It occurs several times in the bible: two brothers who go a different way in life and make different choices. One will be fine and the other will not. For starters, think of Cain and Abel. But also Esau and Jacob, twin brothers even. Of these two God says “Jacob have I loved and Esau have I hated” (Romans 9:13). Why that was will become apparent from what follows.
Two brothers
When Abraham died, Esau and Jacob were 15 years old and their father Isaac was 75 years old. They have, without a doubt, heard their grandfather's faith stories. About God's command to sacrifice Isaac and how God Himself then provided a burnt offering. But the brothers reacted very differently to it.
They were different in character, to be sure. I have the impression that Esau had a nicer character than Jacob. Today they would probably say that Esau is "a beautiful person." Jakob was someone who had it 'a little behind the elbows'. Yet character has nothing to do with the choices they made when it came to the things of God.
Jacob is called a "sincere" man (Genesis 25:27). The same word is used several times for Job ('pious', eg Job 1:1,8; 2:3 etc.). If you read what Job does for his children (Job 1:5), Job must have understood how valuable the burnt offering is to God.
That's why I think Job and Jacob both understood something about God's burnt offering. They knew of God's holiness, of man's sinfulness and their own depravity, as well as of God's perfect burnt offering, without which no man can stand before God.
The firstborn
Esau was the firstborn and was therefore entitled to most of his father's inheritance. But all the privileges that he had as a firstborn son he despised. In that respect he resembles the father's two sons from Luke 15. The younger demanded his share to 'to squander in a licentious life' and the eldest did not take advantage of the privileges he enjoyed. His father tells him: “Child you are always with me and all mine is yours” (Luke 15:31). The story doesn't say so, but he probably didn't celebrate the party.
So it was with Esau. The letter to the Hebrews says the following about Esau:
“Let no one . . . be an unholy one, like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. For you know that even afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place of repentance, though he sought the blessing fervently and with tears.” (Hebrews 12:16-17)
We are warned not to be like Esau and—I'll put it simply—to despise God's blessings. Rather, we should endeavor to know and enjoy those blessings, for we are blessed"with all spiritual blessings in the heavenly places in Christ' (Ephesians 1:3). After all, we belong to a 'congregation of firstborn' (Hebrews 12:23).
An unholy
Esau becomes a 'unholy' named. This is a special word that appears only five times in the New Testament and is not translated consistently in almost all translations. When I was confronted with the contemplation years ago, I noticed this word because of its special translation in the Naarden Bible.
In that translation it says in two places1 the expression 'well-trodden' and that naturally challenges us to find out why the translator would have chosen this. It became an interesting search for the meaning of the word Paul uses.
First only the five times that the word occurs.
| 1 Timothy 1:9 | (…) the law is not for (…) wicked and sinners, unholy and unclean (…) |
| 1 Timothy 4:7 | But reject the unholy and nonsense fictions and exercise yourselves in godliness. |
| 1 Timothy 6:20 | (…) turn away from unholy, meaningless talk and contradictions of the erroneously so-called knowledge. |
| 2 Timothy 2:16 | But dodge unholy, meaningless talk. For those who do so will increase more and more in wickedness. |
| Hebrews 12:16 | Let no one be a fornicator or a unholylike Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. |
The original Greek2 word 'bebelos' is composed of/derived from two other words, namely a) 'step' or 'step' and b) 'threshold'. So the meaning is that you cross a threshold and enter another space.
Well, this word was indeed used by the Greeks for entering the sacred ground of the (idolatrous) temple. In that sense it had a positive meaning for the Greeks. But Paul uses the same word in a negative sense, for for the believer entering a pagan temple is a profane affair. Something you shouldn't have thought of; it was unholy. So this word specifically refers to idolatry. Things we have seen before, both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament, for example in the letter to the Corinthians (chapters 8-11)3.
The Contemplation
The word 'unholy' (bebelos) has a direct connection with entering a (other) space and in particular an idol temple. That this is also topical in contemplation becomes clear when we discover that many contemplatives use similar words. The first person I discovered this with years ago is Jos Douma. He writes, among other things, about meditation and at the last step of it says “Step the inner prayer room in". Others also call it 'the inner space', 'the inner sanctuary' or 'the inner temple'4.
All in all, we can therefore say that Paul used this specific word 'unholy' (bebelos) used to refer to the idolatrous practice of contemplation (see also here), where one enters the "inner space" to meet the god(s).
Back to Esau
It is noteworthy that in the letter to Hebrews Esau writes a 'unholy', one who knew how to experience 'god' in his innermost depths. The same experiences that everyone has who – through the ages – ends up on the road of contemplation. As a result, Esau despised the birthright (Genesis 25:34).
Every Christian is in danger of falling into the path of idolatry, just like Esau. Therefore, the context of the 12th chapter of Hebrews so relevant. Because the 'sin entangled us so easily' (12:1), we must'keep one's eye on Jesus, the Author and Finisher of the faith' (12:2). Persevering in the faith (chapter 11) is the key word. God the Father uses His chastisements for this:For the Lord rebukes those whom He loves, and scourges every son whom He receives. . . . that we may partake of His holiness.” (12:6, 10). The God and Father who loves us is also the God who “Judge is over all, . . . a consuming fire” (12:23,29).
Our God is so very different from the contemplative 'god' who does not judge and is only 'love'.
We are summoned…
“(…) to hold fast to grace and thereby serve God in a manner pleasing to Him with awe and reverence” (12:28)
Footnotes
- 1 Timothy 6:12 and 2 Timothy 2:16 ↩︎
- The Greek language is not one of my areas of expertise, so to speak. But with the help of the Strongcoding and the expertise of a brother/teacher of ancient languages you can go a long way. ↩︎
- We hope to write something about the letters to Timothy and the relationship with idolatry. ↩︎
- The etymology (origin) of the word 'contemplation' also clearly refers to a temple space (see for example here: http://www.contemplationem.com/publications/20110729.html). ↩︎
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