2 Yahweh also has a controversy with Judah, and will punish Jacob according to his ways; according to his deeds he will repay him.
3 In the womb he took his brother by the heel; and in his manhood he contended with God.
4 Indeed, he struggled with the angel, and prevailed; he wept, and made supplication to him. He found him at Bethel, and there he spoke with us,
KJVKing James Version
2 The LORD hath also a controversy with Judah, and will punish Jacob according to his ways; according to his doings will he recompense him.
3 He took his brother by the heel in the womb, and by his strength he had power with God:
4 Yea, he had power over the angel, and prevailed: he wept, and made supplication unto him: he found him in Beth-el, and there he spake with us;
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JPSJPS Tanakh (1917)
2 (12-3) The LORD hath also a controversy with Judah, and will punish Jacob according to his ways, according to his doings will He recompense him.
3 (12-4) In the womb he took his brother by the heel, and by his strength he strove with a godlike being;
4 (12-5) So he strove with an angel, and prevailed; he wept, and made supplication unto him; at Beth-el he would find him, and there he would speak with us;
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Who did Jacob wrestle with?Genesis 32 has Jacob wrestling "a man" at the Jabbok, after which Jacob insists he has "seen God face to face" and names the place Peniel.
Genesis 25:26(v3)After that, his brother came out, and his hand had hold on Esau’s heel. He was named Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them.
Micah 6:2(v2)Hear, you mountains, Yahweh’s controversy, and you enduring foundations of the earth; for Yahweh has a controversy with his people, and he…
Genesis 35:15(v4)Jacob called the name of the place where God spoke with him “Bethel”.
Isaiah 10:6(v2)I will send him against a profane nation, and against the people who anger me I will give him a command to take the plunder and to take the…
Hosea 4:1(v2)Hear Yahweh’s word, you children of Israel; for Yahweh has a charge against the inhabitants of the land: “Indeed there is no truth, nor…
Show all 38 cross-references
Isaiah 3:11(v2)Woe to the wicked! Disaster is upon them; for the deeds of his hands will be paid back to him.
Isaiah 8:7-8(v2)now therefore, behold, the Lord brings upon them the mighty flood waters of the River: the king of Assyria and all his glory. It will come…
Isaiah 10:12(v2)Therefore it will happen that when the Lord has performed his whole work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the…
Jeremiah 3:8-11(v2)I saw when, for this very cause, that backsliding Israel had committed adultery, I had put her away and given her a certificate of divorce,…
Jeremiah 25:31(v2)A noise will come even to the end of the earth; for Yahweh has a controversy with the nations. He will enter into judgment with all flesh.…
Hosea 2:13(v2)I will visit on her the days of the Baals, to which she burned incense, when she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels, and went…
Hosea 8:13(v2)As for the sacrifices of my offerings, they sacrifice meat and eat it; But Yahweh doesn’t accept them. Now he will remember their iniquity,…
Malachi 3:1(v4)“Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me; and the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to his temple; and the…
1 Thessalonians 4:17(v4)then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air. So we will be with…
Genesis 32:24-28(v3)Jacob was left alone, and wrestled with a man there until the breaking of the day. When he saw that he didn’t prevail against him, the man…
Genesis 32:29(v4)Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.” He said, “Why is it that you ask what my name is?” He blessed him there.
Genesis 35:9-10(v4)God appeared to Jacob again, when he came from Paddan Aram, and blessed him. God said to him, “Your name is Jacob. Your name shall not be…
Genesis 48:15(v4)He blessed Joseph, and said, “The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has fed me all my life long to this day,
Exodus 3:2-5(v4)Yahweh’s angel appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the middle of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush burned with fire, and the…
2 Kings 17:19-20(v2)Also Judah didn’t keep the commandments of Yahweh their God, but walked in the statutes of Israel which they made. Yahweh rejected all the…
Psalms 66:6(v4)He turned the sea into dry land. They went through the river on foot. There, we rejoiced in him.
Isaiah 24:21(v2)It will happen in that day that Yahweh will punish the army of the high ones on high, and the kings of the earth on the earth.
Isaiah 59:18(v2)According to their deeds, he will repay as appropriate, wrath to his adversaries, recompense to his enemies; he will repay the islands…
Isaiah 63:9(v4)In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them. In his love and in his pity he redeemed them. He bore…
Ezekiel 23:11-21(v2)“Her sister Oholibah saw this, yet she was more corrupt in her lusting than she, and in her prostitution which was more depraved than the…
Ezekiel 23:31-32(v2)You have walked in the way of your sister; therefore I will give her cup into your hand.’ “The Lord Yahweh says: ‘You will drink of your…
Hosea 4:9(v2)It will be, like people, like priest; and I will punish them for their ways, and will repay them for their deeds.
Hosea 9:9(v2)They have deeply corrupted themselves, as in the days of Gibeah. He will remember their iniquity. He will punish them for their sins.
Acts 7:30-35(v4)“When forty years were fulfilled, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush. When…
Romans 9:11(v3)For being not yet born, neither having done anything good or bad, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works,…
Hebrews 5:7(v4)He, in the days of his flesh, having offered up prayers and petitions with strong crying and tears to him who was able to save him from…
Hebrews 6:13-18(v4)For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he could swear by no one greater, he swore by himself, saying, “Surely blessing I will bless…
James 5:16-18(v3)Confess your offenses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The insistent prayer of a righteous person is…
Genesis 28:11-19(v4)He came to a certain place, and stayed there all night, because the sun had set. He took one of the stones of the place, and put it under…
Genesis 32:9-12(v4)Jacob said, “God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, Yahweh, who said to me, ‘Return to your country, and to your relatives,…
Matthew 16:27(v2)For the Son of Man will come in the glory of his Father with his angels, and then he will render to everyone according to his deeds.
Romans 2:6(v2)who “will pay back to everyone according to their works:”
Galatians 6:7(v2)Don’t be deceived. God is not mocked, for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (20 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
John Calvin1540 · Public DomainOn vv2–4It may seem strange that the Prophet should now…
It may seem strange that the Prophet should now say, that God had a controversy with Judah; for he had before said, that Judah stood faithful with the saints. It seems indeed inconsistent, that God should litigate with the Jews, and yet declare them to be upright and separate them from the perfidious and ungodly. What then does this mean? The Prophet, as we have said, spake comparatively of the tribe of Judah, when he said that they remained faithful with the saints: for he did not intend wholly to exculpate the Jews, who were also full of grievous evils; but he intended to praise the worship which as yet prevailed at Jerusalem, that the impiety of the ten tribes might appear less excusable, who of their own accord had departed from the rule which God had given.
When any one at this day reproves the Papists, they say, that another mode of worship is unknown to them, and that they have been thus taught by their forefathers, and that the worship which they observe has so continued from antiquity, that they dare not either to change it or to deviate from it. Such might have been the excuse made by the Israelites. But the prophet charges them with voluntary defection, for the temple which God had chosen for himself stood in their sight; there the face of God was in a manner to be seen; for all things were arranged according to the heavenly pattern which had been shown to Moses in the mount. Since then pure religion was before their eyes, was not their sin proved by this very fact, that having neglected the word of God, they gave themselves up to new and fictitious modes of worship? The Prophet then had before praised the worship, but not the manners, of the tribe of Judah; and he now comes to their manners, and says, that there were many things in Judah which God would chastise.
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The Lord then hath a controversy with Judah; and he will begin with that tribe, and will then come down to the house of Jacob The Prophet, however, speaks here only in passing of the house of Judah, and touches but lightly on the controversy he had with that portion of the people. How was this? Because he was not a teacher, as it has been said already, set over the kingdom of Judah, but only over the Israelites. He now refers only to that kingdom for the purpose of striking terror into his own people: as though he said “Think ye that the forbearance of God is to be forever, because he has hitherto borne with you? Nay, God will begin to contend with the tribe of Judah. I have said, indeed, that they are innocent compared with you; but yet they shall not escape punishment; for in a short time God will summon them to judgement. If he will not spare the Jews, how can your great crimes go unpunished? For certainly you deserve hundred deaths in comparison with the Jews, among whom at least some integrity and uprightness exist; for they have made no change in the worship of God. Their life is corrupt; but yet the law of God and religion are not despised by them as they are by you. If then God will not spare them, much less will he spare you.”
We now understand for what purpose the Prophet says that God had a controversy with Judah; for it was not his design to terrify the Jews themselves, or to exhort them to repentance, except it may be by the way; but his object was to present an example to the Israelites, that they might fear; for they ought to have thought within themselves, “If this shall be done in the green, what shall become of the dry tree? (Luke 23:31.) If God will exercise with so much severity his vengeance against our brethren the Jews, among whom pure religion as yet exists, what sort of end and how dreadful is that which awaits us, who have departed from the law, the worship, the teaching, and the obedience of God, who are become truce-breakers, and degenerate, and in every way profane?”
Hence he immediately adds, And will punish Jacob “God will indeed begin with the tribe of Judah; this will be the prelude, and he will treat the Jews more mildly than you; but against you he will thunder in full force. It will not then be a remonstrance to draw you to repentance, but a punishment such as ye deserve; for he has already contended with you more than enough.”
According to his ways. according to his doings, will he recompense him. He sets down here ways and doings, with no superfluous repetition, but to show that the repentance of this people had been already more than sufficiently looked for; for they had not ceased for a long time to pursue their own wickedness. The Prophet then, no doubt, condemns here the Jews for their perverse wickedness, that they never left off their sins, though they had now for a long time been admonished, and had been often reproved by the Prophets. It now follows —
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators1599 · Public DomainOn vv2–4Which in those points was like to Ephraim, but…
Which in those points was like to Ephraim, but not in idolatries.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp1656 · Public DomainOn vv2–4Hos 12:2 The LORD hath also a controversy with…
Hos 12:2 The LORD hath also a controversy with Judah, and will punish Jacob according to his ways; according to his doings will he recompense him.
Ver. 2. The Lord hath also a controversy with Judah] Lest the prophet should be thought partial in the law, Mal 2:9, {See Trapp on "Mal 2:9"} and lest Ephraim should say of Judah, as once Oded did of Israel, "Are there not with them, even with them also, sins against the Lord?" 2Ch 28:10. The prophet answers by way of concession, that there were so indeed; and that therefore God had a controversy with them, a litigation, or disceptation: he was expostulating with them by words, and some lighter strokes, notwithstanding he had commended them before, as ruling with God, and retaining his pure worship. God would take his time to deal with them too for their many impieties, and especially for running to Egypt for help, as they did in the days of Ahaz and Zedekiah, see Isa 30:2; Isa 31:1; but because they were not yet so bad as the ten tribes, nor so desperately wicked, therefore the Lord was yet but pleading with them; he had not passed sentence, he was not resolved upon their ruin and utter extirpation, Hos 4:15; Hos 5:5-14; Hos 6:11; as he was for the ten tribes, those foul apostates and shameless covenantbreakers; concerning whom he saith, and is set upon it,
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I will punish Jacob according to his ways] See the like words Hos 4:9. {See Trapp on "Hos 4:9"} He calls them Jacob, because they gloried much in him, their progenitor; as did likewise the Samaritans that succeeded them, Joh 4:12. So did the Jews in Mic 2:7. But the prophet Hosea answereth them in effect (as there) by proving a disparity. "O thou that art named the house of Jacob" (that wilt needs be named so, and therein pridest thyself), "is the Spirit of the Lord straitened?" (ye are not surely straitened in him, but in your own bowels, that ye express Jacob no better, that ye resemble him no more). "Are these his doings?" was Jacob a man of your practices? No; {a} for he left no means unattempted that he might attain the blessing; he strove for it with his brother in the womb, βρεφος, afterwards with the angel, against whom with much wrestling and raising of dust he prevailed, as it followeth in the two next verses.
{a} Odiosum et impium dogma Anabaptistarum, qui ideo pueris baptismum negant, quia sensu ac mente careant. Luther in loc.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole1685 · Public DomainOn vv2–4The Lord hath also a controversy with Judah; though…
The Lord hath also a controversy with Judah; though Judah, compared with Ephraim, be faithful, yet when considered in his ways and doings he is found faulty in many things, and God hath just matter of complaint against Judah in point of manners; in public worship Judah was faithful, kept to God and the temple, though not without some defects, but in their lives there were many more and greater faults, about which God will contend that Judah may be reformed.
Judah; the two tribes.
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Will punish; or visit with chastising to amend, else to destroy: there is hope of Judah that he will be reclaimed, therefore I will try by gentler visitations, by fatherly corrections, yet I will not leave him as hopeless, nor as faultless.
Jacob; not the patriarch, but those who are of him; his children, but that have degenerated from his ways of love, fear, trust, and obedience. Both Ephraim and Judah are of Jacob, but both have corrupted themselves, and therefore will I proceed against both; and if Judah, the less faulty, escape not, Ephraim can have no hope to escape; if Judah be whipped with rods because a disobedient son, Ephraim may fear a sword because he hath been and still is an obstinate rebel.
According to his ways; neither can justly complain then, since their different ways are made the standard of the different proceedings of God against them, he will not lay upon either more than is equal; who suffers most hath deserved more, and who suffers least needed so much to amend him.
According to his doings will he recompense him: this is an elegant and very usual ingemination of the same thing, which doth assure it will be done, and should affect us the more.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill1763 · Public DomainOn vv2–4The Lord hath also a controversy with Judah,.... The…
The Lord hath also a controversy with Judah,.... The two tribes of Judah and Benjamin, as well as the ten tribes; for though they had ruled with God, and had been faithful with the saints in the first times of the apostasy of Israel; yet afterwards they sadly degenerated, and fell into idolatry likewise, particularly in the time of Ahaz, in which Hosea prophesied; and therefore the Lord had somewhat against them; nor would he spare them, but reprove them by the prophets, and rebuke them in his providences; bring them to his bar, and lay before them their evils, and threaten them with punishment in case of impenitence, as follows:
and will punish Jacob according to his ways; all the posterity of Jacob, whether Ephraim or Judah; those of the ten tribes, or of the two, who all descended from Jacob: or, "will visit according to his ways" (s); if right, and agreeably to the mind and word of God, in a way of grace and mercy; but if wrong, crooked, and perverse, then in a way of punishment; for visiting is used both ways:
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according to his doings will he recompense him; as they were good or bad; if good, will reward them with a reward of grace; if bad, with vengeance. The Targum paraphrases it,
"according to his right works.''
(s) "ad visitandum juxta vias ejus", Pagninus, Montanus; "visitabit secundum vias ejus", Piscator.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley1765 · Public DomainOn vv2–4Jacob - Ephraim and Judah are of Jacob, both…
Jacob - Ephraim and Judah are of Jacob, both have corrupted themselves, and therefore I will proceed against both.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke1810 · Public DomainOn vv2–4Verse 2. The Lord hath also a controversy with…
Verse 2. The Lord hath also a controversy with Judah] The rest of the prophecy belongs both to Judah and Israel. He reproaches both with their ingratitude, and threatens them with God's anger. In order to make their infidelity the more hateful, and their malice the more sensible, he opposes to them the righteousness, obedience, and piety of their father Jacob. He recalls to their minds the benefits they had received since they returned from Egypt. He speaks afterwards of their kings; and how, in their ingratitude, they refused to have him for their monarch. Having mentioned this fact, he subjoins reflections, exhortations, invectives, and threatenings, and continues this subject in this and the two following chapters.-Calmet.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson1811 · Public DomainOn vv3–4Hos 12:3. He took his brother by the heel…
Hos 12:3. He took his brother by the heel in the womb — From the mentioning of Jacob in the foregoing verse, the prophet takes occasion to put his posterity in mind of the particular favours God had bestowed upon him; partly with a view to encourage them to imitate him in endeavouring to obtain the like blessings, and partly to convince them of their ingratitude and degeneracy from him. His taking his brother by the heel, signified his striving, by a divine instinct, for the birthright and blessing. Even before his birth he reached forth his hand to catch hold of it, as it were, and if possible to prevent his brother. It denoted, also, that he should prevail at last, gain his point, and in process of time become greater than his brother. And this prognostic of his prevalence and superiority was the effect of God’s will and power, and not of Jacob’s, who was not then in a capacity of acting of himself: see note on Gen 25:26. It is justly observed here, by Bishop Horsley, that his “taking his brother by the heel is not mentioned in disparagement of the patriarch. On the contrary, the whole of these two verses is a commemoration of God’s kindness for the ancestor of the Israelites, on which the prophet founds an animated exhortation to them, to turn to that God from whom they might expect so much favour. By his strength he had power with God, &c. — This alludes to his wrestling with the angel, as recorded Genesis 32. That bodily strength, wherewith he was endued by God, and enabled to wrestle with this heavenly being, was a token of the strength of his faith, and of the fervency of his spirit in prayer. This is mentioned here by the prophet, as another instance of God’s favour to Jacob. He not only, when an infant in the womb, was enabled to perform the emblematical action just mentioned; but, in his adult age, he was endued with such supernatural strength of mind and body, that he was enabled to continue wrestling till he obtained the blessing. The prophet, in this clause, alludes to those words of his, I will not let thee go except thou bless me; intimating the strength of his faith, and prevalency of his prayers with God. The words, He had power with God, and those that follow, He had power over the angel, are equivalent; and plainly prove that this person, who assumed a human shape, was really God, that is, the Son of God, and the angel of the covenant, by whom all the divine appearances recorded in the Old Testament were performed; the affairs of the church being ordered by him from the beginning. This subject is learnedly handled by Dr. Allix in his Judgment of the Jewish Church, against the Unitarians, chap. 13.-15., by Archbishop Tenison in his Discourses of Idolatry, chap. 14., and by Bishop Bull in his Defence of the Nicene Faith.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes1834 · Public DomainOn vv2–4The Lord hath also a controversy with Judah, and…
The Lord hath also a controversy with Judah, and will punish Jacob - The guilt of Judah was not open apostasy, nor had he filled up the measure of his sins. Of him, then, God saith only, that He “had a controversy with” him, as our Lord says to the “Angel of the Church of Pergamos, I have a few things against thee. Repent, or else I will come unto thee quickly, and fight against thee with the sword of My mouth” Rev 2:12, Rev 2:16. Of Ephraim, whose sin was complete, He says, that the Lord “is to punish.” God had set His mind, as we say, on punishing him; He had (so to speak) set Himself to do it. Jacob, like Israel, is here the name for the chief part of Israel, i. e., the ten tribes. Our Lord uses the same gradation in speaking of different degrees of evil-speaking; “Whosoever of you is angry without a cause, shall be in danger of the judgment; and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council; but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell-fire” Mat 5:22. : “The justice of God falls more severely on those who degenerate from a holy parent, than on those who have no incitement to good from the piety of their home.” To amplify this , “The prophet explains what good things Jacob received, to show both the mercy of God to Jacob, and the hardness of Ephraim toward God. While Jacob was yet in his mother’s womb, he took his brother by the heel, not by any strength of his own, but by the mercy of God, who knows and loves those whom he hath predestinated.”
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary1859 · Public DomainOn vv2–4Judgment. Hebrew, "trial." What follows refers to all the…
Judgment. Hebrew, "trial." What follows refers to all the people, whose impiety is contrasted with Jacob’s virtue.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown1871 · Public DomainOn vv2–4controversy with Judah-- (Hos 4:1; Mic 6:2). Judah, under…
controversy with Judah-- (Hos 4:1; Mic 6:2). Judah, under Ahaz, had fallen into idolatry (Kg2 16:3, &c.).
Jacob--that is, the ten tribes. If Judah, the favored portion of the nation, shall not be spared, much less degenerate Israel.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon1874 · Public DomainOn v22. The southern kingdom was equally guilty.
2. The southern kingdom was equally guilty.
Controversy — See on Hos_4:1.
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Judah — Some substitute “Israel.” Also, which is in the English translations, is not in the original (see on Hos_5:5).
Jacob — Since the name stands in parallelism with Judah it would seem to be a poetic synonym of the latter. If Israel is substituted in the first clause Jacob may be regarded as a poetic synonym of Israel, used so as to prepare the way for the references to the patriarch Jacob. If Hos_11:12 b, is original still another interpretation is possible: Judah — the southern kingdom; Jacob, which is equivalent to Israel — the northern kingdom: the two together make up the whole nation. The third interpretation is favored by Hos_12:13, which seems to imply that in chapter 12 Hosea compares the whole nation with its ancestor.
His ways… doings — The faithless conduct condemned in Hos_11:12; Hos_12:1 (compare Hos_4:9; Hos_7:2).
In Hos_12:3-5 (compare Hos_12:13) the prophet introduces abruptly a reference to three incidents in the life of the patriarch Jacob: one connected with his birth (Gen_25:26), another with his return from Aram (Gen_32:22 ff.), and a third with his journey to or from Aram (Gen_28:10-22; Gen_35:9-15). The place of these historical references in the argument of Hosea is variously interpreted. Some see in them a commendation of the patriarch, whose acts indicated his anxiety for divine and paternal blessings; this commendation implies a condemnation of his descendants who are spiritually indifferent. Others see in them a condemnation of the patriarch, who even before his birth practiced deceit and who in manhood sought to take advantage of God and man. Small wonder that his descendants are full of lies and falsehoods. Still others see a condemnation of Jacob in the first reference and a commendation in the others. On the whole, the first interpretation is to be preferred.
Took his brother by the heel — Though the exact meaning of the verb is uncertain, the thought is that Jacob desired to be born first, so as to enjoy the rights of the firstborn (Gen_27:36). The prophet does not justify the act.
For purposes of illustration it is not necessary to pass judgment on the merits of an act (compare Luk_16:1 ff.). In later life the patriarch manifested still greater anxiety for the divine blessing.
By his strength — R.V., “in his manhood” (Gen_49:3).
Had power with God — Margin R.V., “strove”; margin A.V., “behaved himself princely.” Again the exact meaning of the verb is uncertain. The reference is to Gen_32:22 ff.
Hos_12:4 describes the conflict in greater detail.
The angel — Equivalent to “God” in Hos_12:3 (see on Zec_1:11).
Prevailed — His persistence was rewarded.
Wept — Jacob’s tears were a further evidence of his anxiety. The shedding of tears is not mentioned in Genesis.
Made supplication — Compare Gen_32:26. If only Israel would follow the footsteps of Jacob they too would receive the divine blessing.
He — It seems best to carry over the subject from the preceding and make he refer to Jacob.
Him — Jehovah. Both the order and the prophet’s purpose, to impress upon the Israelites the truth that the vision at Beth-el was the result of Jacob’s spiritual longings, make it probable that he thought of that vision as having been granted on Jacob’s return from Aram (Gen_35:9-15).
He spake — That is, Jehovah.
With us — What Jehovah said to Jacob applied equally to his descendants. The text is greatly improved, however, if we read, with Peshitto and other ancient versions, “with him,” that is, with Jacob. LXX. also seems to have read the pronoun of the third person singular, though in other respects its text of 4b is inferior to the Hebrew.
Hos_12:5 is thought by many to be a later addition, “by some pious reader of a very late date.” The English translators evidently took 5a in apposition to he, the subject of spake (Hos_12:4). By identifying the God who blessed the yearning Jacob with Jehovah, whom, nominally at least, they worshiped as their deliverer and helper, the prophet prepared the way for the exhortation in Hos_12:6. If he rewarded the perseverance of your ancestor he will in the same manner reward you, if you earnestly seek him. The thought remains the same if we regard, as seems more probable, Hos_12:5 in construction independent of the preceding: “And Jehovah is the God of hosts; Jehovah is his memorial name.”
Memorial — R.V., “memorial name.” The name by which the God of Israel is to be remembered (Exo_3:15).
Jehovah God of hosts — Identical in meaning with the shorter “Jehovah of hosts.” As used by the prophets, this title designates Jehovah as the Lord of all powers in the world and in nature. There is still a difference of opinion as to the original significance of host. 1. Some think that host referred primarily to the angels. According to Ewald the phrase arose on the occasion of some great victory, when it seemed as if the host of heavenly beings had come down to the relief of the people (compare Psa_103:21; Neh_9:6). 2. Others think that the hosts were originally the armies of Israel, whose leader Jehovah is represented as being (Exo_7:4; Exo_12:41; Exo_12:51). 3. Still others take it to refer primarily to the stars, which are frequently called “the hosts of heaven” (Deu_4:19; Isa_34:4). 4. Sayce connects it with Babylonian mythology. Jehovah, he identifies with Sin, the moon-god. Sin is called “the enchanter of the spirits of the hosts.” This title in its Hebrew form was, he thinks, transferred from Sin to Jehovah. But whatever the primary usage of the title the prophets gave to it a sublimer content.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges1878 · Public DomainOn vv2–42. Jacob] Here used for the northern kingdom, to…
2. Jacob] Here used for the northern kingdom, to prepare the way for the etymological allusion in Hos_12:3.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers1878 · Public DomainOn vv2–3(2) Jacob refers to the northern kingdom.
(2) Jacob refers to the northern kingdom.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary1880 · Public DomainOn vv2–4The Lord hath also a controversy with Judah; and…
The Lord hath also a controversy with Judah; and will punish (margin, visit upon) Jacob according to his ways. God here presents himself at once as plaintiff and judge, widening the range of his pleadings. The controversy with Israel takes a wider sweep, and comprehends Judah culpable, though apparently in a less degree. But though Judah comes in for a share of punishment, that punishment shall be proportionate to their delinquencies those like Judah that sinned less shall suffer less; while the more heinous transgressors, such as Israel had proved to be, would come in for severer punishment. To Jacob, here embracing the ten tribes of Israel and the two of Judah, the chastisement would be meted out in exact accordance with his ways. The apparent contradiction between ver. 12 of last chapter, where, as most translate it, Judah is represented as ruling with God and being faithful with the saints, and the present inclusion of Judah in controversy with Jehovah, occasioned
(1) a rendering and explanation of this verse which Aben Ezra declares to be both ungrammatical and unscriptural. "He" says Aben Ezra." who explains that Judah is faithful and he shall be reproving, and asserts that Scripture makes no mention of Jehovah having a controversy against Judah, but employs the sense being that Jehovah and Judah have a strife against Ephraim, errs from the way of Scripture and grammar, for the prophet has written above (ver. 13), "Judah saw his wound;" "I will make Ephraim to ride; Judah shall plough;" and in reference to both of them he says," Ye shall eat the fruit of lies." He also forgets "The herdmen of Gerar did strive with ( Isaac"s herdmen;" "And the people strove with Moses;" and many other places i.e. where is found with the sense of "contending. Therefore he joins Ephraim with Judah, and says, "The Lord hath also a controversy with Judah, and will punish Jacob according to his ways, because this name (i.e. Jacob) comprehends them both (Ephraim and Judah).
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(2) The meaning is given concisely and correctly by Rashi thus: "He (Jehovah) announces to them the words of his controversy which their brethren of the house of Israel had caused him; and they should not wonder if he would punish (literally, "visit on") Jacob according to his ways." The change in the ease of Judah, Kimchi accounts for by reference to their subsequent apostasy, especially that of their kings, as follows: "Although he said, "And Judah yet reigneth with God," he meant, although be holds fast by the service of God in the house of the sanctuary; so afterwards they practiced evil deeds as their kings were evil; therefore he said," Jehovah has a controversy and correction with Judah and Jacob to visit upon them according to their doings, as their kings were evil, for they did not remember my mercy with them and with their father Jacob, because the whole was for sake of his posterity; and I showed him a sign which should be to his seed after him, if they gave their heart to me.... And the sign which I showed them is only done for sake of his seed. But they have not acknowledged this, for if they had acknowledged this, they would have cleaved to me and my service, and I would have ratified to them the blessing of Jacob their father. The infinitive with le is not infrequently employed in the sense of our future, thus, dqpl, it is to be visited, equivalent to "he shall or must visit upon it" This idiom is common in Syriac, but always with atid. According to his doings will he recompense him. The milder expression is applied to Judah he has a controversy with him, but will punish Jacob, restricted by some to Ephraim or the ten tribes. Better understand Jacob of both Judah and Israel, who are both to be recompensed, each according to his works.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator1887 · Public DomainOn v3And by his strength he had power with God.
Hos_12:3-4
And by his strength he had power with God.
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Wrestling Jacob
This story has a strange fascination for most Bible readers, due, in part, to the vividness with which it is told; in part, to the deep spiritual truth which it half reveals and half conceals. Jacob recalls in his prayer the time when he passed this very place twenty years before as he fled from the wrath of Esau. God has been with him, and prospered him. Let us picture again that weird night scene. The almost oppressive silence was only broken by the roar of the shallow Jabbok, which writhed and struggled between obstructing rocks as it plunged and tumbled to the Jordan valley two miles below. We can see the rough waters gleam under the torches as drove after drove of animals splashed and ploughed their way through,--the goats and the sheep, the camels and the cattle, the asses and their foals are carefully arranged in successive relays, to appease the wrath of Esau. Then, in two companies, his frightened household followed, and the sounds died away again until nothing was left but the deepened roar of the turbulent stream beside him, which seemed to intensify the dead silence all around. Jacob was left alone. He was anxious, and apprehensive of what might happen. He was a greedy man, and he stood to lose, at one stroke, the wealth which represented the struggles of twenty years. He was an intensely affectionate man, and it seemed as if wives and children might be snatched away from him at one fell swoop: I fear lest Esau come and smite me, the mother and the children. Then, through the long night there wrestled with him man till daybreak--till the reach of the Jabbok flashed again in the sudden Syrian sunrise. As he lay there in the growing light, thrown, exhausted, he knew it was no man who had striven with him. In the sunrise he had seen God face to face. So he called the place Peniel--Gods face. But that is only the outside of the story, the body of this experience. What is its inner meaning? An instinct tells us that this is the record of a moral and spiritual struggle, which doubtless has its counterpart in the human life of these breathless days. That shrivelled tendon was the mark left in Jacobs body of a moral and spiritual struggle--the crisis of his history. We know the long night ended in tearful and penitent prayer. What makes me feel certain that this is the record of a moral and spiritual struggle is the undoubted fact that from that day a great moral change came over Jacob--a change represented by his new name. He was no longer Jacob--sly, subtle, crafty, tricky Jacob, he was an Israelite, indeed, in whom there was no guile. He was Israel, Gods prince, for he had prevailed. He not only had a new name, but a new nature. The blessing which came with the dawn was the highest blessing which can ever come to any man--the assurance that his better self would become increasingly his truest self. He was a prince of God. It is not difficult to see that Jacobs whole life had been one long wrestle, a tough, hard struggle with others. He had wrestled for bread, for love, for justice. Yes; and he had prevailed. He had succeeded, he had reaped the fruit of struggle--strength. He had gained what comes with victory--self-confidence. He had outwitted the crafty Laban. He went to his uncle a penniless tramp; he left him a wealthy man. And now he comes back to the land which was promised him. And here, on the very border and frontier of it, just as he is about to grasp what seems to be already his, he is brought up suddenly face to face with an old sin; and, as old sins are wont to do, it unnerved him. Do you know men who sinned--twenty years ago? They have been successful in spite of their sin--nay, by means of it, and God has given no sign. Then, after twenty years, they are brought face to face with the consequences. They do not ask now: What will it mean to me? There is a question which cuts deeper than that: What will it mean to wife and children? If no one else were involved, if the man knew definitely what it would mean and how it would end he could face it. Though it brought ruin and exposure and shame, he could meet it like a man, But when the vague dread of it hangs over his life, and he lies awake at night and goes over all the possibilities and chances of what may happen, and wonders if any contingency has been left unprovided for, till the heart is sick with a nameless dread--then suspense becomes anguish. Now, that was Jacobs case. He had done all that foresight and long experience could devise. He had sent messages, intended to convey to Esau the impression that he was a man of some consequence--obsequious messages, toe, to my lord Esau. And my lord sent back a soldiers answer: Esau cometh to meet thee with four hundred men. With great astuteness Jacob divides his household into two companies, so that if Esau falls on one, the other may perhaps escape. His trouble drives him to his knees, for with all his subtlety and shrewdness Jacob was a praying man. He appeals, in his extremity--like many a trickster since--to his fathers God. And yet, apprehension of his loss breaks through his very prayer. He is a rich man now, and has much to lose I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies which Thou hast shewed unto Thy servant,. . . deliver me, I pray Thee, from the hand of my brother. In the very act of prayer his subtle brain is scheming how he will send presents to Esau--not in a lump, but first one, then another, drove after drove. He knew very well how to appeal to the frank, generous heart of the rough twin-brother. What a mixture the man is!--craft and prayer, cunning and faith, daring and dread!. . . Then Jacob was greatly afraid, and was distressed. Does all this let any light on some past experience of your own? You were walking, as you thought, in the way of Gods leading--in obedience to His call--to some land of promise, and on the very border of it you are suddenly brought face to face with some past wrong. The power in which you trusted--the result of long experience--fails you. Your self-confidence is rudely shaken. You betake yourself to prayer, and yet you will not trust wholly in that either; you do all that foresight can suggest--and stretch a point in doing it--to make quite sure that the blessing shall be yours. You try to deal with God as you have dealt with men. Is that the meaning of Jacobs wrestling? You come to the very border of your land of promise. It is almost your own. And you will make quite sure of it by human means,--as if God could be tricked and managed, as if the blessing must be wrested from unwilling hands. Then you find that you have more than Esau to deal with. There is another Antagonist--unknown, mysterious, persistent. So you struggle on through the darkness, unwilling to cast aside the powers which have never failed when dealing with your fellows. Does not your own experience interpret this story for you? Then, at daybreak, with one touch the nameless wrestler shrivels the strongest muscle in Jacobs body, and shows what He might have done at any moment. The strong man falls back spent and thrown. His self-confidence is broken, he has met more than this match.
Nay, but I yield, I yield;
I can hold out no more!
Is that the end, then? It would have been with some men, but Jacob clings with all his remaining strength to his great antagonist, until he wrings a blessing from the struggle. It was after his defeat, you observe, after he was worsted and thrown, that he prevailed. Look at the text again (R.V. margin), In his strength he strove with God; yea, he strove with the angel, and prevailed. But how? In this way: He wept, and made supplication unto Him. He supplicates the possession he cannot win. The blessing he sought to wring from God was his in a free and gracious gift. The sun rose on a changed and chastened life. But the long struggle had left its mark on him. He halted on his thigh. He lost the proud, self-confident swing in his gait. He was a humbler and a better man. Is that an old story I have been telling you? Is it not your story? Yours and mine? Do you remember that dark and troubled day when the Unseen asserted its rights--when you wrestled, but not with flesh and blood? And you found that the tricks and quirks which avail in that warfare were no use, for you were dealing with God. Is that the explanation of some struggle in the darkness which is going on here and now? Have we never heard of the striving of the Spirit? Is that the meaning of some bitter disappointment which comes unexpectedly into the life of some self-confident man who has hitherto never known what failure means? The power which wrestles with you is a power which longs to bless. If you will cling with all your strength, it may be you will come out of that struggle crowned and with a new name, because in the struggle you have learned His name, and in defeat you have learned to pray. (A. Moorhouse, M. A.)
Jacobs strength
The strength that God puts into us, though it be Gods own, yet when we have it, and work by it, God accounts it as ours; it is called Jacobs strength, though the truth is, it was Gods strength. It is a great honour to manifest much strength in wrestling with God in prayer. In this was the honour of Jacob, with his strength he prevailed with God. We should not come with weak and empty prayers, but we should put forth strength; if a Christian has any strength in the world for anything, he should have it in prayer. According to the strength of the fire, the bullet, ascends; so according to what strength we put forth in prayer, so is our prevalence. This strength of Jacob was a type of the spiritual strength which God gives His saints when they have to deal with Him. See Eph_3:16. Surely the strength is great that is by the Spirit of God, but such strength shall manifest the glory of the Spirit of God. This is the strength attainable for Christians, even here in this world. Let us not be satisfied with faint desires and wishes, when Jesus Christ is tendered to us as the fountain of strength. But do you walk so that your strength manifests that such riches of the glory of God dwell in you? Christians should seek to be strengthened with all might, according to the glorious power of God. The way to prevail with men is to prevail with God. (Jeremiah Burroughs.)
Jacobs victory and our duty
The prophet takes the opportunity of showing the difference between their conduct and that of Jacob, after whom they were called. His design in doing so was to make them know that, if they expected to be saved, it was not by proving their descent from Jacob, but by acting as did that pious patriarch when he was in danger and was suffering from the effects of his former misconduct. Reference is to the scene of wrestling with the angel. We use it as an example of the mode and nature of faithful and successful prayer. All must pray, and to be heard must pray aright, in the same persevering manner as Jacob, and in the same holy temper. We are taught, in other parts of Scripture, to address our God with penitence, holiness, faith, and perseverance; and all these essentials of acceptable devotion are illustrated in this narrative. (Beaver H. Blacker, M. A.)
Israel unlike Jacob
Alas! a nearer view of Judah shows that all the descendants of Jacob, in Zion as in Samaria, provoke judgment. How unlike the early devotion and fervent faith of the pilgrim-patriarch their father! From the strong prayer amidst the stones at Bethel, where the eternal pathway between heaven and earth was opened in vision, and from the wrestling of supplication at Peniel, what moral degeneracy a idst the wealthy traffic adopted in Canaan! And what a cry to God may not the prophet raise for a restoration of the old simple tent-life, when it seemed natural to men that God should raise up speakers of His will, and quicken their spiritual life by fervent preachers! In those days of prophets Israel dwelt safely: under her kings she sins and suffers. God spared the ten tribes, notwithstanding that Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, made them sin. Now, since idolatry multiplies, since Baal is worshipped, and perhaps even human bloodshed, either to Moloch, or through contagion of Moloch worship, notwithstanding Abrahams purer faith had sought better propitiations, the nation drifts like chaff, stubble, smoke. All Gods appeals are in vain. Stolid and obstinate, the nation which God called to for a new birth of a pious generation, and for new thoughts and hope, stands gazing on its idols. God would have saved them from the Assyrian sword, and would have foiled the besieger, and bidden death and the grave stay their devouring. But since sinners do not repent, God cannot relent. (Rowland Williams, D. D.)
Bethel and Peniel
The house of God and the face of God. God is here. God is mine.
I. Jacobs first conversion. At Bethel Jacob cannot be called a religious man. He had come into no personal relations with God. He acknowledged, but did not know, his fathers God. His character had, as yet, received no shakings, so it had thrown down no personal and independent rootings; there were no signs of the sway of any central and unifying principles. He could still be described as without God in the world. But out of the very consequences of his wrongdoings come the beginnings of nobler things. The vision gives us the time when Jacob first entered into personal relations with God. It may help us to understand in what our conversion to God essentially consists--a revelation of the personal God to the soul; and the acceptance, by the soul, of the responsibilities of that revelation. Jacobs new life begins with a personal revelation of God. This is the Divine arrest of the man in the very midst of his wilfulness and selfishness. God guides him with the hand of His Providence, and sets him just where He can best reveal to him Himself. We have no record of Jacobs struggling after the light, and at last reaching, after long efforts, to the light of God. In his case there is no growing of knowledge into the wisdom of God, no unfolding of moral feeling into spiritual life; but upon him, while actually in his heedlessness, the revelation of God comes: a new fact of his existence is impressively disclosed to him: this fact, that God, his fathers God, Abrahams God, was with him. That fact at once, and altogether, changes the principle and spirit of his life. Religion is not a development; it is not an education; it is not something which man can himself start and nourish. It is the effect of a Divine salvation; an intervention of God; a gracious mode of bringing man into conscious and happy relations with God. It was a vision of God, and an assurance of the Divine nearness to him, and care of him, that bowed Jacob down with the profoundest awe and humiliation. The ungodly soul felt that God was about him, close to him. The vision opened Jacobs eyes--
1. To see Gods relation to his life. The vision showed God caring for sinful, wandering Jacob, watching over his slumbers, peopling the desert for him with ministering angels, and assuring him of unfailing guardianship. He could never be the same man again when this fact had been brought home to his very heart.
2. To feel a conviction of the Divine claims of God is here, I must wait, listen, obey.
3. To realise the Divine love, the sovereign fulness and freeness of Divine grace, Jacob woke in the morning to feel--God loves me, even me.
II. Jacobs second conversion. The wrestling represents the highest point in the spiritual history of Jacob. It was the time in which Jacob learned the mystery and the joy of trusting wholly, committing himself entirely to the Divine love and lead. The wrestling at Jabbok is the close of a scene of which each part requires careful attention. Anxious and scheming as he came within sight of Canaan, he had the vision of the guarding angels to recall him from his schemings to trust. He had hitherto only seen his helpless company and the approaching peril, and like the prophets servant in later times, God opened his eyes to see, closer than any danger, the two angel-bands of watchers. Recalled thus to the thought of Gods nearness, Jacob feels that he must blend prudent schemes with prayer, and the prayer he offers is full of humility, thankfulness, and pleading, that makes it in many ways a model of prayer. But it is easily overestimated. It is the prayer of one who is still rough too self-conscious, of one who has not yet quite given up his guileful ways: there is still something of Jacobs old mistake of making terms with God. He is evidently learning his great life-lesson, but the prayer shows that he has not fully learned it yet. It was a kind of drama of his life which was acted through that night. It was a gracious way of shewing Jacob what had been the mistake of his whole career. He had always been wrestling. Now in his heart he was even wrestling with God. But He will find that a very different thing. If it does seem that a mans wrestling brings mastery, it is only because God does not put forth His strength in the conflict. When He does and Simply touches Jacob, the confident wrestler, is prostrate and utterly helpless; he can wrestle no more, he can only cling, he can only say, Give me the blessing; he gives up at last all self-efforts to win the blessing. (Robert Tuck, B. A.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary1892 · Public DomainOn v3Hos_12:3.] Jacob was their forefather; they should imitate his…
CRITICAL NOTES.]
Hos_12:3.] Jacob was their forefather; they should imitate his good, not his bad qualities. They are descendants, but their ways contrast with his (Mic_2:7). He secured the birth-right and the blessing with it; wrestled with God and prevailed in prayer. He wrestled in the womb, and as an adult he wrestled with man and with God. Took] To hold the heel (Gen_25:26). Strength] In his manly vigour he behaved himself princely with God (Gen_32:24-29), and acquired the name of prince. This strength given in conscious weakness.
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Hos_12:4. Angel] In human form God wrestled, put Jacob’s thigh out of joint, but did not prevail. Jacob could no longer stand. Wept] and poured out intense desires in supplication, and though wounded, was not overcome in conflict, but found God and talked with him at Bethel. There] he speaks to us by Jacob, girt with his spirit and might we may prevail.
HOMILETICS
IMITATING THE EXAMPLES OF PROGENITORS.—Hos_12:3-4
The Jews boasted of their relation to Jacob, but did not walk in his steps. Their trusting in man was a contrast to his believing in God. The prophet reproves them for their apostasy, shows how justly they were accused, and urges them to imitate the virtues, not the faults of their ancestor. We must not live under the shadow, but walk after the example of good men.
I. In Jacob we have an example of anxiety for God’s blessing. He was eager to secure the birthright and the blessing connected with it.
1. In the womb, “he took his brother by the heel” (Gen_25:26). He was to have precedence over the first-born by nature, and there was unconscious striving for Divine favour in store for him. Early indications of piety are encouraging. Some are chosen from the womb, and preserved from sins of youth and riper age. Potential development of children demands reverence and care in parents and teachers. Luther’s schoolmaster took off his hat and bowed to his scholars when he entered the school-room and thought of their destiny. The solemn possibilities of the future should stimulate parents to train up children in the fear of God and the love of truth. “Even a child is known by his doings.”
2. In after years “he had power with God.” In the womb he seized the heel; in manhood he cherished the same spirit, and became a prince with God. One struggle was the beginning of the other. The possession of God’s promise was the object of both. Having striven for it in secret, he secured it in public. What he sought in childhood he gained in manhood. Early impressions are the elementary tissue out of which mature life and conduct are developed and organized. In this instance “the child is father of the man.” Strength with God and power among men are the result of prayer and providential discipline. Those who are filled with true ambition, who seek to be great by following the example and serving the God of their forefathers, shall have the precedency. But profane persons like Esau, worldly-minded in their desires, and leagued with sin in their pursuits, will forfeit their birthrights and blessings. “The elder shall serve the younger.”
II. In Jacob we have an example of power with God. “By his strength he had power with God.”
1. Power through prayer. In great fear and distress, he was no match for the armed force of his angry brother. He could neither resist nor flee. He found succour and strength in God. He acted princely, was strong in faith, and prevailed over man. In prayer our own strength is increased, and more is given to us by God. We are strengthened with might by the Spirit in the inner man (Eph_3:16). The nature of this prayer is briefly described.
(1) Supplicating prayer. He “made supplication unto him.” Supplication is earnest, constant prayer, and often accompanied with crying (Psa_28:2; Jer_3:21).
(2) Wrestling prayer. “There wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day.” The word indicates a twisting of bodily limbs; intense energy and exertion to prevail. Jacob’s prayer was a struggle with the angel, physically and spiritually, in faith and determination.
(3) Prevailing prayer. “He had power over the angel and prevailed.” He conquered, received a new name, “for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men” (Gen_32:28). Luther on one occasion had wrestled hard with God, and came leaping out of his closet, shouting, “Vicimus, vicimus. We have conquered, we have conquered!”
2. Power through human tears. “He wept and made supplication.” Vehement desires and earnest prayers often find vent in tears. Hence “to implore means to ask with tears,” says one. His tears were not mere signs of weakness, but of strength; not the relief of nature, but the expression of spirit. Esau wept in anger and disappointment; Jacob in prayer and penitence. The tears of one were music to God; the cry of the other, complaint to men. He was a type of Christ, “who in the days of his flesh offered up prayers and supplications, with strong crying and tears, unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared.”
3. Power through Divine aid. Jacob’s purpose was strong, and his natural power great; but power to prevail was the gift of God. His physical strength was impaired; but though thrown in the contest, he would not give up. “I will not let thee go except thou bless me.” The blessing was all, the injured thigh was nothing to him. From night till break of day he wrestled with human tears and Divine energy. His spirit and perseverance put to shame his degenerate sons. It is folly boasting of ancestral glory without possessing ancestral virtues. Let us imitate the life and remember the prayers of our fathers. They were girt with the might of faith, and victorious over the Lord of hosts. “Out of weakness” they were “made strong,” and “waxed valiant in fight” with evil. Their glory is not the glory of the warrior, but the splendour of princes with God. Their new name supersedes the old, as the sun exceeds the stars. “For by it the elders obtained a good report.”
HOMILETIC HINTS AND OUTLINES
Hos_12:3-4. The wonderful combat. I The combatants. Jacob a man, and the angel, “the angel of the covenant.” II. The object of the combat. “Bless me.” In the night of sorrow and in the weakness of nature “turn to him that smiteth.” The blessing of the Lord maketh rich. III. The issue of the combat. “Power over the angel and prevailed.” Persevering, wrestling prayer will always prevail. “The father in wrestling with his child is willing enough for his child’s comfortand encouragement to take a fall now and then; so it was between the angel and Jacob. In this blessed story, as in a crystal glass, we see the great power and prevalency of private prayer; it conquers the conqueror; it is so omnipotent, that it overcomes an omnipotent God” [Brooks]. Jacob was knighted on the field. He had two names, and both of them were gained by wrestling; the one by wrestling with his brother in the womb, the other by wrestling with the angel at Peniel. Jacob signifies a supplanter; Israel means a prince with God—and the reason of the new name was, that he had “power with God and with men, and had prevailed” [Jay].
Hos_12:4. Bethel. Revelations of God to men.
1. God reveals himself by his word. “He spake.”
2. The revelations of one age are designed for the instruction of another. “Spake with us.” Most important lessons from this place.
Bethel in Jacob’s time and Bethel in Israel’s time; or Bethel in its ruin and Bethel in its royalty.
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 12
Hos_12:3-4. Power. We might be like Bartholomew, who is said to have had a hundred prayers for the morning, and as many for the evening, and all be of no avail. “Fervency of spirit” is that which avails much [Bp Hall]. He that has never prayed, can never conceive; and he that has prayed as he ought, can never forget how much is to be gained by prayer [Dr Young].
Prayer ardent opens heaven, lets down a stream
Of glory on the consecrated hour
Of man, in audience with Deity.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield1917 · Public DomainOn v4(See Scofield "Heb 1:4").
angel
(See Scofield "Heb 1:4").
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0On v3General Information:
General Information:
Hosea the prophet is speaking about Jacob the ancestor of the Israelites.
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In the womb Jacob grasped his brother by the heel
Jacob wanted to take his brother's place as the firstborn, so he tried to keep his brother from being born first. (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
He struggled with the angel and won
Jacob fought with an angel so that the angel would bless him. (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
Tyndale Open Study Notes2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0On vv3–412:3 Jacob struggled with his brother (literally he supplanted…
12:3 Jacob struggled with his brother (literally he supplanted his brother): This verb (Hebrew ‘aqab) forms the root of Jacob’s name. Even before he was born, Jacob acted out the meaning of his name by supplanting his brother Esau (Gen 25:26). • As an adult, Jacob even fought with God (see Gen 32:22-30) and was renamed “Israel,” meaning “God fights.”
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv2–4 It may seem strange that the Prophet should now…
It may seem strange that the Prophet should now say, that God had a controversy with Judah; for he had before said, that Judah stood faithful with the saints. It seems indeed inconsistent, that God should litigate with the Jews, and yet declare them to be upright and separate them from the perfidious and ungodly. What then does this mean? The Prophet, as we have said, spake comparatively of the tribe of Judah, when he said that they remained faithful with the saints: for he did not intend wholly to exculpate the Jews, who were also full of grievous evils; but he intended to praise the worship which as yet prevailed at Jerusalem, that the impiety of the ten tribes might appear less excusable, who of their own accord had departed from the rule which God had given.
When any one at this day reproves the Papists, they say, that another mode of worship is unknown to them, and that they have been thus taught by their forefathers, and that the worship which they observe has so continued from antiquity, that they dare not either to change it or to deviate from it. Such might have been the excuse made by the Israelites. But the prophet charges them with voluntary defection, for the temple which God had chosen for himself stood in their sight; there the face of God was in a manner to be seen; for all things were arranged according to the heavenly pattern which had been shown to Moses in the mount. Since then pure religion was before their eyes, was not their sin proved by this very fact, that having neglected the word of God, they gave themselves up to new and fictitious modes of worship? The Prophet then had before praised the worship, but not the manners, of the tribe of Judah; and he now comes to their manners, and says, that there were many things in Judah which God would chastise.
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The Lord then hath a controversy with Judah; and he will begin with that tribe, and will then come down to the house of Jacob The Prophet, however, speaks here only in passing of the house of Judah, and touches but lightly on the controversy he had with that portion of the people. How was this? Because he was not a teacher, as it has been said already, set over the kingdom of Judah, but only over the Israelites. He now refers only to that kingdom for the purpose of striking terror into his own people: as though he said “Think ye that the forbearance of God is to be forever, because he has hitherto borne with you? Nay, God will begin to contend with the tribe of Judah. I have said, indeed, that they are innocent compared with you; but yet they shall not escape punishment; for in a short time God will summon them to judgement. If he will not spare the Jews, how can your great crimes go unpunished? For certainly you deserve hundred deaths in comparison with the Jews, among whom at least some integrity and uprightness exist; for they have made no change in the worship of God. Their life is corrupt; but yet the law of God and religion are not despised by them as they are by you. If then God will not spare them, much less will he spare you.”
We now understand for what purpose the Prophet says that God had a controversy with Judah; for it was not his design to terrify the Jews themselves, or to exhort them to repentance, except it may be by the way; but his object was to present an example to the Israelites, that they might fear; for they ought to have thought within themselves, “If this shall be done in the green, what shall become of the dry tree? (Luke 23:31.) If God will exercise with so much severity his vengeance against our brethren the Jews, among whom pure religion as yet exists, what sort of end and how dreadful is that which awaits us, who have departed from the law, the worship, the teaching, and the obedience of God, who are become truce-breakers, and degenerate, and in every way profane?”
Hence he immediately adds, And will punish Jacob “God will indeed begin with the tribe of Judah; this will be the prelude, and he will treat the Jews more mildly than you; but against you he will thunder in full force. It will not then be a remonstrance to draw you to repentance, but a punishment such as ye deserve; for he has already contended with you more than enough.”
According to his ways. according to his doings, will he recompense him. He sets down here ways and doings, with no superfluous repetition, but to show that the repentance of this people had been already more than sufficiently looked for; for they had not ceased for a long time to pursue their own wickedness. The Prophet then, no doubt, condemns here the Jews for their perverse wickedness, that they never left off their sins, though they had now for a long time been admonished, and had been often reproved by the Prophets. It now follows —
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv2–4 Which in those points was like to Ephraim, but…
Which in those points was like to Ephraim, but not in idolatries.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv2–4 Hos 12:2 The LORD hath also a controversy with…
Hos 12:2 The LORD hath also a controversy with Judah, and will punish Jacob according to his ways; according to his doings will he recompense him.
Ver. 2. The Lord hath also a controversy with Judah] Lest the prophet should be thought partial in the law, Mal 2:9, {See Trapp on "Mal 2:9"} and lest Ephraim should say of Judah, as once Oded did of Israel, "Are there not with them, even with them also, sins against the Lord?" 2Ch 28:10. The prophet answers by way of concession, that there were so indeed; and that therefore God had a controversy with them, a litigation, or disceptation: he was expostulating with them by words, and some lighter strokes, notwithstanding he had commended them before, as ruling with God, and retaining his pure worship. God would take his time to deal with them too for their many impieties, and especially for running to Egypt for help, as they did in the days of Ahaz and Zedekiah, see Isa 30:2; Isa 31:1; but because they were not yet so bad as the ten tribes, nor so desperately wicked, therefore the Lord was yet but pleading with them; he had not passed sentence, he was not resolved upon their ruin and utter extirpation, Hos 4:15; Hos 5:5-14; Hos 6:11; as he was for the ten tribes, those foul apostates and shameless covenantbreakers; concerning whom he saith, and is set upon it,
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I will punish Jacob according to his ways] See the like words Hos 4:9. {See Trapp on "Hos 4:9"} He calls them Jacob, because they gloried much in him, their progenitor; as did likewise the Samaritans that succeeded them, Joh 4:12. So did the Jews in Mic 2:7. But the prophet Hosea answereth them in effect (as there) by proving a disparity. "O thou that art named the house of Jacob" (that wilt needs be named so, and therein pridest thyself), "is the Spirit of the Lord straitened?" (ye are not surely straitened in him, but in your own bowels, that ye express Jacob no better, that ye resemble him no more). "Are these his doings?" was Jacob a man of your practices? No; {a} for he left no means unattempted that he might attain the blessing; he strove for it with his brother in the womb, βρεφος, afterwards with the angel, against whom with much wrestling and raising of dust he prevailed, as it followeth in the two next verses.
{a} Odiosum et impium dogma Anabaptistarum, qui ideo pueris baptismum negant, quia sensu ac mente careant. Luther in loc.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv2–4 The Lord hath also a controversy with Judah; though…
The Lord hath also a controversy with Judah; though Judah, compared with Ephraim, be faithful, yet when considered in his ways and doings he is found faulty in many things, and God hath just matter of complaint against Judah in point of manners; in public worship Judah was faithful, kept to God and the temple, though not without some defects, but in their lives there were many more and greater faults, about which God will contend that Judah may be reformed.
Judah; the two tribes.
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Will punish; or visit with chastising to amend, else to destroy: there is hope of Judah that he will be reclaimed, therefore I will try by gentler visitations, by fatherly corrections, yet I will not leave him as hopeless, nor as faultless.
Jacob; not the patriarch, but those who are of him; his children, but that have degenerated from his ways of love, fear, trust, and obedience. Both Ephraim and Judah are of Jacob, but both have corrupted themselves, and therefore will I proceed against both; and if Judah, the less faulty, escape not, Ephraim can have no hope to escape; if Judah be whipped with rods because a disobedient son, Ephraim may fear a sword because he hath been and still is an obstinate rebel.
According to his ways; neither can justly complain then, since their different ways are made the standard of the different proceedings of God against them, he will not lay upon either more than is equal; who suffers most hath deserved more, and who suffers least needed so much to amend him.
According to his doings will he recompense him: this is an elegant and very usual ingemination of the same thing, which doth assure it will be done, and should affect us the more.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv2–4 The Lord hath also a controversy with Judah,.... The…
The Lord hath also a controversy with Judah,.... The two tribes of Judah and Benjamin, as well as the ten tribes; for though they had ruled with God, and had been faithful with the saints in the first times of the apostasy of Israel; yet afterwards they sadly degenerated, and fell into idolatry likewise, particularly in the time of Ahaz, in which Hosea prophesied; and therefore the Lord had somewhat against them; nor would he spare them, but reprove them by the prophets, and rebuke them in his providences; bring them to his bar, and lay before them their evils, and threaten them with punishment in case of impenitence, as follows:
and will punish Jacob according to his ways; all the posterity of Jacob, whether Ephraim or Judah; those of the ten tribes, or of the two, who all descended from Jacob: or, "will visit according to his ways" (s); if right, and agreeably to the mind and word of God, in a way of grace and mercy; but if wrong, crooked, and perverse, then in a way of punishment; for visiting is used both ways:
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according to his doings will he recompense him; as they were good or bad; if good, will reward them with a reward of grace; if bad, with vengeance. The Targum paraphrases it,
"according to his right works.''
(s) "ad visitandum juxta vias ejus", Pagninus, Montanus; "visitabit secundum vias ejus", Piscator.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv2–4 Jacob - Ephraim and Judah are of Jacob, both…
Jacob - Ephraim and Judah are of Jacob, both have corrupted themselves, and therefore I will proceed against both.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv2–4 Verse 2. The Lord hath also a controversy with…
Verse 2. The Lord hath also a controversy with Judah] The rest of the prophecy belongs both to Judah and Israel. He reproaches both with their ingratitude, and threatens them with God's anger. In order to make their infidelity the more hateful, and their malice the more sensible, he opposes to them the righteousness, obedience, and piety of their father Jacob. He recalls to their minds the benefits they had received since they returned from Egypt. He speaks afterwards of their kings; and how, in their ingratitude, they refused to have him for their monarch. Having mentioned this fact, he subjoins reflections, exhortations, invectives, and threatenings, and continues this subject in this and the two following chapters.-Calmet.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv3–4 Hos 12:3. He took his brother by the heel…
Hos 12:3. He took his brother by the heel in the womb — From the mentioning of Jacob in the foregoing verse, the prophet takes occasion to put his posterity in mind of the particular favours God had bestowed upon him; partly with a view to encourage them to imitate him in endeavouring to obtain the like blessings, and partly to convince them of their ingratitude and degeneracy from him. His taking his brother by the heel, signified his striving, by a divine instinct, for the birthright and blessing. Even before his birth he reached forth his hand to catch hold of it, as it were, and if possible to prevent his brother. It denoted, also, that he should prevail at last, gain his point, and in process of time become greater than his brother. And this prognostic of his prevalence and superiority was the effect of God’s will and power, and not of Jacob’s, who was not then in a capacity of acting of himself: see note on Gen 25:26. It is justly observed here, by Bishop Horsley, that his “taking his brother by the heel is not mentioned in disparagement of the patriarch. On the contrary, the whole of these two verses is a commemoration of God’s kindness for the ancestor of the Israelites, on which the prophet founds an animated exhortation to them, to turn to that God from whom they might expect so much favour. By his strength he had power with God, &c. — This alludes to his wrestling with the angel, as recorded Genesis 32. That bodily strength, wherewith he was endued by God, and enabled to wrestle with this heavenly being, was a token of the strength of his faith, and of the fervency of his spirit in prayer. This is mentioned here by the prophet, as another instance of God’s favour to Jacob. He not only, when an infant in the womb, was enabled to perform the emblematical action just mentioned; but, in his adult age, he was endued with such supernatural strength of mind and body, that he was enabled to continue wrestling till he obtained the blessing. The prophet, in this clause, alludes to those words of his, I will not let thee go except thou bless me; intimating the strength of his faith, and prevalency of his prayers with God. The words, He had power with God, and those that follow, He had power over the angel, are equivalent; and plainly prove that this person, who assumed a human shape, was really God, that is, the Son of God, and the angel of the covenant, by whom all the divine appearances recorded in the Old Testament were performed; the affairs of the church being ordered by him from the beginning. This subject is learnedly handled by Dr. Allix in his Judgment of the Jewish Church, against the Unitarians, chap. 13.-15., by Archbishop Tenison in his Discourses of Idolatry, chap. 14., and by Bishop Bull in his Defence of the Nicene Faith.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv2–4 The Lord hath also a controversy with Judah, and…
The Lord hath also a controversy with Judah, and will punish Jacob - The guilt of Judah was not open apostasy, nor had he filled up the measure of his sins. Of him, then, God saith only, that He “had a controversy with” him, as our Lord says to the “Angel of the Church of Pergamos, I have a few things against thee. Repent, or else I will come unto thee quickly, and fight against thee with the sword of My mouth” Rev 2:12, Rev 2:16. Of Ephraim, whose sin was complete, He says, that the Lord “is to punish.” God had set His mind, as we say, on punishing him; He had (so to speak) set Himself to do it. Jacob, like Israel, is here the name for the chief part of Israel, i. e., the ten tribes. Our Lord uses the same gradation in speaking of different degrees of evil-speaking; “Whosoever of you is angry without a cause, shall be in danger of the judgment; and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council; but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell-fire” Mat 5:22. : “The justice of God falls more severely on those who degenerate from a holy parent, than on those who have no incitement to good from the piety of their home.” To amplify this , “The prophet explains what good things Jacob received, to show both the mercy of God to Jacob, and the hardness of Ephraim toward God. While Jacob was yet in his mother’s womb, he took his brother by the heel, not by any strength of his own, but by the mercy of God, who knows and loves those whom he hath predestinated.”
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv2–4 Judgment. Hebrew, "trial." What follows refers to all the…
Judgment. Hebrew, "trial." What follows refers to all the people, whose impiety is contrasted with Jacob’s virtue.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv2–4 controversy with Judah-- (Hos 4:1; Mic 6:2). Judah, under…
controversy with Judah-- (Hos 4:1; Mic 6:2). Judah, under Ahaz, had fallen into idolatry (Kg2 16:3, &c.).
Jacob--that is, the ten tribes. If Judah, the favored portion of the nation, shall not be spared, much less degenerate Israel.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On v2 2. The southern kingdom was equally guilty.
2. The southern kingdom was equally guilty.
Controversy — See on Hos_4:1.
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Judah — Some substitute “Israel.” Also, which is in the English translations, is not in the original (see on Hos_5:5).
Jacob — Since the name stands in parallelism with Judah it would seem to be a poetic synonym of the latter. If Israel is substituted in the first clause Jacob may be regarded as a poetic synonym of Israel, used so as to prepare the way for the references to the patriarch Jacob. If Hos_11:12 b, is original still another interpretation is possible: Judah — the southern kingdom; Jacob, which is equivalent to Israel — the northern kingdom: the two together make up the whole nation. The third interpretation is favored by Hos_12:13, which seems to imply that in chapter 12 Hosea compares the whole nation with its ancestor.
His ways… doings — The faithless conduct condemned in Hos_11:12; Hos_12:1 (compare Hos_4:9; Hos_7:2).
In Hos_12:3-5 (compare Hos_12:13) the prophet introduces abruptly a reference to three incidents in the life of the patriarch Jacob: one connected with his birth (Gen_25:26), another with his return from Aram (Gen_32:22 ff.), and a third with his journey to or from Aram (Gen_28:10-22; Gen_35:9-15). The place of these historical references in the argument of Hosea is variously interpreted. Some see in them a commendation of the patriarch, whose acts indicated his anxiety for divine and paternal blessings; this commendation implies a condemnation of his descendants who are spiritually indifferent. Others see in them a condemnation of the patriarch, who even before his birth practiced deceit and who in manhood sought to take advantage of God and man. Small wonder that his descendants are full of lies and falsehoods. Still others see a condemnation of Jacob in the first reference and a commendation in the others. On the whole, the first interpretation is to be preferred.
Took his brother by the heel — Though the exact meaning of the verb is uncertain, the thought is that Jacob desired to be born first, so as to enjoy the rights of the firstborn (Gen_27:36). The prophet does not justify the act.
For purposes of illustration it is not necessary to pass judgment on the merits of an act (compare Luk_16:1 ff.). In later life the patriarch manifested still greater anxiety for the divine blessing.
By his strength — R.V., “in his manhood” (Gen_49:3).
Had power with God — Margin R.V., “strove”; margin A.V., “behaved himself princely.” Again the exact meaning of the verb is uncertain. The reference is to Gen_32:22 ff.
Hos_12:4 describes the conflict in greater detail.
The angel — Equivalent to “God” in Hos_12:3 (see on Zec_1:11).
Prevailed — His persistence was rewarded.
Wept — Jacob’s tears were a further evidence of his anxiety. The shedding of tears is not mentioned in Genesis.
Made supplication — Compare Gen_32:26. If only Israel would follow the footsteps of Jacob they too would receive the divine blessing.
He — It seems best to carry over the subject from the preceding and make he refer to Jacob.
Him — Jehovah. Both the order and the prophet’s purpose, to impress upon the Israelites the truth that the vision at Beth-el was the result of Jacob’s spiritual longings, make it probable that he thought of that vision as having been granted on Jacob’s return from Aram (Gen_35:9-15).
He spake — That is, Jehovah.
With us — What Jehovah said to Jacob applied equally to his descendants. The text is greatly improved, however, if we read, with Peshitto and other ancient versions, “with him,” that is, with Jacob. LXX. also seems to have read the pronoun of the third person singular, though in other respects its text of 4b is inferior to the Hebrew.
Hos_12:5 is thought by many to be a later addition, “by some pious reader of a very late date.” The English translators evidently took 5a in apposition to he, the subject of spake (Hos_12:4). By identifying the God who blessed the yearning Jacob with Jehovah, whom, nominally at least, they worshiped as their deliverer and helper, the prophet prepared the way for the exhortation in Hos_12:6. If he rewarded the perseverance of your ancestor he will in the same manner reward you, if you earnestly seek him. The thought remains the same if we regard, as seems more probable, Hos_12:5 in construction independent of the preceding: “And Jehovah is the God of hosts; Jehovah is his memorial name.”
Memorial — R.V., “memorial name.” The name by which the God of Israel is to be remembered (Exo_3:15).
Jehovah God of hosts — Identical in meaning with the shorter “Jehovah of hosts.” As used by the prophets, this title designates Jehovah as the Lord of all powers in the world and in nature. There is still a difference of opinion as to the original significance of host. 1. Some think that host referred primarily to the angels. According to Ewald the phrase arose on the occasion of some great victory, when it seemed as if the host of heavenly beings had come down to the relief of the people (compare Psa_103:21; Neh_9:6). 2. Others think that the hosts were originally the armies of Israel, whose leader Jehovah is represented as being (Exo_7:4; Exo_12:41; Exo_12:51). 3. Still others take it to refer primarily to the stars, which are frequently called “the hosts of heaven” (Deu_4:19; Isa_34:4). 4. Sayce connects it with Babylonian mythology. Jehovah, he identifies with Sin, the moon-god. Sin is called “the enchanter of the spirits of the hosts.” This title in its Hebrew form was, he thinks, transferred from Sin to Jehovah. But whatever the primary usage of the title the prophets gave to it a sublimer content.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv2–4 2. Jacob] Here used for the northern kingdom, to…
2. Jacob] Here used for the northern kingdom, to prepare the way for the etymological allusion in Hos_12:3.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv2–3 (2) Jacob refers to the northern kingdom.
(2) Jacob refers to the northern kingdom.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv2–4 The Lord hath also a controversy with Judah; and…
The Lord hath also a controversy with Judah; and will punish (margin, visit upon) Jacob according to his ways. God here presents himself at once as plaintiff and judge, widening the range of his pleadings. The controversy with Israel takes a wider sweep, and comprehends Judah culpable, though apparently in a less degree. But though Judah comes in for a share of punishment, that punishment shall be proportionate to their delinquencies those like Judah that sinned less shall suffer less; while the more heinous transgressors, such as Israel had proved to be, would come in for severer punishment. To Jacob, here embracing the ten tribes of Israel and the two of Judah, the chastisement would be meted out in exact accordance with his ways. The apparent contradiction between ver. 12 of last chapter, where, as most translate it, Judah is represented as ruling with God and being faithful with the saints, and the present inclusion of Judah in controversy with Jehovah, occasioned
(1) a rendering and explanation of this verse which Aben Ezra declares to be both ungrammatical and unscriptural. "He" says Aben Ezra." who explains that Judah is faithful and he shall be reproving, and asserts that Scripture makes no mention of Jehovah having a controversy against Judah, but employs the sense being that Jehovah and Judah have a strife against Ephraim, errs from the way of Scripture and grammar, for the prophet has written above (ver. 13), "Judah saw his wound;" "I will make Ephraim to ride; Judah shall plough;" and in reference to both of them he says," Ye shall eat the fruit of lies." He also forgets "The herdmen of Gerar did strive with ( Isaac"s herdmen;" "And the people strove with Moses;" and many other places i.e. where is found with the sense of "contending. Therefore he joins Ephraim with Judah, and says, "The Lord hath also a controversy with Judah, and will punish Jacob according to his ways, because this name (i.e. Jacob) comprehends them both (Ephraim and Judah).
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(2) The meaning is given concisely and correctly by Rashi thus: "He (Jehovah) announces to them the words of his controversy which their brethren of the house of Israel had caused him; and they should not wonder if he would punish (literally, "visit on") Jacob according to his ways." The change in the ease of Judah, Kimchi accounts for by reference to their subsequent apostasy, especially that of their kings, as follows: "Although he said, "And Judah yet reigneth with God," he meant, although be holds fast by the service of God in the house of the sanctuary; so afterwards they practiced evil deeds as their kings were evil; therefore he said," Jehovah has a controversy and correction with Judah and Jacob to visit upon them according to their doings, as their kings were evil, for they did not remember my mercy with them and with their father Jacob, because the whole was for sake of his posterity; and I showed him a sign which should be to his seed after him, if they gave their heart to me.... And the sign which I showed them is only done for sake of his seed. But they have not acknowledged this, for if they had acknowledged this, they would have cleaved to me and my service, and I would have ratified to them the blessing of Jacob their father. The infinitive with le is not infrequently employed in the sense of our future, thus, dqpl, it is to be visited, equivalent to "he shall or must visit upon it" This idiom is common in Syriac, but always with atid. According to his doings will he recompense him. The milder expression is applied to Judah he has a controversy with him, but will punish Jacob, restricted by some to Ephraim or the ten tribes. Better understand Jacob of both Judah and Israel, who are both to be recompensed, each according to his works.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On v3 And by his strength he had power with God.
Hos_12:3-4
And by his strength he had power with God.
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Wrestling Jacob
This story has a strange fascination for most Bible readers, due, in part, to the vividness with which it is told; in part, to the deep spiritual truth which it half reveals and half conceals. Jacob recalls in his prayer the time when he passed this very place twenty years before as he fled from the wrath of Esau. God has been with him, and prospered him. Let us picture again that weird night scene. The almost oppressive silence was only broken by the roar of the shallow Jabbok, which writhed and struggled between obstructing rocks as it plunged and tumbled to the Jordan valley two miles below. We can see the rough waters gleam under the torches as drove after drove of animals splashed and ploughed their way through,--the goats and the sheep, the camels and the cattle, the asses and their foals are carefully arranged in successive relays, to appease the wrath of Esau. Then, in two companies, his frightened household followed, and the sounds died away again until nothing was left but the deepened roar of the turbulent stream beside him, which seemed to intensify the dead silence all around. Jacob was left alone. He was anxious, and apprehensive of what might happen. He was a greedy man, and he stood to lose, at one stroke, the wealth which represented the struggles of twenty years. He was an intensely affectionate man, and it seemed as if wives and children might be snatched away from him at one fell swoop: I fear lest Esau come and smite me, the mother and the children. Then, through the long night there wrestled with him man till daybreak--till the reach of the Jabbok flashed again in the sudden Syrian sunrise. As he lay there in the growing light, thrown, exhausted, he knew it was no man who had striven with him. In the sunrise he had seen God face to face. So he called the place Peniel--Gods face. But that is only the outside of the story, the body of this experience. What is its inner meaning? An instinct tells us that this is the record of a moral and spiritual struggle, which doubtless has its counterpart in the human life of these breathless days. That shrivelled tendon was the mark left in Jacobs body of a moral and spiritual struggle--the crisis of his history. We know the long night ended in tearful and penitent prayer. What makes me feel certain that this is the record of a moral and spiritual struggle is the undoubted fact that from that day a great moral change came over Jacob--a change represented by his new name. He was no longer Jacob--sly, subtle, crafty, tricky Jacob, he was an Israelite, indeed, in whom there was no guile. He was Israel, Gods prince, for he had prevailed. He not only had a new name, but a new nature. The blessing which came with the dawn was the highest blessing which can ever come to any man--the assurance that his better self would become increasingly his truest self. He was a prince of God. It is not difficult to see that Jacobs whole life had been one long wrestle, a tough, hard struggle with others. He had wrestled for bread, for love, for justice. Yes; and he had prevailed. He had succeeded, he had reaped the fruit of struggle--strength. He had gained what comes with victory--self-confidence. He had outwitted the crafty Laban. He went to his uncle a penniless tramp; he left him a wealthy man. And now he comes back to the land which was promised him. And here, on the very border and frontier of it, just as he is about to grasp what seems to be already his, he is brought up suddenly face to face with an old sin; and, as old sins are wont to do, it unnerved him. Do you know men who sinned--twenty years ago? They have been successful in spite of their sin--nay, by means of it, and God has given no sign. Then, after twenty years, they are brought face to face with the consequences. They do not ask now: What will it mean to me? There is a question which cuts deeper than that: What will it mean to wife and children? If no one else were involved, if the man knew definitely what it would mean and how it would end he could face it. Though it brought ruin and exposure and shame, he could meet it like a man, But when the vague dread of it hangs over his life, and he lies awake at night and goes over all the possibilities and chances of what may happen, and wonders if any contingency has been left unprovided for, till the heart is sick with a nameless dread--then suspense becomes anguish. Now, that was Jacobs case. He had done all that foresight and long experience could devise. He had sent messages, intended to convey to Esau the impression that he was a man of some consequence--obsequious messages, toe, to my lord Esau. And my lord sent back a soldiers answer: Esau cometh to meet thee with four hundred men. With great astuteness Jacob divides his household into two companies, so that if Esau falls on one, the other may perhaps escape. His trouble drives him to his knees, for with all his subtlety and shrewdness Jacob was a praying man. He appeals, in his extremity--like many a trickster since--to his fathers God. And yet, apprehension of his loss breaks through his very prayer. He is a rich man now, and has much to lose I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies which Thou hast shewed unto Thy servant,. . . deliver me, I pray Thee, from the hand of my brother. In the very act of prayer his subtle brain is scheming how he will send presents to Esau--not in a lump, but first one, then another, drove after drove. He knew very well how to appeal to the frank, generous heart of the rough twin-brother. What a mixture the man is!--craft and prayer, cunning and faith, daring and dread!. . . Then Jacob was greatly afraid, and was distressed. Does all this let any light on some past experience of your own? You were walking, as you thought, in the way of Gods leading--in obedience to His call--to some land of promise, and on the very border of it you are suddenly brought face to face with some past wrong. The power in which you trusted--the result of long experience--fails you. Your self-confidence is rudely shaken. You betake yourself to prayer, and yet you will not trust wholly in that either; you do all that foresight can suggest--and stretch a point in doing it--to make quite sure that the blessing shall be yours. You try to deal with God as you have dealt with men. Is that the meaning of Jacobs wrestling? You come to the very border of your land of promise. It is almost your own. And you will make quite sure of it by human means,--as if God could be tricked and managed, as if the blessing must be wrested from unwilling hands. Then you find that you have more than Esau to deal with. There is another Antagonist--unknown, mysterious, persistent. So you struggle on through the darkness, unwilling to cast aside the powers which have never failed when dealing with your fellows. Does not your own experience interpret this story for you? Then, at daybreak, with one touch the nameless wrestler shrivels the strongest muscle in Jacobs body, and shows what He might have done at any moment. The strong man falls back spent and thrown. His self-confidence is broken, he has met more than this match.
Nay, but I yield, I yield;
I can hold out no more!
Is that the end, then? It would have been with some men, but Jacob clings with all his remaining strength to his great antagonist, until he wrings a blessing from the struggle. It was after his defeat, you observe, after he was worsted and thrown, that he prevailed. Look at the text again (R.V. margin), In his strength he strove with God; yea, he strove with the angel, and prevailed. But how? In this way: He wept, and made supplication unto Him. He supplicates the possession he cannot win. The blessing he sought to wring from God was his in a free and gracious gift. The sun rose on a changed and chastened life. But the long struggle had left its mark on him. He halted on his thigh. He lost the proud, self-confident swing in his gait. He was a humbler and a better man. Is that an old story I have been telling you? Is it not your story? Yours and mine? Do you remember that dark and troubled day when the Unseen asserted its rights--when you wrestled, but not with flesh and blood? And you found that the tricks and quirks which avail in that warfare were no use, for you were dealing with God. Is that the explanation of some struggle in the darkness which is going on here and now? Have we never heard of the striving of the Spirit? Is that the meaning of some bitter disappointment which comes unexpectedly into the life of some self-confident man who has hitherto never known what failure means? The power which wrestles with you is a power which longs to bless. If you will cling with all your strength, it may be you will come out of that struggle crowned and with a new name, because in the struggle you have learned His name, and in defeat you have learned to pray. (A. Moorhouse, M. A.)
Jacobs strength
The strength that God puts into us, though it be Gods own, yet when we have it, and work by it, God accounts it as ours; it is called Jacobs strength, though the truth is, it was Gods strength. It is a great honour to manifest much strength in wrestling with God in prayer. In this was the honour of Jacob, with his strength he prevailed with God. We should not come with weak and empty prayers, but we should put forth strength; if a Christian has any strength in the world for anything, he should have it in prayer. According to the strength of the fire, the bullet, ascends; so according to what strength we put forth in prayer, so is our prevalence. This strength of Jacob was a type of the spiritual strength which God gives His saints when they have to deal with Him. See Eph_3:16. Surely the strength is great that is by the Spirit of God, but such strength shall manifest the glory of the Spirit of God. This is the strength attainable for Christians, even here in this world. Let us not be satisfied with faint desires and wishes, when Jesus Christ is tendered to us as the fountain of strength. But do you walk so that your strength manifests that such riches of the glory of God dwell in you? Christians should seek to be strengthened with all might, according to the glorious power of God. The way to prevail with men is to prevail with God. (Jeremiah Burroughs.)
Jacobs victory and our duty
The prophet takes the opportunity of showing the difference between their conduct and that of Jacob, after whom they were called. His design in doing so was to make them know that, if they expected to be saved, it was not by proving their descent from Jacob, but by acting as did that pious patriarch when he was in danger and was suffering from the effects of his former misconduct. Reference is to the scene of wrestling with the angel. We use it as an example of the mode and nature of faithful and successful prayer. All must pray, and to be heard must pray aright, in the same persevering manner as Jacob, and in the same holy temper. We are taught, in other parts of Scripture, to address our God with penitence, holiness, faith, and perseverance; and all these essentials of acceptable devotion are illustrated in this narrative. (Beaver H. Blacker, M. A.)
Israel unlike Jacob
Alas! a nearer view of Judah shows that all the descendants of Jacob, in Zion as in Samaria, provoke judgment. How unlike the early devotion and fervent faith of the pilgrim-patriarch their father! From the strong prayer amidst the stones at Bethel, where the eternal pathway between heaven and earth was opened in vision, and from the wrestling of supplication at Peniel, what moral degeneracy a idst the wealthy traffic adopted in Canaan! And what a cry to God may not the prophet raise for a restoration of the old simple tent-life, when it seemed natural to men that God should raise up speakers of His will, and quicken their spiritual life by fervent preachers! In those days of prophets Israel dwelt safely: under her kings she sins and suffers. God spared the ten tribes, notwithstanding that Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, made them sin. Now, since idolatry multiplies, since Baal is worshipped, and perhaps even human bloodshed, either to Moloch, or through contagion of Moloch worship, notwithstanding Abrahams purer faith had sought better propitiations, the nation drifts like chaff, stubble, smoke. All Gods appeals are in vain. Stolid and obstinate, the nation which God called to for a new birth of a pious generation, and for new thoughts and hope, stands gazing on its idols. God would have saved them from the Assyrian sword, and would have foiled the besieger, and bidden death and the grave stay their devouring. But since sinners do not repent, God cannot relent. (Rowland Williams, D. D.)
Bethel and Peniel
The house of God and the face of God. God is here. God is mine.
I. Jacobs first conversion. At Bethel Jacob cannot be called a religious man. He had come into no personal relations with God. He acknowledged, but did not know, his fathers God. His character had, as yet, received no shakings, so it had thrown down no personal and independent rootings; there were no signs of the sway of any central and unifying principles. He could still be described as without God in the world. But out of the very consequences of his wrongdoings come the beginnings of nobler things. The vision gives us the time when Jacob first entered into personal relations with God. It may help us to understand in what our conversion to God essentially consists--a revelation of the personal God to the soul; and the acceptance, by the soul, of the responsibilities of that revelation. Jacobs new life begins with a personal revelation of God. This is the Divine arrest of the man in the very midst of his wilfulness and selfishness. God guides him with the hand of His Providence, and sets him just where He can best reveal to him Himself. We have no record of Jacobs struggling after the light, and at last reaching, after long efforts, to the light of God. In his case there is no growing of knowledge into the wisdom of God, no unfolding of moral feeling into spiritual life; but upon him, while actually in his heedlessness, the revelation of God comes: a new fact of his existence is impressively disclosed to him: this fact, that God, his fathers God, Abrahams God, was with him. That fact at once, and altogether, changes the principle and spirit of his life. Religion is not a development; it is not an education; it is not something which man can himself start and nourish. It is the effect of a Divine salvation; an intervention of God; a gracious mode of bringing man into conscious and happy relations with God. It was a vision of God, and an assurance of the Divine nearness to him, and care of him, that bowed Jacob down with the profoundest awe and humiliation. The ungodly soul felt that God was about him, close to him. The vision opened Jacobs eyes--
1. To see Gods relation to his life. The vision showed God caring for sinful, wandering Jacob, watching over his slumbers, peopling the desert for him with ministering angels, and assuring him of unfailing guardianship. He could never be the same man again when this fact had been brought home to his very heart.
2. To feel a conviction of the Divine claims of God is here, I must wait, listen, obey.
3. To realise the Divine love, the sovereign fulness and freeness of Divine grace, Jacob woke in the morning to feel--God loves me, even me.
II. Jacobs second conversion. The wrestling represents the highest point in the spiritual history of Jacob. It was the time in which Jacob learned the mystery and the joy of trusting wholly, committing himself entirely to the Divine love and lead. The wrestling at Jabbok is the close of a scene of which each part requires careful attention. Anxious and scheming as he came within sight of Canaan, he had the vision of the guarding angels to recall him from his schemings to trust. He had hitherto only seen his helpless company and the approaching peril, and like the prophets servant in later times, God opened his eyes to see, closer than any danger, the two angel-bands of watchers. Recalled thus to the thought of Gods nearness, Jacob feels that he must blend prudent schemes with prayer, and the prayer he offers is full of humility, thankfulness, and pleading, that makes it in many ways a model of prayer. But it is easily overestimated. It is the prayer of one who is still rough too self-conscious, of one who has not yet quite given up his guileful ways: there is still something of Jacobs old mistake of making terms with God. He is evidently learning his great life-lesson, but the prayer shows that he has not fully learned it yet. It was a kind of drama of his life which was acted through that night. It was a gracious way of shewing Jacob what had been the mistake of his whole career. He had always been wrestling. Now in his heart he was even wrestling with God. But He will find that a very different thing. If it does seem that a mans wrestling brings mastery, it is only because God does not put forth His strength in the conflict. When He does and Simply touches Jacob, the confident wrestler, is prostrate and utterly helpless; he can wrestle no more, he can only cling, he can only say, Give me the blessing; he gives up at last all self-efforts to win the blessing. (Robert Tuck, B. A.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v3 Hos_12:3.] Jacob was their forefather; they should imitate his…
CRITICAL NOTES.]
Hos_12:3.] Jacob was their forefather; they should imitate his good, not his bad qualities. They are descendants, but their ways contrast with his (Mic_2:7). He secured the birth-right and the blessing with it; wrestled with God and prevailed in prayer. He wrestled in the womb, and as an adult he wrestled with man and with God. Took] To hold the heel (Gen_25:26). Strength] In his manly vigour he behaved himself princely with God (Gen_32:24-29), and acquired the name of prince. This strength given in conscious weakness.
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Hos_12:4. Angel] In human form God wrestled, put Jacob’s thigh out of joint, but did not prevail. Jacob could no longer stand. Wept] and poured out intense desires in supplication, and though wounded, was not overcome in conflict, but found God and talked with him at Bethel. There] he speaks to us by Jacob, girt with his spirit and might we may prevail.
HOMILETICS
IMITATING THE EXAMPLES OF PROGENITORS.—Hos_12:3-4
The Jews boasted of their relation to Jacob, but did not walk in his steps. Their trusting in man was a contrast to his believing in God. The prophet reproves them for their apostasy, shows how justly they were accused, and urges them to imitate the virtues, not the faults of their ancestor. We must not live under the shadow, but walk after the example of good men.
I. In Jacob we have an example of anxiety for God’s blessing. He was eager to secure the birthright and the blessing connected with it.
1. In the womb, “he took his brother by the heel” (Gen_25:26). He was to have precedence over the first-born by nature, and there was unconscious striving for Divine favour in store for him. Early indications of piety are encouraging. Some are chosen from the womb, and preserved from sins of youth and riper age. Potential development of children demands reverence and care in parents and teachers. Luther’s schoolmaster took off his hat and bowed to his scholars when he entered the school-room and thought of their destiny. The solemn possibilities of the future should stimulate parents to train up children in the fear of God and the love of truth. “Even a child is known by his doings.”
2. In after years “he had power with God.” In the womb he seized the heel; in manhood he cherished the same spirit, and became a prince with God. One struggle was the beginning of the other. The possession of God’s promise was the object of both. Having striven for it in secret, he secured it in public. What he sought in childhood he gained in manhood. Early impressions are the elementary tissue out of which mature life and conduct are developed and organized. In this instance “the child is father of the man.” Strength with God and power among men are the result of prayer and providential discipline. Those who are filled with true ambition, who seek to be great by following the example and serving the God of their forefathers, shall have the precedency. But profane persons like Esau, worldly-minded in their desires, and leagued with sin in their pursuits, will forfeit their birthrights and blessings. “The elder shall serve the younger.”
II. In Jacob we have an example of power with God. “By his strength he had power with God.”
1. Power through prayer. In great fear and distress, he was no match for the armed force of his angry brother. He could neither resist nor flee. He found succour and strength in God. He acted princely, was strong in faith, and prevailed over man. In prayer our own strength is increased, and more is given to us by God. We are strengthened with might by the Spirit in the inner man (Eph_3:16). The nature of this prayer is briefly described.
(1) Supplicating prayer. He “made supplication unto him.” Supplication is earnest, constant prayer, and often accompanied with crying (Psa_28:2; Jer_3:21).
(2) Wrestling prayer. “There wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day.” The word indicates a twisting of bodily limbs; intense energy and exertion to prevail. Jacob’s prayer was a struggle with the angel, physically and spiritually, in faith and determination.
(3) Prevailing prayer. “He had power over the angel and prevailed.” He conquered, received a new name, “for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men” (Gen_32:28). Luther on one occasion had wrestled hard with God, and came leaping out of his closet, shouting, “Vicimus, vicimus. We have conquered, we have conquered!”
2. Power through human tears. “He wept and made supplication.” Vehement desires and earnest prayers often find vent in tears. Hence “to implore means to ask with tears,” says one. His tears were not mere signs of weakness, but of strength; not the relief of nature, but the expression of spirit. Esau wept in anger and disappointment; Jacob in prayer and penitence. The tears of one were music to God; the cry of the other, complaint to men. He was a type of Christ, “who in the days of his flesh offered up prayers and supplications, with strong crying and tears, unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared.”
3. Power through Divine aid. Jacob’s purpose was strong, and his natural power great; but power to prevail was the gift of God. His physical strength was impaired; but though thrown in the contest, he would not give up. “I will not let thee go except thou bless me.” The blessing was all, the injured thigh was nothing to him. From night till break of day he wrestled with human tears and Divine energy. His spirit and perseverance put to shame his degenerate sons. It is folly boasting of ancestral glory without possessing ancestral virtues. Let us imitate the life and remember the prayers of our fathers. They were girt with the might of faith, and victorious over the Lord of hosts. “Out of weakness” they were “made strong,” and “waxed valiant in fight” with evil. Their glory is not the glory of the warrior, but the splendour of princes with God. Their new name supersedes the old, as the sun exceeds the stars. “For by it the elders obtained a good report.”
HOMILETIC HINTS AND OUTLINES
Hos_12:3-4. The wonderful combat. I The combatants. Jacob a man, and the angel, “the angel of the covenant.” II. The object of the combat. “Bless me.” In the night of sorrow and in the weakness of nature “turn to him that smiteth.” The blessing of the Lord maketh rich. III. The issue of the combat. “Power over the angel and prevailed.” Persevering, wrestling prayer will always prevail. “The father in wrestling with his child is willing enough for his child’s comfortand encouragement to take a fall now and then; so it was between the angel and Jacob. In this blessed story, as in a crystal glass, we see the great power and prevalency of private prayer; it conquers the conqueror; it is so omnipotent, that it overcomes an omnipotent God” [Brooks]. Jacob was knighted on the field. He had two names, and both of them were gained by wrestling; the one by wrestling with his brother in the womb, the other by wrestling with the angel at Peniel. Jacob signifies a supplanter; Israel means a prince with God—and the reason of the new name was, that he had “power with God and with men, and had prevailed” [Jay].
Hos_12:4. Bethel. Revelations of God to men.
1. God reveals himself by his word. “He spake.”
2. The revelations of one age are designed for the instruction of another. “Spake with us.” Most important lessons from this place.
Bethel in Jacob’s time and Bethel in Israel’s time; or Bethel in its ruin and Bethel in its royalty.
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 12
Hos_12:3-4. Power. We might be like Bartholomew, who is said to have had a hundred prayers for the morning, and as many for the evening, and all be of no avail. “Fervency of spirit” is that which avails much [Bp Hall]. He that has never prayed, can never conceive; and he that has prayed as he ought, can never forget how much is to be gained by prayer [Dr Young].
Prayer ardent opens heaven, lets down a stream
Of glory on the consecrated hour
Of man, in audience with Deity.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On v4 (See Scofield "Heb 1:4").
angel
(See Scofield "Heb 1:4").
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v3 General Information:
General Information:
Hosea the prophet is speaking about Jacob the ancestor of the Israelites.
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In the womb Jacob grasped his brother by the heel
Jacob wanted to take his brother's place as the firstborn, so he tried to keep his brother from being born first. (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
He struggled with the angel and won
Jacob fought with an angel so that the angel would bless him. (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
translationWords
womb
Jacob
brother
God
angel
beg
favor
Bethel
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv3–4 12:3 Jacob struggled with his brother (literally he supplanted…
12:3 Jacob struggled with his brother (literally he supplanted his brother): This verb (Hebrew ‘aqab) forms the root of Jacob’s name. Even before he was born, Jacob acted out the meaning of his name by supplanting his brother Esau (Gen 25:26). • As an adult, Jacob even fought with God (see Gen 32:22-30) and was renamed “Israel,” meaning “God fights.”
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.