And the children struggled together within her; and she said, If it be so, why am I thus? And she went to inquire of the LORD.
All Commentaries on Genesis 25:22 Go To Genesis 25
Tertullian of Carthage
AD 220
The very vitals of Rebekah are stirred, though the child is a long way from birth and there is no breath of air. Behold, the twin offspring struggles in the womb of their mother, though there yet is no sign of the two nations. We might regard as prophetic this struggle of the two infants, who are at enmity even before they are born, who show animosity before animation, for their restlessness disturbed their mother. When, however, the womb is opened, their number known and the symbolic implications of their condition made manifest, we see clearly not only the separate souls of those children but even then the beginning of their rivalry.
