seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Genesis 25:19 This is the account of the family line of Abraham’s son Isaac.
Abraham became the father of Isaac, 20 and Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah daughter of Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan Aram[c] and sister of Laban the Aramean.
21 Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife, because she was childless. The Lord answered his prayer, and his wife Rebekah became pregnant. 22 The babies jostled each other within her, and she said, “Why is this happening to me?” So she went to inquire of the Lord.
23 The Lord said to her,
“Two nations are in your womb,
and two peoples from within you will be separated;
one people will be stronger than the other,
and the older will serve the younger.”
Abraham became the father of Isaac, 20 and Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah daughter of Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan Aram[c] and sister of Laban the Aramean.
21 Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife, because she was childless. The Lord answered his prayer, and his wife Rebekah became pregnant. 22 The babies jostled each other within her, and she said, “Why is this happening to me?” So she went to inquire of the Lord.
23 The Lord said to her,
“Two nations are in your womb,
and two peoples from within you will be separated;
one people will be stronger than the other,
and the older will serve the younger.”
The first commentary I found about the battling brothers comes from studylight.org.
What God said is simple; Rebekah would give birth to twins. The twins would each father nations. One shall be greater than the other, and the younger will be greater than the older.
Jewish legends say Jacob and Esau tried to kill each other in the womb. Also, every time Rebekah went near an idols altar, Esau would get excited in the womb, and when she would go near a place where the Lord was worshipped, Jacob would get excited.
I also found this at the bible-commentaries.com site.
Verse 23 says: "The LORD said to her, 'Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger.'"
We understand very little about fetal life. We believe that life and personality exist from the moment of conception. In the debate about abortion rights, if we may call it a "debate," the pro-choice movement maintains that a fetus is a non-person for the first several months and consequently abortion cannot be called murder.
There are two instances in the Bible of a fetus that reacts to spiritual realities. There is John the Baptist, who jumped up in his mother's womb when his mother heard the voice of Mary, who was pregnant with Jesus, greeting her. In Luke's Gospel we read: "When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy." How an unborn baby can hear and express joy about what he hears is beyond my comprehension. I do not believe the medical science has come far enough to understand this either.
Here we have two babies in the same womb, starting to act out a future history of animosity and war. It was as if the Holy Spirit was getting a hold of baby Jacob and Satan was trying to get Esau and so the two were at loggerheads. Strange and unbelievable as this may sound, that seems to have been the case. There was a pre-natal war going on between light and darkness, between the truth of God's revelation and Satan's attempt to darken it and keep it hidden. It seems a prelude to what we read in John: "The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it." We understand why Rebekah was upset. This was more than a normal pregnancy.
There are two instances in the Bible of a fetus that reacts to spiritual realities. There is John the Baptist, who jumped up in his mother's womb when his mother heard the voice of Mary, who was pregnant with Jesus, greeting her. In Luke's Gospel we read: "When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy." How an unborn baby can hear and express joy about what he hears is beyond my comprehension. I do not believe the medical science has come far enough to understand this either.
Here we have two babies in the same womb, starting to act out a future history of animosity and war. It was as if the Holy Spirit was getting a hold of baby Jacob and Satan was trying to get Esau and so the two were at loggerheads. Strange and unbelievable as this may sound, that seems to have been the case. There was a pre-natal war going on between light and darkness, between the truth of God's revelation and Satan's attempt to darken it and keep it hidden. It seems a prelude to what we read in John: "The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it." We understand why Rebekah was upset. This was more than a normal pregnancy.
Gentlemen, you will never ever know what it is like to have one baby deciding to flip, or punch, or kick, or hiccup in your belly. Oh hiccups is a real joy! Mothers, do you remember the baby having hiccups in the belly? I could not sleep when the baby had the hiccups! I cannot imagine what it must have been like for Rebekah with two babies doing it all and more all the time.... she must have been so sore and so exhausted!
