Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. Lest there be any fornicator - Any licentious person who would turn the Gospel of the grace of God into lasciviousness.
Or profane person, as Esau - It is not intimated that Esau was a fornicator; and the disjunctive η, or, separates the profane person from the fornicator. And Esau is here termed profane, because he so far disregarded the spiritual advantages connected with his rights of primogeniture, that he alienated the whole for a single mess of pottage. See the note on Genesis 25:34. The word βεβηλος, which we translate profane, is compounded of βε, which in composition has a negative signification, and βηλος, the threshold of a temple or sacred edifice; and was applied to those who were not initiated into the sacred mysteries, or who were despisers of sacred things, and consequently were to be denied admittance to the temple, and were not permitted to assist at holy rites. Indeed, among the Greeks βεβηλος signified any thing or person which was not consecrated to the gods. Hence, in the opening of their worship, they were accustomed to proclaim,
Procul, O procul, este profani!
Virg.
"Hence! O hence! ye profane."
And,
Odi profanum vulgus, et arceo.
Hor.
"I abominate the profane vulgar, and drive them from the temple."
The Latin profanus, from which we have our word, is compounded of procul a fano, "far from the temple," properly an irreligious man.
Sold his birthright - The first-born, in patriarchal times,
1. Had a right to the priesthood, Exodus 22:29.
2. And a double portion of all the father's possessions, Deuteronomy 21:17.
3. And was lord over his brethren, Genesis 27:29, Genesis 27:37; Genesis 49:3.
4. And in the family of Abraham the first-born was the very source whence the Messiah as the Redeemer of the world, and the Church of God, were to spring. Farther,
5. The first-born had the right of conveying especial blessings and privileges when he came to die. See the case of Isaac and his two sons, Jacob and Esau, in the history to which the apostle alludes, Genesis 27; and that of Jacob and his twelve sons, Genesis 49;
In short, the rights of primogeniture were among the most noble, honorable, and spiritual in the ancient world.