In the womb he took his brother by the heel, and in his manhood he strove with God.
In all this discourse the Prophet condemns the ingratitude of the people; and then he shows how shamefully they had departed from the example of their father, in whose name they yet took pride. This is the substance. Their ingratitude is showed in this, that they did not acknowledge that they had been anticipated, Praeventum fuisse. This is a most difficult word to render correctly and intelligibly.
In these verses, I. Ephraim is convicted of folly, in staying himself upon Egypt and Assyria, when he was in straits (Hos 12:1): Ephraim feeds on wind, that is, feeds himself with vain hopes of assistance from man, when he is at variance with God; and, when he meets with disappointments, he still pursues the same game, and greedily pants and follows after the east...
Commenting on Hosea 12:1-6
He took his brother by the heel in the womb,.... That is, Jacob took his brother Esau by the heel, as he came forth from his mother's womb; the history of it is in Gen 25:25. It is here observed, upon mentioning the name of Jacob in Hos 12:2, meaning the posterity, of the patriarch; but here he himself is intended, and occasionally taken notice...