Bless me, [even] me also, O my father.
34. an exceeding cry ] These are the words to which reference is made in Heb 12:17. Esau had hoped to win back through his father’s fondness the privileges which he himself had bartered away through his own thoughtless folly. His disappointment is all the greater, because he believed that he was about to recover that which his conscience told him he had already forfeited in an unworthy and trifling spirit.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
He cried with a great and exceeding bitter cry, not for any sense of his former sin, in despising his birthright, but for grief at his great loss therein, because God would not suffer him to be perjured in keeping that birthright blessing which he had sold and sworn away.
Bless me, even me also, O my father, i.e. Thou art my father no less than his, and therefore, as a child, I claim a share in thy blessing.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And when Esau heard the words of his father,…. That another person had been before him, and got the blessing; and especially when he heard this ratified, and confirmed, and made irrevocable:
he cried with a great and exceeding bitter cry; as loud as he possibly could, and in as doleful and hideous a manner as can be imagined; according to the Vulgate Latin version, he roared like a lion:
and said unto his father, bless me, [even] me also, O my father; thou art my father, and I am a child of thine as well as Jacob, show paternal affection to me; give me also a child’s blessing, one at least equal to what thou hast given Jacob, if not a greater, as being the firstborn.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
34. He cried with a great and exceeding bitter cry. Though Esau persists in imploring the blessing, he yet gives a sign of desperation, which is the reason why he obtains no benefit, because he enters not by the gate of faith. True piety, indeed, draws forth tears and great cries from the children of God; but Esau, trembling and full of fears, breaks out in wailings; afterwards he casts, at a venture, his wish into the air, that he also may receive a blessing. But his blind incredulity is reproved by his own words; for whereas one blessing only had been deposited with his father, he asks that another should be given to him, as if it were in his father’s power indiscriminately to breathe out blessings, independently of the command of God. Here the admonition of the Apostle may suggest itself to our minds,
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that Esau, when he sought again the forfeited blessing with tears and loud lamentations, found no place for repentance,” (Heb 12:17😉
for they who neglect to follow God when he calls on them, afterwards call upon him in vain, when he has turned his back. So long as God addresses and invites us, the gate of the kingdom of heaven is in a certain sense open: this opportunity we must use, if we desire to enter, according to the instruction of the Prophet,
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Seek ye the Lord while he may be found; call ye upon him while he is near.” (Isa 55:6.)
Of which passage Paul is the interpreter, in defining that to be the acceptable time of the day of salvation in which grace is brought unto us by the gospel. (2Co 6:2.) They who suffer that time to pass by, may, at length, knock too late, and without profit, because God avenges himself of their idleness. We must therefore fear lest if, with deafened ears, we suffer the voice of God now to pass unheeded by, he should, in turn, become deaf to our cry. But it may be asked, how is this repulse consistent with the promise,
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If the wicked will turn from all his sins that he has committed, and keep all my statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live?” (Eze 18:21.)
Moreover, it may seem at variance with the clemency of God to reject the sighings of those who, being crushed by misery, fly for refuge to his mercy. I answer, that repentance, if it be true and sincere, will never be too late; and the sinner who, from his soul, is displeased with himself, will obtain pardon: but God in this manner punishes the contempt of his grace, because they who obstinately reject it, do not seriously purpose in their mind to return to him. Thus it is that they who are given up to a reprobate mind are never touched with genuine penitence. Hypocrites truly break out into tears, like Esau, but their heart within them will remain closed as with iron bars. Therefore, since Esau rushes forward, destitute of faith and repentance, to ask a blessing, there is no wonder that he should be rejected.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
34. Esau cried with a great and exceeding bitter cry Here comes his penalty and sorrow for his part in the attempt to move against the prophecy and against the spirit of his own oath solemnly made to Jacob to yield him his birthright . There is something truly touching in his bitter cry, and yet we note that, like all the “profane,” he mourns not his sin or error, but the consequences . “He found no place of repentance,” no possibility or chance of repairing his loss by repentance, “though he sought it carefully with tears.” Heb 12:17.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘When Esau heard the words of his father he cried with an extremely loud and bitter cry, and said to his father, “Bless me, even me also, oh my father.”
Esau too is distraught. All he had hoped for has come to naught. Surely his father can do something to remedy the situation. Can he not have the blessing as well?
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Gen 27:34 And when Esau heard the words of his father, he cried with a great and exceeding bitter cry, and said unto his father, Bless me, [even] me also, O my father.
Ver. 34. He cried with a great and exceeding bitter cry. ] Not for his sin, in selling the birthright; but for his loss, in missing the blessing: a though having sold the birthright, he had no right to the blessing. This is the guise of the ungodly. He cries, Perii; not Peccavi. If he “howl upon his bed,” Hos 7:14 it is for corn and oil, as a dog tied up howls for his dinner: it never troubles him, that a good God is offended, which to an honest heart is the prime cause of greatest sorrow.
a Non dolet de peccato venditionis, sed de damno perditionis. – Par.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
he cried: 1Sa 30:4, Pro 1:24-28, Pro 1:31, Pro 19:3, Luk 13:24-28, Heb 12:17
Reciprocal: Gen 27:38 – General Gen 48:9 – bless them Exo 12:32 – bless me Est 4:1 – and cried Job 2:12 – their voice Luk 8:52 – all
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
A PENITENTS PRAYER
And when Esau heard the words of his father, he cried with a great and exceeding bitter cry, and said unto his father, Bless me, even me also, O my father.
Gen 27:34
No one can read this chapter without feeling some pity for Esau. All his hopes were disappointed in a moment. He had built much upon this blessing, for in his youth he had sold his birthright, and he thought that in his fathers blessing he would get back his birthright, or what would stand in its place. He had parted with it easily, and he expected to regain it easily. He thought to regain Gods blessing, not by fasting and prayer, but by savoury meat, by feasting and making merry.
I. Esaus cry is the cry of one who has rejected God, and who in turn has been rejected by Him. He was: (1) profane, and (2) presumptuous. He was profane in selling his birthright, presumptuous in claiming the blessing. Such as Esau was, such are too many Christians now. They neglect religion in their best days; they give up their birthright in exchange for what is sure to perish and make them perish with it. They are profane persons, for they despise the great gift of God; they are presumptuous, for they claim a blessing as a matter of course.
II. The prodigal son is an example of a true penitent. He came to God with deep confessionself-abasement. He said, Father, I have sinned. Esau came for a sons privileges; the prodigal son came for a servants drudgery. The one killed and dressed his venison with his own hand, and enjoyed it not; for the other the fatted calf was prepared, and the ring for his hand and shoes for his feet, and the best robe; and there was music and dancing.
Illustration
(1) There are in this world many modern Esaus. See how men are bartering away for a mere trifle, precious but irrecoverable opportunities! Again, according to the familiar Roman legend, a Sibyl came to the palace of Tarquin the Second, bearing nine volumes, for which she demanded a high price. Her offer was declined, and she disappeared, and burned three of the precious books. Returning, she offered the remaining six, but asked for them the same price which she had demanded for the nine. Again her proposition was rejected; and again she departed and committed to the flames three more volumes. Once more she came back, bearing the last three, and refusing any less sum for them than that by which all might once have been bought! Tarquin, startled by this strange conduct of the merciless Sibyl, advised with his augurs, and bought the books, which proved the invaluable Sibylline Verses; but the chance of purchasing those priceless sister volumes was for ever lost.
(2) My heart bleeds for Esau: he has to be content with a poor and paltry second-best. But he has himself to blame. He has shown himself so crass, so earthly, so blind to what is spiritual and holy.
Often there comes a time in a careless and godless life when it is roused to understand the value of the blessing which hitherto it has despised and neglected and refused.
Sometimes, alas! the awakening is too late. The blessing is gone. God, having been often rejected, has passed on His way. His Spirit does not always strive. His grace is not always available.
But many a time the awakening leads to good results. If I cannot, after turning away again and again from what is high and heavenly, after bestirring myself only at the eleventh, or the ninth, or the seventh hour, do everything for God I might have done, and receive from Him every gift I might have received, still His pardon may be mine, His favour, His friendship, His love.
Best it is when I am His from the outset. Best it is to yield myself to God in His own NowNow, the acceptable time, the day of full and free and eternal salvation.