Hosea 12:3
In the womb he grasped his brother’s heel, and in his vigor he wrestled with God.
BSB
ASV
In the womb he took his brother by the heel; and in his manhood he had power with God:
KJV
He took his brother by the heel in the womb, and by his strength he had power with God:
He took his brother by the heel in the womb - Whether or no the act of Jacob was beyond the strength, ordinarily given to infants in the womb, the meaning of the act was beyond man’s wisdom to declare. Whence the Jews paraphrased , “Was it not predicted of your lather Jacob, before he was born, that he should become greater than his brother?” Yet this was not fulfilled until more than 500 years afterward, nor completely until the time of David. These gifts were promised to Jacob out of the free mercy of God, antecedent to all deserts.
Took his brother - The design of mentioning this is to mind them of that goodness which God shewed them in their father Jacob. His strength - This strength was not of nature, but of grace. Strength received of God was well employed betimes; in it he wrestled for and obtained the blessing.
Jacob was poor, and low, and a fugitive; therefore his posterity ought not to be proud. He was a plain man, dwelling in tents, and keeping sheep; therefore balances of deceit ill became them. He served for a wife that was not a Canaanitess, as Esau's wives were; therefore it was a shame for them to degenerate into Canaanites, and mingle with the nations.
As the promised Canaan had to be gained forcibly by Israel, so heaven by the faithful (Re 3:21; compare Lu 13:24). "Strive," literally, "as in the agony of a contest." So the Canaanitess (Mt 15:22). his strength--which lay in his conscious weakness, whence, when his thigh was put out of joint by God, he hung upon Him. To seek strength was his object; to grant it, God's.
Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread: the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.
The walk7
Follow this verse’s cross-references two steps out. Each card is a verse this one points to, and beneath it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several different paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it. Every stop shows its own words, and every stop is a page.
Through
Romans 9:11Yet before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad, in order that God’s plan of election might stand,
leads to
He has saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works, but by His own purpose and by the grace He granted us in Christ Jesus before time began.
For He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless in His presence. In love
Therefore, brothers, strive to make your calling and election sure. For if you practice these things you will never stumble,
And He has made known to us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Christ
And we know that God works all things together for the good of those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose.
Through
Genesis 25:26After this, his brother came out grasping Esau’s heel; so he was named Jacob. And Isaac was sixty years old when the twins were born.
leads to
So Esau declared, “Is he not rightly named Jacob? For he has cheated me twice. He took my birthright, and now he has taken my blessing.” Then he asked, “Haven’t you saved a blessing…
And as she was giving birth, one of them put out his hand; so the midwife took a scarlet thread and tied it around his wrist. “This one came out first,” she announced.
