7 What then? What the people of Israel sought so earnestly they did not obtain. The elect among them did, but the others were hardened, 8 as it is written:
"God gave them a spirit of stupor,
eyes that could not see
and ears that could not hear,
to this very day." [c]
9 And David says:
"May their table become a snare and a trap,
a stumbling block and a retribution for them.
10 May their eyes be darkened so they cannot see,
and their backs be bent forever." [d]
Ingrafted Branches
11 Again I ask: Did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all! Rather, because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious. 12 But if their transgression means riches for the world, and their loss means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their fullness bring!
13 I am talking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I make much of my ministry 14 in the hope that I may somehow arouse my own people to envy and save some of them. 15 For if their rejection brought reconciliation to the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?
Dig Deeper
Just recently we were home one night with our two sons but we also had five other kids that we were babysitting. It was quite a hectic scene but we’re fairly used to that sort of thing now after all these years. When it came time for supper we made something simple that most kids like, macaroni and cheese. We also had some delicious cookies for them as a treat afterwards. The only stipulation was that they had to finish all of their mac-n-cheese before they could have a cookie. One of the kids, who was about five, just did not want to eat, though. He wanted a cookie and to go play so he asked if he could just skip the meal and get to the good stuff. I told him “no,” an answer that he didn’t really appreciate. So, I decided upon a little motivation. I took a cookie and placed it on a napkin and placed it right where he could see it on the counter. I told him that he could have that cookie when he finished. That worked for a moment as he took a few bites but then lost his motivation and no longer cared. He just didn’t want to eat anymore. Then it happened. One of the other kids finished so I told them to take the cookie on the counter. This threw the non-eater into a bit of a meltdown. That was his cookie. How could he sit there and watch someone else enjoy his cookie? He hadn’t done what he needed to but now he couldn’t stand to see someone else enjoy what was supposed to be his. He suddenly returned to his bowl with a renewed vigor and motivation, downed his food quickly, and claimed another cookie as his own.
This is, of course, a simple analogy but it carries along the truth that jealousy can, in certain situations, actually be a positive motivator. Israel has rejected God’s purposes in the Messiah, this much had become true. Everything in their Scriptures had pointed them to the truth of the coming Messiah but when he actually came they didn’t like how God had worked. They didn’t want things to go that way and so rejected it. This was all part of God’s purposes and he used their rebellion to further his purposes in bringing Gentiles into the covenant family. But now Paul hoped that Israel would begin to be like a child watching someone else eat their cookie. He hoped that the jealousy would motivate them to accepting the life of the Messiah in belief, the only proper response to the declaration of the gospel.
Paul restates in verse 7 the point that he has made in the previous section. The people of Israel so earnestly sought to be part of God’s covenant family but the tighter that they held to their own expectations of how that would work out, the more they moved themselves further away from how God had actually worked through the resurrection of Christ. They were missing the boat, so to speak. A small remnant, including Paul, had submitted to God’s plan but the rest of Israel were hardened. As we have seen earlier, “hardened” was the somewhat mysterious process where someone would rebel against God’s purposes and rather than being judged immediately, God would allow them time and bring out the rebellion that was in their heart, using the extra time to work his purposes through the very rebellion against his purposes. When God delays his judgment but this time is not used to repent, those in rebellion are hardened and their final judgment, when it comes will be shown to be just.
Paul does not mean that God makes it so that certain individuals are unable to come to faith somehow. He is still speaking in terms of people, so it is Israel as a collective that is hardened. Paul still hopes that some individuals will join him in the remnant created by grace. Their rightful judgment has been delayed and they have been hardened, says Paul in vv. 8-10, using a string of Old Testament allusions and quotations from Deuteronomy, the Psalms, and Isaiah. Ethnic Israel as a collective has seen their opportunity come and go, and God has now used their rebellion and delay of judgment for his own purposes. In that hardening, table fellowship, the spiritual heart of the society (and something that Jews had turned around to highlight the differences between them and pagans), had become a snare. The tighter they held to it as a symbol of separation and exclusion, the more they missed the boat of the true inclusive table fellowship of the Messiah. When one rejects the truth as a lie, then their eyes will be forever darkened to the truth. This is the position in which Israel now found itself.
But Paul asks a poignant question in verse 11. Has Israel stumbled so far as to be a permanent situation for every Jew? Certainly not, says Paul. God had a purpose in choosing Israel for the task of being called to be his people, and in being hardened to God’s purposes. Just as Pharaoh had been allowed a position of power and was used by God through his hardening, his delay of judgment, to bring about the freedom of the Israelites, so the Gentile salvation has come about as a result of Israel’s hardening. Israel is playing the role of Pharaoh and Egypt in God’s new exodus. But this does not, believes Paul firmly, somehow seal the fate of every individual Jew.
Israel rebelled against God’s purposes and has now, as a collective, been hardened allowing the Gentiles to come into the full riches and blessings of being the covenant people. Israel really has lost this. We should not, as many today still incorrectly claim, that Gentiles have a path to salvation in Christ but Jews have a parallel track apart from Christ and will be saved simply because they are ethnic Israel. Paul’s whole point here is that the Gentiles really have come into the blessings that originally belonged to ethnic Israel. The promises, the inheritance, it was all theirs. And now they must look and see all of that being given to Gentiles and a small remnant of their kinsmen, a group that included Paul. The inclusion of the Gentiles into the covenant family was more than just the fulfillment of God’s promised family of many nations, it served a double purpose of making the Jews envious. Paul hopes that this jealousy will motivate them in larger numbers to embrace the gospel now that the Gentiles have streamed into the kingdom and it is clear that this will truly be a family of all people groups.
The rebellion of the Jews and their subsequent hardening has meant an incredible opportunity and riches for the Gentiles. Perhaps Paul believes that if the Jews had immediately embraced the gospel as a people then it would have somehow stood in the way of the Gentiles embracing it. Ethnic Israel has been whittled down to a remnant but Paul sees something beyond that perhaps. “How much greater riches will their fullness bring,” asks Paul. “Fullness” is basically a term that Paul uses to mean “all those who eventually will” come to faith. His point is that is Israel’s stumble has brought riches to the world, how much more should Israel receive “fullness.” This is not, then, a specific predetermined number but simply Paul means, “why shouldn’t Jews come into the family in large numbers?” In a way, the refusal of the young man to obey allowed another to enjoy his cookie (this is not a perfect analogy obviously because the second boy was going to get a cookie regardless, but we can still imagine the point), then how much sweeter will it be when he does obey and gets his cookie. This is Paul’s point. Israel as a collective has lost their inheritance but how much sweeter will it be when a full number of Jews realize that, are motivated by the jealously of seeing the Gentiles enjoy the riches of the kingdom, and enter into for themselves (We should note here that just as God is jealous that humans should worship him, jealousy for something that is rightfully yours, is not a sinful form of jealousy so we need not think that Paul is arguing some sort of ends-justifying-the-means theology). Their rejection has brought reconciliation for the whole world so when Jews do begin to accept the gospel, something Paul hopes sincerely and deeply will happen, then it will be like the dead coming back to life.
We should not miss what Paul has alluded concerning the role of Israel in all of this. They were humbled and brought low so that the world might be lifted up. They were cast out so that the world could be reconciled. They experienced death so that the world might gain life. And now Paul looks ahead hopefully to a time when they will resurrect from that state of death and come into the life that they have, in part, brought about. Do you see it? Written into the story of Israel itself is the story of the Messiah. They have acted out the story of Jesus, if now they would only see that and come to Christ. In the resurrection of Christ, then, Paul sees the glorious hope that his kinsmen will also be brought back to life. In short, Paul does not want any Jews thinking they made it into the remnant and that will be it for their kinsmen and he doesn’t want any Gentiles thinking that God will not bring anymore Jews into the kingdom.
Devotional Thought
Paul had found salvation for himself but he deeply desired to see that same reconciliation pass on to his kinsmen. Do you have the same kind of passion for your family, your hometown friends, etc.? Spend some time today praying about your own “kinsmen” and consider how you might be able to share the gospel with them.
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