Personality, whether inside or outside the womb, indicates personhood. It is fully human beings who display the characteristics of personality, regardless of where they are located, either in utero or lying in a crib. Lifeless tissue cannot show personality. The term “foetus” used to refer to a pre-born baby is a smokescreen used to rob personhood from the unborn and to hijack their God-given right to our protection.[1] Abortion kills a person.

Observe the violent display of clashing personalities of pre-born little people inside Rebekah’s womb:

וַיִּתְרֹֽצֲצ֤וּ הַבָּנִים֙ בְּקִרְבָּ֔הּ וַתֹּ֣אמֶר אִם־כֵּ֔ן לָ֥מָּה זֶּ֖ה אָנֹ֑כִי וַתֵּ֖לֶךְ לִדְרֹ֥שׁ אֶת־יְהוָ׃

“But the sons STRUGGLED VIOLENTLY inside her, and she said, “If it is going to be like this, I’m not so sure I want to be pregnant!” Genesis 25:22

Rebekah’s cry of perplexity and anguish over her difficult pregnancy is understandable when we consider the language used to describe the clash of the unborn sons. The strong Hebrew verb—"struggled violently”-- Moses uses to describe the sibling battle between Esau and Jacob in Rebekah’s womb is most frequently used FIGURATIVELY of the oppression of the poor. But when the same Hebrew verb is used LITERALLY, as it is here in Genesis 25:22, the term describes the violence of skulls being SMASHED. Observe:  

One example: “A woman dropped a stone on his head and CRUSHED his skull.” Judges 9:53.

Same exact Hebrew verb as used of the pre-born twins in Genesis 25:22. Crushed! We are talking about violence! The two unborn brothers display human personality by acts of violence, crushing each other inside the womb.  

What Moses is describing in the case of pregnant Rebekah (Gen 25:22) is the willful and VIOLENT COMBAT on the part of these pre-born twins, Jacob and Esau. (One Bible translation rendered this violent verb as “jostled.” Just “jostled?” Seriously?)

But equally as important, as the verb implies, a PERSONALITY is required to exert such violent force upon another person. Moses is describing the conflict between two unborn PEOPLE. The message from the womb screams: “We are people, fully human, with personalities!”

It is important to understand that the Genesis author calls these same pre-born brothers, “boys” in Gen 25:24, fully human beings.

And the days were filled to give birth. Look, there were twin BOYS in her womb. Genesis 25:24

The unborn sons were boys! Moses does not use a neutered term like ‘foetus’, as is used today to deprive--through a semantic smokescreen--the right of pre-born children to live. Actually, the term ‘foetus,’ imported into our culture from the LATIN language, simply means ‘offspring’ or ‘young’ and does not imply any lack of humanity, despite what the media deceptively alleges, but I digress.[2]

Pieces of lifeless tissue do not fight or WRESTLE VIOLENTLY one against the other as these two baby boys did in utero. It is people, bona-fide human beings, who wrestle with each other, not lifeless tissue.

Most of us recognize that children (little persons) in their initial years can be willful, selfish and self-centered. Here we see that when sharing tight space in the womb, the two unborn boys got an early start at selfish, “sibling rivalry,” to put it mildly.  

What these siblings exhibited INSIDE their mother’s womb is the same personality clash they would exhibit OUTSIDE as adults (cf., Gen 27:41-45). Here’s my POINT: The clashing personalities of pre-born Esau and Jacob were ALREADY present in the womb, proving they were REAL persons in every sense of the word. They displayed identical character traits that would bring them into bitter conflict OUTSIDE the womb later in life.

It is bona-fide people, whether pre-born or post-born, not lifeless tissue, that display unique personalities. Personality inside and outside the womb argues for personhood. The unborn are bona-fide human beings, created according to the image of God (Gen 1:26-27), entitled to the same protection we provide for those outside the womb.

Thank you for reading.

NOTES:

[1] Some reply: “it’s not a child, but simply a fetus and does not possess the status of humanhood.” Well, not so fast. The term “fetus” is a Latin loan word that means “offspring” (of a human) or “young” (person) as opposed to old. The term is imported into our vocabulary and touted today as a way of claiming that the child is simply a piece of flesh, lacking personhood. But the Latin term does not imply at all any lack of humanity or personhood, but rather full humanity and personhood. Yet the term is used today as a deceptive smokescreen, a Nazi-like (“Jews” were “sub-human”) tactic of depriving the right of unborn children to be protected in his/her first HOME (the mother’s womb) and the right to live through semantic confusion.

[2] Luke uses the same term to describe the pre-born John the Baptist (τὸ βρέφος) in Lk. 1:41, 44 and the after-born Jesus (τὸ βρέφος) in Lk. 2:12, 16. Virtually every translation render τὸ βρέφος as “baby.” According to Luke, unborn John the Baptist is a baby and after his birth, Jesus is also termed a baby. There is no difference in status as a bona-fide human being and personhood between the unborn and those born. The unborn John the Baptist is a bona-fide human being. Luke describes him as an unborn baby, leaping for joy (emotion) as he recognizes the voice of unborn Jesus, Israel’s Messiah, a sign of the dawning of a new age of redemption. So, an unborn baby is the first to recognize Jesus as Israel’s the long-awaited Messiah.