Has God Rejected Israel?
Notes
Transcript
Recap
Recap
In this section between Romans 9 to 11, Paul has been discussing the role and future of Israel. Paul has been asking the question: Does Israel’s rejection of the good news of Yeshua the Messiah mean that the promises made by Adonai to Beni Yisrael have failed?
In Rom. 9:6 to Rom. 9:24 we covered the questions of whether or not God was to blame, or was Israel to blame? Now in Rom. 11:1 Paul answers a very specific question: Just because the majority of Israelites rejected the good news of Yeshua, does that mean that God has rejected Israel?
So, let us dive right into Rom. 11:1-10
I say then, God has not rejected His people, has He? May it never be! For I too am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not rejected His people whom He knew beforehand. Or do you not know what the Scripture says For Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel? “Adonai, they have killed your prophets, they have destroyed your altars; I alone am left, and they are seeking my life.” But what is the divine response to him? “I have kept for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” So in the same way also at this present time there has come to be a remnant according to God’s gracious choice. But if it is by grace, it is no longer by works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace. What then? What Israel is seeking, it has not obtained; but the elect obtained it, and the rest were hardened— just as it is written, “God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes not to see and ears not to hear, until this very day.” And David says, “Let their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a retribution for them. Let their eyes be darkened so they do not see, and bend their back continually.”
God has NOT rejected Israel!
God has NOT rejected Israel!
The answer is simply, Adonai has absolutely not rejected Israel in spite of all they have done against Him. Paul, after giving the explicit response, decides to provide 3 different reasons, or examples: one from his own personal testimony, one from the Hebrew Scriptures and a final one theological/logical argument. I really like how Paul phrases his response, so today we are going to go into the details of each part.
For I too am an Israelite
For I too am an Israelite
In order to demonstrate that Adonai has not rejected Israel, Paul starts by giving his own life as an example. Paul is basically saying, that if Adonai was going to reject Israel, then why on earth did He accept me?
We first meet Paul at the Stoning of Stephen. I am going to pick up the story in Acts 7:51-8:3, where Stephen is making his final defence before the Sanhedrin, saying:
“O you stiff-necked people! You uncircumcised of heart and ears! You always resist the Ruach ha-Kodesh; just as your fathers did, you do as well. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? They killed the ones who foretold the coming of the Righteous One. Now you have become His betrayers and murderers— you who received the Torah by direction of angels and did not keep it!” When they heard these things, they became enraged and began gnashing their teeth at him. But Stephen, full of the Ruach ha-Kodesh, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God—and Yeshua standing at the right hand of God. And he said, “Look, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!” But they covered their ears; and crying out with a loud voice, they rushed at him with one impulse. Driving him out of the city, they began stoning him, and the witnesses laid down their cloaks at the feet of a young man named Saul. They went on stoning Stephen as he was calling out, “Lord Yeshua, receive my spirit!” Then he fell on his knees and cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!” After he said this, he died. Now Saul was in agreement with Stephen’s execution. On that day a great persecution arose against Messiah’s community in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the region of Judea and Samaria, except the emissaries. Some devout men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him. But Saul was destroying Messiah’s community, entering house after house; and dragging off men and women, he was throwing them into prison.
Now in the previous chapter of Romans, Paul just wrote about how it was his earnest desire and prayer to God that Israel would be saved. He then goes on to speak of how the Jewish people have a zeal for God, but it is based upon an ignorance of God’s righteousness. Last week we also pointed out from Philippians 3:4-6 that when Paul recounts his own zeal for God, he is referring to how he was willing to capture, arrest and imprison the followers of Yeshua. In fact it was while Paul was filled with this misguided zeal for God, that Yeshua arrested him. Acts 9:1-6
Now Saul, still breathing out threats and murder against the Lord’s disciples, went to the kohen gadol. He requested letters of introduction from him to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any men or women belonging to the Way, he might bring them as prisoners to Jerusalem. As he was traveling, approaching Damascus, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. Falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” “Who are You, Lord?” Saul said. “I am Yeshua—whom you are persecuting. But get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”
So why is Paul using his own life as an example in the context of the question whether or not God has rejected His people? And when Paul is speaking about the misdirected zeal of the Jewish sect of the Purishim (the sect that began Rabbinic Judaism), Paul is speaking from is own personal experience.
Paul is therefore saying that, just because some Jewish people have rejected Yeshua, spoken against Yeshua, or even persecuted followers of Yeshua, does not mean that God’s promises to Israel have been voided, nor does it mean that Adonai will respond by rejecting Israel. Paul is stating that his own testimony, his experience, is evidence that Israel has not been rejected by God.
I’ve kept 7000 men
I’ve kept 7000 men
The next evidencial argument Paul makes is from Scripture, specifically the story of Elijah in 1 Kings 19. Paul highlights this story of Elijah because Israel was in a similar situation. In Paul’s day, the majority of the Jewish people, the religious and political leadership of Israel had rejected Yeshua as Moshiach and ruler. In Elijah’s day, the majority of the nation of Israel had rejected Adonai, in fact it had gotten so bad that Elijah thought he was the only follower of Adonai left. In the previous chapters of 1 Kings we see the story for which Elijah is most famous, the calling down of fire from heaven upon the sacrifice on Mt. Carmel, but in 1 Kings 19:2 we see that:
Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah saying, “So let the gods do to me and worse if by this time tomorrow I don’t make your life like the life of one of them.”
And so Elijah runs away South, in fear for his life, to a place where Adonai had shown up to Moses, Mount Sinai. Elijah was so depressed that he simply wanted God to take his life, however Adonai was not quite done with him, and we pick up the story in 1 Kings 19:9-18
When [Elijah] arrived there at the cave, he spent the night there. Then behold, the word of Adonai came to him, and He said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” “I have been very zealous for Adonai-Tzva’ot,” he said, “for the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars and slain Your prophets with the sword—and I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it!” Then He said, “Come out and stand on the mount before Adonai.” Behold, Adonai was passing by—a great and mighty wind was tearing at the mountains and shattering cliffs before Adonai. But Adonai was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but Adonai was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake a fire, but Adonai was not in the fire. After the fire there was a soft whisper of a voice. As soon as Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle, went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. Then all of a sudden, a voice addressed him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” “I have been very zealous for Adonai-Tzva’ot,” he said, “for the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and slain Your prophets with the sword—and I alone am left, and they are seeking to take my life!” Then Adonai said to him, “Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus, and when you get there, anoint Hazael king over Aram, and anoint Jehu son of Nimshi king over Israel, and anoint Elisha son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah as prophet in your place. It shall come to pass that whoever escapes from the sword of Hazael, Jehu will slay; and whoever escapes from the sword of Jehu, Elisha will slay. Yet I have preserved seven thousand in Israel whose knees have not bowed to Baal and whose mouth has not kissed him.”
Paul deliberately chose this story of Eiijah for a variety of reasons. The most obvious reason is shown by which verses that Paul quotes. The first verse is from 1 Kings 19:4 where Elijah “But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a broom bush. He prayed that he might die. “It’s too much!” he said. “Now, Adonai, take my life! For I’m no better than my fathers.”” Then we see the final response from Adonai where Paul quotes from verse 18, stating that Adonai had preserved a remnant of Jewish people who had not followed the false gods of Jezebel or Jeraboam. Paul then explicitly points out that Adonai has always worked through a remenant of Jewish people to accomplish His purposes. In the time of Elijah, that remnant was around 7,000 people, and in the time of Paul the remnant was greater than 8,000 Jewish people.
As we know from the story of Jonathan and his Armour Bearer in 1 Sam. 14:6
Then Jonathan said to the young man carrying his armor, “Come, let’s cross over to the garrison of these uncircumcised ones. Perhaps Adonai will work for us, for nothing restrains Adonai from delivering whether by many or by few.”
There are a couple other interesting things that I see in this passage in 1 Kings 19. I think that Paul is making a contrast between the misdirected zeal of the Jewish religious leaders of his day, and the zeal that Elijah demonstrated for God during the apostasy of his day. Having zeal for God is not the same as knowing Him. We see that when Adonai does reveal Himself to Elijah, it is not in the fire, or the wind, or the earthquake, but rather Adonai speaks to Elijah in a “soft whisper of a voice”. I wonder if Paul is also remembering the time that Yeshua called out to himself saying, Acts 9:4b “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?”
God’s gracious choice
God’s gracious choice
Paul now appeals to a logical, theological explaination. Adonai claims that the remnant in Elijah’s day was preserved and kept by His grace and mercy. I know that I don’t always thank the Lord for his grace and mercy, but I always desperately need it. Since we are reliant on God for His mercy, then we should also realise that our salvation is not based upon our works (how good we are, and what we do). The same was true for the Jewish followers of Yeshua in Paul’s day, and Paul is showing that the same has been true since the begining. If we were saved because of our righteousness, then we could proudly prove that we had accomplished something great, but like Jeremiah writes in Jer. 9:22-23
Thus says Adonai: “Let not the wise boast in his wisdom nor the mighty boast in his might nor the rich glory in his riches. But let one who boasts boast in this: that he understands and knows Me. For I am Adonai who exercises lovingkindness, justice and righteousness on earth. For in these things I delight.” It is a declaration of Adonai.
So what follows?
So what follows?
Paul is fully aware that the majority of Jewish people in his day had not accepted Yeshua as Lord and Messiah, however this did not mean that all Jewish people rejected, nor that all Jewish people were hardened. To respond to this idea of a partial hardening on heart of a portion of the Jewish people, Paul quotes from Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.
Before we get into the three passages, however, we need to realise that the term, “the elect” has been misused many times. The term simply means “that which is chosen/selected”. In this instance Paul is specifically referring to the Messianic Jews who not only had chosen to follow Yeshua, but whom Adonai had also chosen to recieve the soft heart spoken of in Eze. 36:26
Moreover I will give you a new heart. I will put a new spirit within you. I will remove the stony heart from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
Paul is contrasting between the Jewish people who believed in God and were therefore “elect/chosen” and the Jewish people who had not believed and trusted in Yeshua.
The first passagae that Paul quotes is from Deut. 29:1-3
Moses called to all Israel and said to them, “You have seen all that Adonai did before your eyes in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and all his servants and all his land— the great trials that your eyes saw, those great signs and wonders. But to this day Adonai has not given you a heart to know, or eyes to see, or ears to hear.
Moses had been given a very difficult task of leading Beni Yisrael to the Promised Land, and at the end of his life, Adonai revealed to him that many of the descendants of Beni Yisrael would walk away from God. Just as had been demonstrated by Joshua and Caleb, those who trusted in Adonai were able to see what He could do, and how He could fulfill the words promised to Abraham, whereas those who did not trust, were given eyes that could not see.
The second passage that is alluded to in this quote is from Isa 29:10, and as with any of the other passages that Paul quotes from the Hebrew Scriptures, we need to look at the surrounding verses to get a better understanding. Isaiah 29 is a prohesy against a city where King David had camped named Ariel. Just because David had camped there, did not mean that this city would be protected from the siege-works that would be laid against it. So we pick up in Isa. 29:9-14
Wait, and be astounded! Blind yourselves, and be blind! Drunk, but not with wine, Stagger, but not with strong drink. For Adonai has poured out on you a spirit of deep sleep, and has shut your eyes—the prophets, and covered your heads—the seers. So this entire vision is for you like the words of a sealed scroll, which they give to one who knows books, saying, “Read this, please,” but he says, “I can’t, because it’s sealed.” Then the scroll is given to one who does not know books, saying, “Read this, please,” but he says, “I don’t know books.” So Adonai says, “Since these people draw near with their mouths and honor Me with their lips, yet their hearts are far from Me, and their fear of Me is a mitzvah taught by men. Therefore, behold, once more I will do a marvelous work among this people— a marvel and a wonder— so the wisdom of their wise will perish, and the discernment of their discerning will be concealed.”
Now many of you may recognize part of this prophesy. Yeshua refers to this in Matt. 15:8-9 and Mark 7:6-7. Yeshua is making a point about the heardness of heart demonstrated by the religious leaders in His day in the same way as Paul. Yeshua is specifically point out that the religious leaders treated the “tradition of the elders” as more important than the “commandments of God.”
This attitude led the Jewish leaders of Yeshua’s day to a place where their hearts were hardened to what God had actually said in the Scriptures.
The Psalm that Paul quotes is Ps. 69. Now this Psalm could have been written by Yeshua while hanging on the cross. In Psalm 69:4 it states: “I am worn out by my crying, my throat is parched, my eyes fail, waiting for my God.” and then in Ps. 69:9-10
I have become a stranger to my brothers, a foreigner to my mother’s children. For zeal for Your House consumed me— the insults of those who insulted You have fallen on me.
And then in Ps. 69:17-22
Answer me, Adonai, for good is Your mercy. With Your great compassion, turn to me. Hide not Your face from Your servant. For I am in distress—answer me quickly. Draw near to my soul and redeem it. Ransom me because of my foes. You know my reproach, my shame, my disgrace. All my adversaries are before You. Scorn has broken my heart, so I am sick. I looked for sympathy, but there was none, for comforters, but found none. They put gall in my food, and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.
It is after this point that we come to the 2 verses that Paul quotes in Romans 11:9-10. What is amazing is that David is writing this probably about some persecution that he had experienced either at the hands of King Saul, or maybe even his son Absalom. Either way, David does not pull any punches, he wants Adonai to bring judgement on those who are mocking him, dispising him and hating him.
Neither Paul nor Yeshua are referring to all of Israel by quoting this Psalm, and neither is David who wrote it. On the contrary, this Psalm refers to thoes who reject God’s anointed one, the Mashiach, whether that was David, or the Son of David, Yeshua. Not only that, as we will study next week, the rejection of those in Israel whos hearts were hardened is not permanent. It is temporary, and one day “all Israel will be saved!” (Rom. 11:26)
Conclusion & Application
Conclusion & Application
How do we apply this passage to our lives today? First we need to remember the main points:
God has not rejected Israel, because of the unbelief of some of the Jewish people,
God has always worked through a remnant of Jewish people like Paul,
Zeal alone does not demonstrate that we are faithful to Adonai,
God’s faithfulness to His promises is greater than our faithlessness and shortcomings,
Our testimony of God’s faithfulness, is just as powerful today as Paul’s testimony was in his day,
Adonai is always working through a remnant of faithful believers,
Adonai still speaks in a “still small voice,”
Aren’t we thankful that Adonai is just as gracious today with us as he was with Paul, and the faithful believers in Elijah’s day?
Adonai is still working through people, both Jewish and Gentile, to bring Israel to Himself,
Even though Yeshua is seen by many as a “foreigner to is mother’s children”, there are many Jewish people who are turning to Him today, and finally
The rejection of Israel’s Messiah, Yeshua, by the Jewish People is not permanent and we look forward to watching all Israel be saved!
Yeshua said in Matt. 23:37-39
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem who kills the prophets and stones those sent to her! How often I longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! Look, your house is left to you desolate! For I tell you, you will never see Me again until you say, ‘Baruch ha-ba b’shem Adonai. Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’ ”
The most hope filled word in that passage is the word “until”. We are longing for that day, we are working toward that day, and doing whatever we can to help all Jewish people to behold Yeshua as their Messiah, Saviour and Lord!
