Hebrews 12:17

For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.

Afterward, [ kai (G2532)] - 'even afterward.' He despised his birthright; accordingly also he was despised, when he wished to have the blessing. As in the believer's case, so in the unbeliever's, there is an "afterward" coming, when the believer shall look on his past griefs, and the unbeliever on his past joys, in a very different light from that in which they were respectively viewed at the time. Compare "nevertheless afterward," etc., Hebrews 12:11, with it here. Compare "the cool of the day," Genesis 3:8, with Genesis 3:6.

When he would - wished to have. 'He that will not when he may, when he will, shall have nay' (Proverbs 1:24-20; Luke 13:28; Luke 13:34; Luke 19:42; Luke 19:44).

He was rejected, [ apedokimasthee (G593), 'as reprobate'] - not as to every blessing; only that which would have followed the primogeniture.

He found no place of repentance. The cause put for the effect, "repentance" for the object which Esau aimed at-namely, the change of his father's bestowal of the chief blessing on Jacob. Had he sought real repentance with tears, he would have found it (Matthew 7:7). But he did not find it, because this was not what he sought. What proves his tears were not those of one seeking repentance is, immediately after he was foiled in his desire, he resolved to murder Jacob! He shed tears, not for sin, but for suffering the penalty of it. His were tears of vain remorse, not repentance. 'Before, he might have had the blessing without tears; afterward, however many he shed, he was rejected. The most hardened shed tears at times; when they repent not then, they hardly ever do afterward' (Bengel). Alford, 'He found no way, by repenting, to repair' (i:e., to regain the lost blessing). 'No place for changing HIS FATHER'S mind' is a harsh interpretation. The "repentance" sought is Esau's own; but referring to the real object he sought, namely, the reversal of his forfeiture of the blessing. Profane despisers cast away grace, and, when overtaken by judgment, seek repentance (i:e., in their view of it, escape from the penalty of their sin), but in vain. Compare "afterward," Matthew 25:11. Tears are no proof of real repentance (1 Samuel 24:16-9: contrast Psalms 56:8).

It - the blessing, the real object of Esau, though ostensibly seeking "repentance."