◄ Hosea 12:3 ►
In the womb he grasped his brother's heel, and in his vigor he wrestled with God.
Study Bible
In the womb
This phrase refers to the prenatal state of Jacob, the patriarch, highlighting the divine plan and purpose that God had for him even before his birth. The Hebrew word for "womb" is "בֶּטֶן" (beten), which signifies the innermost part of a person, often used metaphorically to describe the beginning of life. This emphasizes God's sovereignty and foreknowledge, as He had already chosen Jacob for a significant role in His redemptive history.

he grasped his brother’s heel
The act of grasping Esau's heel is a direct reference to Genesis 25:26, where Jacob is born holding onto Esau's heel. The Hebrew word for "heel" is "עָקֵב" (aqeb), which is also the root for the name "Jacob" (יַעֲקֹב, Ya'akov). This action symbolizes Jacob's determination and foreshadows his future struggles and the contentious relationship with his brother Esau. It also reflects the theme of struggle and striving that characterizes Jacob's life, illustrating the human condition of wrestling with one's destiny and the divine.

and in his vigor
The word "vigor" here is translated from the Hebrew "אוֹן" (on), which conveys strength, power, and vitality. This highlights Jacob's tenacity and resilience, qualities that are evident throughout his life. His vigor is not merely physical but also spiritual, as he persistently seeks God's blessing and favor. This serves as an inspiration for believers to pursue their spiritual journey with determination and strength, relying on God's power.

he wrestled with God
This phrase refers to the pivotal event in Jacob's life when he wrestled with a divine being at Peniel, as recorded in Genesis 32:24-30. The Hebrew verb "שָׂרָה" (sarah) means to contend or strive, and it is from this encounter that Jacob's name is changed to Israel, meaning "he struggles with God." This wrestling match is symbolic of Jacob's lifelong struggle with faith, identity, and his relationship with God. It underscores the idea that spiritual growth often involves wrestling with God through prayer, doubt, and perseverance. This encounter is a powerful reminder of God's willingness to engage with humanity and transform lives through divine encounters.

Persons / Places / Events
1. Jacob
The central figure in this verse, Jacob is one of the patriarchs of Israel. His life is marked by struggle and transformation, beginning with his birth when he grasped his brother Esau's heel.

2. Esau
Jacob's twin brother, whom Jacob grasped by the heel at birth. This act foreshadows the ongoing struggle and rivalry between the two brothers.

3. God
The divine being with whom Jacob wrestles, symbolizing a pivotal moment of spiritual struggle and transformation in Jacob's life.

4. Penuel
The place where Jacob wrestled with God, leading to his name being changed to Israel, meaning "he struggles with God."

5. Israel
The name given to Jacob after his wrestling with God, signifying his new identity and the nation that would descend from him.
Teaching Points
The Nature of Struggle
Jacob's life illustrates that spiritual growth often involves struggle. Just as Jacob wrestled with God, believers are called to wrestle with their faith, seeking deeper understanding and transformation.

God's Sovereignty and Human Agency
Jacob's account shows the interplay between divine sovereignty and human action. While God has a plan, Jacob's actions and choices are significant in the unfolding of that plan.

Identity and Transformation
Jacob's transformation into Israel signifies the new identity believers receive in Christ. Just as Jacob was changed through his encounter with God, Christians are transformed through their relationship with Christ.

Perseverance in Faith
Jacob's persistence in wrestling with God serves as a model for believers to persevere in their faith, trusting in God's promises even amidst challenges.

The Importance of Names
The change from Jacob to Israel highlights the significance of names and identity in Scripture. Believers are given a new name and identity in Christ, reflecting their new life and purpose.
Bible Study Questions
1. How does Jacob's grasping of Esau's heel at birth foreshadow his later life and struggles? Reflect on how early life events can shape one's spiritual journey.

2. In what ways does Jacob's wrestling with God at Penuel serve as a metaphor for the Christian life? How can believers apply this metaphor to their own spiritual struggles?

3. How does the transformation of Jacob into Israel illustrate the concept of new identity in Christ? What does this mean for your personal walk with God?

4. Consider the role of perseverance in Jacob's account. How can you apply the principle of perseverance in your own faith journey, especially during times of struggle?

5. Reflect on the significance of names and identity in the Bible. How does your identity in Christ influence your daily life and decisions?
Connections to Other Scriptures
Genesis 25:26
This verse describes Jacob's birth and his grasping of Esau's heel, setting the stage for his life of struggle and the fulfillment of God's promises.

Genesis 32:24-28
This passage recounts Jacob's wrestling with God at Penuel, where he is renamed Israel, highlighting his perseverance and transformation.

Romans 9:10-13
Paul references Jacob and Esau to illustrate God's sovereign choice and the unfolding of His redemptive plan.
Sermons
Power with GodJ.R. Thomson Hosea 12:3
Prevailing with GodC. Jerdan Hosea 12:3
Bethel and PenielRobert Tuck, B. A.Hosea 12:3-4
Israel Unlike JacobRowland Williams, D. D.Hosea 12:3-4
Jacob's StrengthJeremiah Burroughs.Hosea 12:3-4
Jacob's Victory and Our DutyBeaver H. Blacker, M. A.Hosea 12:3-4
Wrestling JacobA. Moorhouse, M. A.Hosea 12:3-4
Power with GodJ. Orr Hosea 12:3-6
People
Aram, Assyrians, Hosea, Jacob
Places
Aram, Assyria, Bethel, Egypt, Gilead, Gilgal
Topics
Body, Brother, Brother's, Contended, Fighting, Foot, Godlike, Grasped, Heel, Manhood, Maturity, Power, Prince, Strength, Strove, Struggled, Womb, Wrestled
Dictionary of Bible Themes
Hosea 12:3

     5160   heel
     5199   womb

Hosea 12:2-5

     8672   striving with God

Library
Everybody's Sermon
Now it struck me that God is every day preaching to us by similitudes. When Christ was on earth he preached in parables, and, though he is in heaven now, he is preaching in parables to-day. Providence is God's sermon. The things which we see about us are God's thoughts and God's words to us; and if we were but wise there is not a step that we take, which me should not find to be full of mighty instruction. O ye sons of men! God warns you every day by his own word; he speaks to you by the lips of …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 4: 1858

The Pilgrim's Progress
FROM THIS WORLD TO THAT WHICH IS TO COME. THE SECOND PART. DELIVERED UNDER THE SIMILITUDE OF A DREAM. WHEREIN IS SET FORTH THE MANNER OF THE SETTING OUT OF CHRISTIAN'S WIFE AND CHILDREN, THEIR DANGEROUS JOURNEY, AND SAFE ARRIVAL AT THE DESIRED COUNTRY. By JOHN BUNYAN. 'I have used similitudes.'--Hosea 12:10. London: Printed for Nathaniel Ponder, at the Peacock in the Poultry, near the Church, 1684. THE AUTHOR'S WAY OF SENDING FORTH HIS SECOND PART OF THE PILGRIM. Go now, my little book, to every …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

The Holy War,
MADE BY SHADDAI UPON DIABOLUS, FOR THE REGAINING OF THE METROPOLIS OF THE WORLD; OR, THE LOSING AND TAKING AGAIN OF THE TOWN OF MANSOUL. THE AUTHOR OF 'THE PILGRIM'S PROGRESS.' 'I have used similitudes.'--Hosea 12:10. London: Printed for Dorman Newman, at the King's Arms in the Poultry; and Benjamin Alsop, at the Angel and Bible in the Poultry, 1682. ADVERTISEMENT BY THE EDITOR. Bunyan's account of the Holy War is indeed an extraordinary book, manifesting a degree of genius, research, and spiritual …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

The Twofold Wrestle --God's with Jacob and Jacob's with God
'And Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, the Lord which saidst unto me, Return unto thy country, and to thy kindred, and I will deal well with thee: I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth, which Thou hast shewed unto Thy servant; for with my staff I passed over this Jordan; and now I am become two bands. Deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau: for I fear him, lest he will come and smite me, and the …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Gen. xxxi. 11
Of no less importance and significance is the passage Gen. xxxi. 11 seq. According to ver. 11, the Angel of God, [Hebrew: mlaK halhiM] appears toJacob in a dream. In ver. 13, the same person calls himself the God of Bethel, with reference to the event recorded in chap. xxviii. 11-22. It cannot be supposed that in chap xxviii. the mediation of a common angel took place, who, however, had not been expressly mentioned; for Jehovah is there contrasted with the angels. In ver. 12, we read: "And behold …
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament

The Unity of the Divine Essence in Three Persons Taught, in Scripture, from the Foundation of the World.
1. Scripture, in teaching that the essence of God is immense and spiritual, refutes not only idolaters and the foolish wisdom of the world, but also the Manichees and Anthropomorphites. These latter briefly refuted. 2. In this one essence are three persons, yet so that neither is there a triple God, nor is the simple essence of God divided. Meaning of the word Person in this discussion. Three hypostases in God, or the essence of God. 3. Objection of those who, in this discussion, reject the use of …
John Calvin—The Institutes of the Christian Religion

Concerning Worship.
Concerning Worship. [780] All true and acceptable worship to God is offered in the inward and immediate moving and drawing of his own Spirit which is neither limited to places times, nor persons. For though we are to worship him always, and continually to fear before him; [781] yet as to the outward signification thereof, in prayers, praises, or preachings, we ought not to do it in our own will, where and when we will; but where and when we are moved thereunto by the stirring and secret inspiration …
Robert Barclay—Theses Theologicae and An Apology for the True Christian Divinity

The Wonderful.
Isaiah ix:6. HIS name shall be called "Wonderful" (Isaiah ix:6). And long before Isaiah had uttered this divine prediction the angel of the Lord had announced his name to be Wonderful. As such He appeared to Manoah. And Manoah said unto the angel of Jehovah, What is thy name, that when thy sayings come to pass we may do thee honor. And the angel of Jehovah said unto Him "why askest thou thus after my name, seeing it is Wonderful" (margin, Judges xiii:17-18). This angel of Jehovah, the Person who …
Arno Gaebelein—The Lord of Glory

"But if we Walk in the Light, as He is in the Light, we have Fellowship one with Another, and the Blood of Jesus Christ His
1 John i. 7.--"But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin." Art is the imitation of nature, and true religion is a divine art, that consists in the imitation of God himself, the author of nature. Therefore it is a more high and transcendent thing, of a sublimer nature than all the arts and sciences among men. Those reach but to some resemblance of the wisdom of God, expressed in his works, …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

Motives to Holy Mourning
Let me exhort Christians to holy mourning. I now persuade to such a mourning as will prepare the soul for blessedness. Oh that our hearts were spiritual limbecs, distilling the water of holy tears! Christ's doves weep. They that escape shall be like doves of the valleys, all of them mourning, every one for his iniquity' (Ezekiel 7:16). There are several divine motives to holy mourning: 1 Tears cannot be put to a better use. If you weep for outward losses, you lose your tears. It is like a shower …
Thomas Watson—The Beatitudes: An Exposition of Matthew 5:1-12

The Prophet Hosea.
GENERAL PRELIMINARY REMARKS. That the kingdom of Israel was the object of the prophet's ministry is so evident, that upon this point all are, and cannot but be, agreed. But there is a difference of opinion as to whether the prophet was a fellow-countryman of those to whom he preached, or was called by God out of the kingdom of Judah. The latter has been asserted with great confidence by Maurer, among others, in his Observ. in Hos., in the Commentat. Theol. ii. i. p. 293. But the arguments …
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament

The Eighth Commandment
Thou shalt not steal.' Exod 20: 15. AS the holiness of God sets him against uncleanness, in the command Thou shalt not commit adultery;' so the justice of God sets him against rapine and robbery, in the command, Thou shalt not steal.' The thing forbidden in this commandment, is meddling with another man's property. The civil lawyers define furtum, stealth or theft to be the laying hands unjustly on that which is another's;' the invading another's right. I. The causes of theft. [1] The internal causes …
Thomas Watson—The Ten Commandments

The Tenth Commandment
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his man-servant, nor his maid-servant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.' Exod 20: 17. THIS commandment forbids covetousness in general, Thou shalt not covet;' and in particular, Thy neighbour's house, thy neighbour's wife, &c. I. It forbids covetousness in general. Thou shalt not covet.' It is lawful to use the world, yea, and to desire so much of it as may keep us from the temptation …
Thomas Watson—The Ten Commandments

There is a Blessedness in Reversion
Blessed are the poor in spirit. Matthew 5:3 Having done with the occasion, I come now to the sermon itself. Blessed are the poor in spirit'. Christ does not begin his Sermon on the Mount as the Law was delivered on the mount, with commands and threatenings, the trumpet sounding, the fire flaming, the earth quaking, and the hearts of the Israelites too for fear; but our Saviour (whose lips dropped as the honeycomb') begins with promises and blessings. So sweet and ravishing was the doctrine of this …
Thomas Watson—The Beatitudes: An Exposition of Matthew 5:1-12

Prayer
But I give myself unto prayer.' Psa 109: 4. I shall not here expatiate upon prayer, as it will be considered more fully in the Lord's prayer. It is one thing to pray, and another thing to be given to prayer: he who prays frequently, is said to be given to prayer; as he who often distributes alms, is said to be given to charity. Prayer is a glorious ordinance, it is the soul's trading with heaven. God comes down to us by his Spirit, and we go up to him by prayer. What is prayer? It is an offering …
Thomas Watson—The Ten Commandments

The Prophet Amos.
GENERAL PRELIMINARY REMARKS. It will not be necessary to extend our preliminary remarks on the prophet Amos, since on the main point--viz., the circumstances under which he appeared as a prophet--the introduction to the prophecies of Hosea may be regarded as having been written for those of Amos also. For, according to the inscription, they belong to the same period at which Hosea's prophetic ministry began, viz., the latter part of the reign of Jeroboam II., and after Uzziah had ascended the …
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament

Hosea
The book of Hosea divides naturally into two parts: i.-iii. and iv.-xiv., the former relatively clear and connected, the latter unusually disjointed and obscure. The difference is so unmistakable that i.-iii. have usually been assigned to the period before the death of Jeroboam II, and iv.-xiv. to the anarchic period which succeeded. Certainly Hosea's prophetic career began before the end of Jeroboam's reign, as he predicts the fall of the reigning dynasty, i. 4, which practically ended with Jeroboam's …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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