Here is the `root of bitterness', a heart that turns away from God, or,

in the language of Hebrews 3:12:

`Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of

unbelief, in departing from the living God'.

The words of Amos 6:12 seem to have some reflection upon the `peaceable

fruit of righteousness' and the `root of bitterness': `Ye have turned

judgment into gall, and the fruit of righteousness into hemlock'.  The effect

of this root of bitterness is `trouble' and `defilement'.  A reference to

John 18:28 will show the nature of the defilement -- something that was

profane, something from which a Jew would shrink.

We have next to learn in what sense Esau was

a fornicator, and what

bearing it has upon the teaching of this passage.

There are two outstanding

events in Esau's history that are recorded against

him.  One is the selling

of his birthright for a mess of pottage, the other

his marriage with women

outside the covenant:

`And Rebekah said to Isaac, I am weary of my life because of the

daughters of Heth: if Jacob take a wife of the daughters of Heth, such

as these which are of the daughters of the land, what good shall my

life do me?' (Gen. 27:46).

The word `fornication' is not to be taken literally, but

is rather explained by the apostle to refer to `a profane person'.  Now this

word profane (bebelos) is made up of the particle be, denoting privation, and

belos, a threshold of a temple; hence one who was debarred from entry into

a holy place.  In the same way the Latin word profanus means one who stands

pro fano, at a distance from a temple; hence, too, our English word `fane', a

church.  Esau had no appreciation of either his birthright or the holy nature

of the covenant of God.  He becomes a warning to the Hebrews who were being

tempted to cast away the precious and enduring substance of their heavenly

birthright, for the mess of pottage of present ease.

Hebrews 12:17 is a complete explanation of the difficult passage in

Hebrews 6.  There, the exhortation is to go on unto perfection.  `But', says

the apostle, `it is impossible for those who were once enlightened ... if

they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance'.  So, of Esau it

is written, `For ye know how that afterward ... he found no place of

repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears'.  Esau and his example

stand out in the closing portion of Hebrews, as the children of Israel in the

wilderness stand out in the opening section (chapters 3 and 4).  The warning

is for these Hebrews who, like their fathers and like Esau, were in danger of

drawing back, turning aside, losing the heavenly for the sake of the earthly.

The expression `No place' is found once more in Hebrews 8:7.

Paul indicated the great dispensational change that had come, when he

said to the Athenians:

`And the times of this ignorance God winked at; But Now commandeth All

Men Everywhere to repent' (Acts 17:30).

He summed up his first ministry by saying: