According to Genesis, Jacob and Esau struggled with each other while they were still in the womb.
Apparently, it was quite a struggle!
Many women pregnant with twins have experienced the same thing, but now we have motion video of unborn children doing just this.
Here’s the story . . . and the video.
Jacob and Esau
First, here’s the biblical story of Jacob and Esau:
Genesis 25
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.”
24 When the time came for her to give birth, there were twin boys in her womb (NIV).
Other translations render Rebekah’s question a bit differently, and in ways that bring out the intensity of the struggle:
But the children jostled each other in the womb so much that she exclaimed, “If it is like this, why go on living!” (NAB:RE).
The children struggled together within her; and she said, “If it is thus, why do I live?” (RSV).
Why Do They Do This?
The particularly intense struggle between Jacob and Esau may have had prophetic overtones, as Rebekah learned upon consulting the Lord, but this is not a phenomenon unique to them.
Lots of twins appear to struggle in the womb.
Why?