Romans 10.19-Paul Cites Deuteronomy 32.21 To Demonstrate That Israel Understood The Gospel
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Tuesday June 9, 2009
Romans: Romans 10:19-Paul Cites Deuteronomy 32:21 To Demonstrate That Israel Understood The Gospel
Lesson # 348
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 10:1.
This evening we will note Romans 10:19 and in this passage Paul poses another rhetorical question, which suggests that Israel didn’t understand the gospel and he refutes this notion by citing Deuteronomy 32:21.
Romans 10:1, “Brethren, my heart's desire and my prayer to God for them is for their salvation.”
Romans 10:2, “For I testify about them that they have a zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge.”
Romans 10:3, “For not knowing about God's righteousness and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God.”
Romans 10:4, “For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.”
Romans 10:5, “For Moses writes that the man who practices the righteousness which is based on law shall live by that righteousness.”
Romans 10:6, “But the righteousness based on faith speaks as follows: ‘DO NOT SAY IN YOUR HEART, ‘WHO WILL ASCEND INTO HEAVEN?’ (that is, to bring Christ down).”
Romans 10:7, “Or ‘WHO WILL DESCEND INTO THE ABYSS?’ (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead).”
Romans 10:8, “But what does it say? ‘THE WORD IS NEAR YOU, in your mouth and in your heart’ -- that is, the word of faith which we are preaching.”
Romans 10:9, “That if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”
Romans 10:10, “For with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.”
Romans 10:11, “For the Scripture says, ‘WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED.’”
Romans 10:12, “For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him.”
Romans 10:13, “For ‘WHOEVER WILL CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED.’”
Romans 10:14, “How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher?”
Romans 10:15, “How will they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, ‘HOW BEAUTIFUL ARE THE FEET OF THOSE WHO BRING GOOD NEWS OF GOOD THINGS!’”
Romans 10:16, “However, they did not all heed the good news; for Isaiah says, ‘LORD, WHO HAS BELIEVED OUR REPORT?’”
Romans 10:17, “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.”
Romans 10:18, “But I say, surely they have never heard, have they? Indeed they have; ‘THEIR VOICE HAS GONE OUT INTO ALL THE EARTH, AND THEIR WORDS TO THE ENDS OF THE WORLD.’”
Romans 10:19, “But I say, surely Israel did not know, did they? First Moses says, ‘I WILL MAKE YOU JEALOUS BY THAT WHICH IS NOT A NATION, BY A NATION WITHOUT UNDERSTANDING WILL I ANGER YOU.’”
“But” is the strong adversative conjunction alla (a)llav) (al-lah), which introduces a rhetorical question that stands in direct contrast with what might be expected, namely that the Israelites understood the gospel.
Paul anticipates a possible objection, namely that Israel did not understand the gospel
The rhetorical question “surely Israel did not know, did they” emphasizes that the nation of Israel did in fact understand the gospel message proclaimed to them from the time of Jesus Christ’s resurrection up to the time Paul wrote this epistle.
“First” is the nominative masculine singular form of the ordinal number protos (prwto$) (pro-tos), which is used to denote order indicating that Moses is the first in a long line of Old Testament prophets who served as witnesses testifying to the fact that Israel did understand the gospel.
“Moses” refers to the individual who led the Exodus generation, wrote the Pentateuch, received the Law from God on Mount Sinai.
He is listed in God’s Hall of Fame of faith in Hebrews 11:24-29 and was born during the eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt during the reign of Amenhotep I who reigned between 1546-1526 B.C.
As we note earlier Paul is quoting from Deuteronomy 32:21.
Deuteronomy 32:21, “They have made Me jealous with what is not God; They have provoked Me to anger with their idols. So I will make them jealous with those who are not a people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.”
Paul’s wording differs slightly from the majority Septuagint MSS as well as the MT.
He substitutes the second person plural form of the personal pronoun humeis, “all of you” for the third person singular plural form of the intensive personal pronoun autos, “them.”
By doing this he makes this quotation personal to Israel.
Deuteronomy 32:21 appears in the prophetic song of Moses, which was his final address to the citizens of Israel.
In this passage, Moses is speaking prophetically of the Lord’s response to Israel’s future rejection of His Son Jesus Christ in that He will make the Israelites jealous by turning to the Gentiles, which is a prophecy that the Gentiles would respond to the gospel.
Thus, this prophecy in Deuteronomy 32:21 was being fulfilled in Paul’s day.
Romans 10:19, “But I say, surely Israel did not know, did they? First Moses says, ‘I WILL MAKE YOU JEALOUS BY THAT WHICH IS NOT A NATION, BY A NATION WITHOUT UNDERSTANDING WILL I ANGER YOU.’”
“I WILL MAKE YOU JEALOUS” is a prophecy fulfilled in Paul’s day that indicates that the Lord would provoke Israel to jealousy by turning from them and offering salvation to the Gentiles through the gospel.
His intention for doing this was so that Israel might respond in faith as well to the gospel.
God saved the Gentile so that He might save the Jew.
Thus, God had not rejected the Jews altogether but still had them in mind by turning to the Gentiles.
“BY THAT WHICH IS NOT A NATION” indicates that the Lord provoked the Israelites to jealousy by a non-nation, i.e. the Gentiles.
“BY A NATION WITHOUT UNDERSTANDING” means that the Lord provoked the nation of Israel to anger by the Gentiles who lacked insight or understanding pertaining to the things of God and as a result lacked a high moral quality unlike the Jews.
“I WILL ANGER YOU” is a prophecy fulfilled in Paul’s day that the Lord would provoke Israel to anger by turning from them and offering salvation to the Gentiles through the gospel.
By God turning from the Jews for their rejection of the gospel of Jesus Christ and turning to the Gentiles and offering salvation to them indicates that Israel did in fact understand the gospel since the Gentiles who the Jews thought they were superior to, understood the gospel and obeyed it!
Also, just as God used other Gentile nations as His instruments to execute judgment upon Israel so He also uses Gentile nations as His instruments to provoke Israel to jealousy so that they would turn to Christ and have faith in Him so as to be saved.
By quoting Deuteronomy 32:21, Paul is equating Israel’s rejection of Jesus of Nazareth as Messiah with the idolatry of Israel in Moses’ day.
He is also equating God’s response to Israel’s rejection of Jesus of Nazareth as Messiah in his day with that of Israel’s rejection of the Lord in Moses’ day.
Therefore, Paul is pointing out to the Jews in this passage that they should have known from their own Scriptures that in their day that God predicted that He would turn to the Gentiles from them so as to provoke them to jealousy causing them to have faith in Christ.
They should have recognized from their own Scriptures that God was in fact working amongst them and the Gentiles through the gospel of Jesus Christ.