"And the Lord said unto her: Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels, and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger.
"And when her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold there were twins in her womb."
This passage has been the occasion of lengthy commentaries on the part of certain Fathers of the Church—more especially of Origen. Indeed, either we must acknowledge divine injustice, creating, without any cause, two hostile brothers, one of whom must submit to the rule of the other, and who begin to strive together even before birth, or we must hark back to the pre-existence of the human soul and to a past Karma which had created inequality in condition.
David begins the ninetieth Psalm with a verse which only a belief in reincarnation can explain:
"Lord, thou hast been our dwelling-place in all generations...."
The dwelling-place of the soul, at death, is in heaven, whence it returns to earth when the hour of rebirth has struck; thus, in all generations, that is, from life to life, "the Lord is our dwelling-place."
In Chapter 8 of the Book of Wisdom, Solomon says in more explicit language:
"For I was a witty child, and had a good spirit, yea, rather, being good, I came into a body undefiled."
This clearly points to the pre-existence of the soul and the close relation that exists between the conditions of its rebirth and the merits or demerits of its past.
Verse 5 of the first chapter of Jeremiah is similar to verse 23 of the twenty-fifth chapter of Genesis: