Rom 9:1 I am speaking the truth - as one who belongs to the Messiah, I do not lie; and also bearing witness is my conscience, governed by the Ruach HaKodesh:

Rom 9:2 my grief is so great, the pain in my heart so constant,

Rom 9:3 that I could wish myself actually under God's curse and separated from the Messiah, if it would help my brothers, my own flesh and blood,

Rom 9:4 the people of Isra'el! They were made God's children, the Sh'khinah has been with them, the covenants are theirs, likewise the giving of the Torah, the Temple service and the promises;

Rom 9:5 the Patriarchs are theirs; and from them, as far as his physical descent is concerned, came the Messiah, who is over all. Praised be ADONAI for ever! Amen.

As we go into this section, it is important to note that Sha’ul’s point is not concerned primarily with salvation, as we will see.
show
1. The assumption that Sha’ul’s point here is about salvation has resulted in the complete misunderstanding about his point.
Who is Israel?
1. This seems an obvious question, but the proponents of the various forms of Replacement Theology (e.g. Covenant Theology) are quick to claim that the Church is “the new Israel” or “spiritual Israel.”
  show
2. However, the Israel spoken of by Sha’ul in this section can only be the Jewish people.

i. In this passage:

1. They are Sha’ul’s kinsmen according to flesh and blood, his race, and are further identified as Israelites, those who are descended from the Patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and who are also kin to Yeshua

2. They are not currently in Messiah, or Sha’ul would not be willing to sacrifice so much to help them – this cannot be the Ekklesia

3. They were made God’s children (cf. Exo. 4:22)

4. The Sh’khinah (Gr. δόξα) was with them, i.e., in the Holy Place

5. They were the ones given the covenants (plural—Abrahamic, Mosaic, and Davidic), the Torah, and the Temple service, and the promises of God.

ii. Elsewhere in this section:

1. They pursued a Torah of righteousness, but failed in attaining its goal, the Messiah (9:31; cf. 10:1-4, 11:7)

2. Sha’ul testifies to their zeal for God, though they lack full knowledge (10:2)

3. They had heard the message of the Gospel already (10:18), but had been predestined to be made zealous by competition with Gentiles who believed in Messiah (10:19f)

4. God had retained a remnant saved by His grace, just as He had in the days of Elijah (11:2-5)

5. Their God-imposed blindness was in order to make an opportunity for the Gentiles, which in turn would arouse Israel’s zealousness (11:11)

6. In the end, after the full number of the Gentiles had come in, those who were presently enemies of the Gospel because of the Gentiles would all be saved because of God’s covenants with the Patriarchs (11:25-29)

7. When that day happened, there would be even greater glory than there is now (11:12, 15)

God’s Chosen Line and Pruning the Tree

Rom 9:6 But [the present condition of Isra'el] does not mean that the Word of God has failed. For not everyone from Isra'el is truly part of Isra'el;

Rom 9:7 indeed, not all the descendants are seed of Avraham; rather, "What is to be called your 'seed' will be in Yitz'chak."

Rom 9:8 In other words, it is not the physical children who are children of God, but the children the promise refers to who are considered seed.

Rom 9:9 For this is what the promise said: "At the time set, I will come; and Sarah will have a son."

“Not everyone”
1. God retained the right to narrow the covenant blood-line, as He did by narrowing the bloodline of Abraham to that of Isaac, and then Jacob.
2. God also retains the right to expel those who do not keep certain commandments from the peoplehood of Israel

i. This is not an issue of salvation! In the Tanakh, there were many who were not Israelites and yet were saved by faith (Jethro, Naaman, Nebuchadnezzar, the 200,000 of Ninevah, etc.).

ii. Some of the commands:

1. Circumcision (Gen. 17)

2. To keep Passover (specifically, not to eat leaven; Exo 12:15-19), the Sabbath (31:14), and Yom Kippur (specifically, humbling one’s self; Lev. 23:29).

3. Not to eat blood (Lev. 7:27 & 17:10ff)

4. Not to commit idolatry or occultism (Lev. 20:1ff)

5. Not to commit sexual immorality (Lev. 18 and 20:17-18)

6. Not to profane the Holy Place by knowingly entering while unclean or misusing its implements (Lev. 7, 19:7-8, etc.)

7. Offering sacrifices apart from God’s declared Holy Place (Lev. 17:3-9)

8. Sinning “with a high hand”—that is, openly and flagrantly, defiantly, refusing to be cleansed when it is possible (Num. 15:30f, 19:20)

iii. An addition?

1. Act 3:22f – “For Moshe himself said, 'ADONAI will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers. You are to listen to everything he tells you. Everyone who fails to listen to that prophet will be removed from the people and destroyed.'”

a. Not rendered this way in any MSS or translation of the Torah.

2. Deu 18:18f – “I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their kinsmen. I will put my words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I order him. Whoever doesn't listen to my words, which he will speak in my name, will have to account for himself to me.”

a. “have to account” – lit. “I will require it from him”; the rabbis interpreted this as having the death penalty (Chumash, per Rashi), probably based on the same word (אדרשׁ) being used in Gen. 9:5)

3. Kefa was not misrepresenting the passage, but rather making a simple connection – one who rebelled against Israel’s King “with a high hand” (as those who had witnessed His miracles and fulfillment of prophecy would be doing) would be cut off from the Kingdom.

4. However, this does not amount to a permanent “cutting off” of the Jewish people in general, since they neither know Yeshua as the Prophet nor have received Kefa’s midrash on the passage.

This is not only a “Christian” distinction.

i. Pirke Avot 5:19 draws a distinction between Jews who are “disciples of Abraham”—practicing generosity, modesty, and humility—and Jews who are “disciples of Balaam”—practicing a begrudging spirit, arrogance, and pride. The former inherit the World to Come, but “the disciples of Balaam the wicked inherit Gehenna and go down to the Pit of Destruction.”

ii. Likewise, the Mishnah (Sanhedron 10:1-2) states that “all Isralites have a share in the World to Come,” but then goes on to list those who would be excluded—those who denied the Resurrection, the Torah’s Divine origin, Epicurians, etc.

Physical vs. promise
1. Ishmael was also a physical child of Abraham, but was rejected in favor of Isaac by the Eternal One. This was not a condemnation to hell, but a rejection of him for the particular purpose of being a patriarch of Israel!
2. Gal 4:21-31 - Tell me, you who want to be in subjection to the system that results from perverting the Torah into legalism, don't you hear what the Torah itself says? It says that Avraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and one by the free woman. The one by the slave woman was born according to the limited capabilities of human beings, but the one by the free woman was born through the miracle-working power of God fulfilling his promise.
  Now, to make a midrash on these things: the two women are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai and bears children for slavery - this is Hagar. Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia; she corresponds to the present Yerushalayim, for she serves as a slave along with her children. But the Yerushalayim above is free, and she is our mother; for the Tanakh says, "Rejoice, you barren woman who does not bear children! Break forth and shout, you who are not in labor! For the deserted wife will have more children than the one whose husband is with her!" (Isa 54:1)
  You, brothers, like Yitz'chak, are children referred to in a promise of God. But just as then the one born according to limited human capability persecuted the one born through the Spirit's supernatural power, so it is now. Nevertheless, what does the Tanakh say? "Get rid of the slave woman and her son, for by no means will the son of the slave woman inherit along with the son of the free woman!" So, brothers, we are children not of the slave woman, but of the free woman.

i. This is a very unusual parallel to make; most likely Sha’ul was responding to a charge that the Gentile believers were like children of Hagar while the Judaizers were children of Sarah.

ii. Hagar vs. Sarah – When God promised Abraham a son, he tried to “work for” a son with Hagar, when God meant to give him one through Sarah.

1. Therefore, those who are “in Messiah,” whether Jew or Gentile, are the promised children of Abraham, who was promised to be a blessing and a father to many nations (Gen. 12:3, 17:4-5).

a. This does not impinge on God’s special calling to the nation of Israel, descended from Isaac and Jacob, which He called His firstborn (Exo. 4:22)

2. Those who tried to earn what God had offered by becoming circumcised (Jewish) and keeping the Torah to a certain level of strictness had put themselves in slavery to the children of Abraham as Hagar was in slavery to him.

iii. Yerushalayim – the contrast is not between the “earthly Jerusalem” and the heavenly, but between the present (νῦν) Jerusalem and that from above.

iv. Covenants – the issue was not “law vs. grace” in the sense of keeping the Torah being equivalent to being “under the law,” but rather in the sense of the internal attitude of a son vs. that of a servant, serving out of love vs. serving out of fear.

The Election of Nations and Roles

Rom 9:10 And even more to the point is the case of Rivkah; for both her children were conceived in a single act with Yitz'chak, our father;

Rom 9:11 and before they were born, before they had done anything at all, either good or bad (so that God's plan might remain a matter of his sovereign choice, not dependent on what they did, but on God, who does the calling),

Rom 9:12 it was said to her, "The older will serve the younger."

Rom 9:13 This accords with where it is written, "Ya'akov I loved, but Esav I hated."

Once again, the issue Sha’ul is discussing is not primarily an election of salvation, but an election of calling and role
1. There is nothing in Scripture that tells us that Esav was rejected in the sense of being condemned to Gehenna
2. Rather, the fight was over the rights of the firstborn, which would bring with it the right to bring forth the nation of Israel.
Sha’ul is also not speaking of individuals here, as Calvinists assume, but of the nations descended from Ya’akov and Esav
1. Esav the individual never served Ya’akov the individual—in fact, Ya’akov sent tribute to and bowed down to him (Gen. 32-33).
2. Mal 1:2-5 - "I love you," says ADONAI. But you ask, "How do you show us your love?" ADONAI answers, "'Esav was Ya'akov's brother. Yet I loved Ya'akov but hated 'Esav. I made his mountains desolate and gave his territory to desert jackals." Edom says, "We are beaten down now, but we will come back and rebuild the ruins." ADONAI-Tzva'ot answers, "They can build, but I will demolish. They will be called the Land of Wickedness, the people with whom ADONAI is permanently angry. You will see it and say, 'ADONAI is great, even beyond the borders of Isra'el.'"
Love vs. hate - a classic example of Jewish hyperbole
1. Luke 14:26 - "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father, his mother, his wife, his children, his brothers and his sisters, yes, and his own life besides, he cannot be my talmid.”
2. See also Gen
3. The point is not to hate in the sense of actively seeking harm, but in the sense that the object of our love receives so much of our attention that the other we seem to “hate” in comparison.
  show
Sha’ul’s point, continued in the next chapter, is
1. Many of those in his day who were physically of Israel were not of Israel in heart and who had individually been cut off from the people because of particular sins
  show

i. Since many of these were Israel’s then-present leadership, this resulted in the nation’s general rejection of her King.

This was not a failure of the Word of God, however, for God had preordained exactly this eventuality.
God had sovereignly chosen to blind Israel as a whole so that all of Abraham’s children—all of the many nations that God promised Him—could come to Him through the Messiah Yeshua.
This is not the first time that God has chosen one set of individuals over another for a particular mission and role—in fact, He did the same when choosing Israel in the first place.
As we will see developed through the rest of this section (ch. 9-11), this blindness and period of being removed from her place of primacy in the Covenant is not forever, only until the Gentile mission is finished.
show

God’s Sovereign Right

Rom 9:14 So are we to say, "It is unjust for God to do this"? Heaven forbid!

Rom 9:15 For to Moshe he says, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will pity whom I pity."

As in the previous sections, Sha’ul is not dealing with the subject of personal election to salvation, but national election to a specific role and gifting.
show
“I will have mercy . . .” (Exo. 33:19)
1. Context:

i. Said in response to Moshe’s request to see all of the Holy One’s Glory (Kevod).

ii. In response, the Holy One tells Moshe, “I will cause all my goodness to pass before you, and in your presence I will pronounce the name of ADONAI. Moreover, I show favor to whomever I will, and I display mercy to whomever I will.”

1. “I will show favor” = chanti (חנתי), lit. ‘I will bend or stoop in kindness to an inferior’

2. “I will show mercy” = richamti (רחמתי), lit. ‘I will love and embrace’

iii. After saying this, the Holy One tells Moshe that he cannot see His Face, only His “back,” so to speak.

The context shows that this is not a passage preaching salvation, but speaking of God’s sovereign right to choose those whom He will reveal Himself to, those He will bend down and embrace as He did Moshe when He showed him His Glory.
show

i. God did not choose to reveal His Sh’khinah, His Glory, to all Israel . . . yet.

Not by Human Effort

Rom 9:16 Thus it doesn't depend on human desires or efforts, but on God, who has mercy.

This is not due to a lack of desire or effort on Israel’s part.
1. Jacob did not “win” God’s favor from Esau
2. Neither could Jacob “lose” it when he sinned against his father Isaac

Judicial Hardening

Rom 9:17 For the Tanakh says to Pharaoh, "It is for this very reason that I raised you up, so that in connection with you I might demonstrate my power, so that my name might be known throughout the world."

Rom 9:18 So then, he has mercy on whom he wants, and he hardens whom he wants.

Rom 9:19 But you will say to me, "Then why does he still find fault with us? After all, who resists his will?"

Rom 9:20 Who are you, a mere human being, to talk back to God? Will what is formed say to him who formed it, "Why did you make me this way?"

Rom 9:21 Or has the potter no right to make from a given lump of clay this pot for honorable use and that one for dishonorable?

Pharaoh (from Exo. 9:16)
1. Where we see a distinction between country and ruler, the ancients saw the king and his kingdom as intrinsically linked – so a pronouncement against Pharaoh was likewise a pronouncement against all Egypt.
2. While God hardens who He wishes, Scripture tells us that He hardened Pharaoh for two crimes: The death of the Israelite children (Exo. 4:23), and for repeatedly hardening his own heart (7:22, 8:15, etc.).
  show
3. Likewise, we will see, God hardened Israel for just purposes.
“Why does He still find fault with us,” and punish Israel, since we are only doing what He has willed?
1. What of America? It is God’s will that Israel stand alone in the End Times so that she will turn to Him alone, but is God unjust to punish an America who turns from Him to sin and as a result curses Israel?
2. “Sha’ul does not let go of either side of the apparent paradox of predestination versus freedom of choice (see also Pp 2:12-13&N). Rather, he is action-oriented, sterring us away from idle and destructive questioning of God’s governance, toward the practical solution, which is coming humbly to God through Yeshua the Messiah – this path is closed to no one.” (Stern, Comm. 391)
  show

i. “All is foreseen and free will is given.” – R. Akiva, Avot 3:15

ii. And R. Hanina said, “Everything is in the hands of heaven except fear of heaven.” (b. Berakhot 33b)

iii. Both Calvinism and Arminianism make the mistake of trying to turn this complex paradox into a simplistic formula

The potter and the clay – an idiom for God’s justice in His sovereignty

i. Isa 29:13-16 - Then Adonai said: "Because these people approach me with empty words, and the honor they bestow on me is mere lip-service; while in fact they have distanced their hearts from me, and their 'fear of me' is just a mitzvah of human origin therefore, I will have to keep shocking these people with astounding and amazing things, until the 'wisdom' of their 'wise ones' vanishes, and the 'discernment' of their 'discerning ones' is hidden away."

Woe to those who burrow down deep to hide their plans from ADONAI! They work in the dark and say to themselves, "Nobody sees us, nobody knows us." How you turn things upside down! - Is the potter not better than the clay, Does something made say of its maker, "He didn't make me"? Does the product say of its producer, "He has no discernment"?

1. Yeshua quoted this very passage when the Pharisees condemned His disciples for not keeping the tradition of ritual hand-washing (n’tilat-yadayim; Mat. 15:1-9).

2. The same idiom is used in Isa. 45:9f, where the Holy One calls on Koresh (Cyrus) to let His people return and rebuild His Temple.

ii. Jer 18:6-10 - "House of Isra'el, can't I deal with you as the potter deals with his clay? - says ADONAI. Look! You, house of Isra'el, are the same in my hand as the clay in the potter's hand.

“At one time, I may speak about uprooting, breaking down and destroying a nation or kingdom; but if that nation turns from their evil, which prompted me to speak against it, then I relent concerning the disaster I had planned to inflict on it.

“Similarly, at another time, I may speak about building and planting a nation or kingdom; but if it behaves wickedly from my perspective and doesn't listen to what I say, then I change my mind and don't do the good I said I would do that would have helped it.”

1. “change my mind” = nachamti (נחמתי), to grieve/regret and repent, as in Gen. 6:6

A Hard Grace

Rom 9:22 Now what if God, even though he was quite willing to demonstrate his anger and make known his power, patiently put up with people who deserved punishment and were ripe for destruction?

Rom 9:23 What if he did this in order to make known the riches of his glory to those who are the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory -

Rom 9:24 that is, to us, whom he called not only from among the Jews but also from among the Gentiles?

“ripe for destruction” – Stern softens the translation somewhat; lit. “people who are vessels/implements of wrath, made perfectly suited in all ways for utter destruction.”
show
1. God will restrain His righteous wrath even from those most deserving of it so that He may show the fullness of His goodness and mercy to those whom He knows and calls (per 8:29).
Sha’ul is here speaking specifically of those in Israel—especially her leaders—who rebelled against her King with eyes open, but whose punishment had been delayed by a generation so that the Gospel could spread.
show
1. However, the same principle applies to the nations, whom God has also pronounced His judgment upon (cf. Rev. 11:18).
2. Judgment comes first to the House of the Lord, but thereafter comes to all.

Hoshea’s Children

Rom 9:25 As indeed he says in Hoshea, "Those who were not my people I will call my people; her who was not loved I will call loved;

Rom 9:26 and in the very place where they were told, 'You are not my people,' there they will be called sons of the living God!"

“not my people”
1. The assumption of most Christian commentators is that “those who were not my people” refers to the Gentiles.
2. However, this is not supported by the context of Hosea:

i. God tells Hosea to take an unfaithful wife, one who would ultimately prostitute herself, so that the prophet could know how God feels about the Northern Kingdom’s idolatry.

ii. They have two children, who are named Lo-Ruchamah (No Pity) and Lo-‘Ammi (Not My People), to show that the Lord will no longer have pity on Israel and would not dwell among them as their God.

iii. Hos 1:10-11 (2:1-2) - "Nevertheless, the people of Isra'el will number as many as the grains of sand by the sea, which cannot be measured or counted; so that the time will come when, instead of being told, 'You are not my people,' it will be said to them, 'You are the children of the living God.' Then the people of Y'hudah and the people of Isra'el will be gathered together; they will appoint for themselves one leader; and they will go up out of the land; for that will be a great day, [the day] of Yizre'el.”

iv. Hosea buys his wife back and puts her in seclusion for a long time, just as the Eternal One would buy back Israel, but would have her in seclusion, “without a king, prince, sacrifice, standing-stone, ritual-vest, or household gods” for a long time (3:3).

v. But in the End of the Days, “the people of Israel will repent and seek ADONAI their God and David their king.”

Two-House (Ephraimite) Theology would use Hosea to support their view; however, Isa. 11:10ff makes it clear that the Gentiles would be saved alongside Israel and Judah, not as Israel.
Sha’ul’s use of this passage is to make the point that

i. yes, the Israel of his day, just like the Israel (the Northern Kingdom) of Hosea’s day, had been set aside by God as Not-My-People,

ii. but not forever, for “in the very place where they were told, 'You are not my people,'”—that is, in Jerusalem—“there they will be called sons of the living God!"

The Remnant

Rom 9:27 But Yesha'yahu, referring to Isra'el, cries out, "Even if the number of people in Isra'el is as large as the number of grains of sand by the sea, only a remnant will be saved.

Rom 9:28 For ADONAI will fulfill his word on the earth with certainty and without delay."

Rom 9:29 Also, as Yesha'yahu said earlier, "If ADONAI-Tzva'ot had not left us a seed, we would have become like S'dom, we would have resembled 'Amora."

Here Sha’ul quotes Isa. 10:22-23 and 1:9 to highlight a point that will be developed throughout the next two chapters, that God announced in advance that there would be a time in which only a remnant of Israel would be in full covenant relationship with Him.
show
“will be saved”
1. The Hebrew of Isa. 10:22 is that only a remnant would ‘return’ or ‘turn back’ (yshuv, ישׁוב)
2. The Greek word for “be saved” is σωθήσεται, which can also mean ‘will be made whole’

i. as in Mat. 9:21f, where the woman with the issue of blood wishes to be healed from her infirmity

The remnant in Israel preserves the whole of the nation

The Stumbling Block

Rom 9:30 So, what are we to say? This: that Gentiles, even though they were not striving for righteousness, have obtained righteousness; but it is a righteousness grounded in trusting!

Rom 9:31 However, Isra'el, even though they kept pursuing a Torah that offers righteousness, did not reach what the Torah offers.

Rom 9:32 Why? Because they did not pursue righteousness as being grounded in trusting but as if it were grounded in doing legalistic works. They stumbled over the stone that makes people stumble.

Rom 9:33 As the Tanakh puts it, "Look, I am laying in Tziyon a stone that will make people stumble, a rock that will trip them up. But he who rests his trust on it will not be humiliated."

“Gentiles”
1. not “the Gentiles,” as in most translations
2. many were turning to faith, but “the Gentiles” as a whole were not; most remained pagan
“stumbling stone”
1. Isa 8:11-15 - For this is what ADONAI said to me, speaking with a strong hand, warning me not to live the way this people does: Don't regard as alliance what this people calls alliance, and don't fear what they fear or be awestruck by it; but ADONAI-Tzva'ot - consecrate him! Let him be the object of your fear and awe! He is there to be a sanctuary. But for both the houses of Isra'el he will be a stone to stumble over, a rock obstructing their way; a trap and a snare for the inhabitants of Yerushalayim. Many of them will stumble and fall, be broken and trapped and captured.

i. Sanhedron 38a recognizes this as a Messianic passage.

ii. “alliance” (qesher, קשׁר), lit. a conspiracy or treason

1. Shebna gave expositions before thirteen myriads, while Hezekiah gave expositions before eleven myriads. When Sennacherib came and besieged Jerusalem, Shebna wrote a message and shot it on an arrow: “Shebna and his associates are prepared to make peace, Hezekiah and his followers are not prepared to make peace.” For it is said, “For lo, the wicked bend the bow, they make ready their arrow upon the string” (Psa. 11: 2). Hezekiah was afraid. He said, “Is it possible — God forbid — that the opinion of the Holy One, blessed be he, follows the majority. Since the majority are ready to give up, should we too give up?”. The prophet came and said to him, “Do not say a conspiracy, concerning all of whom this people do say, A conspiracy” (Isa. 8:12). “It is a conspiracy of the wicked, and a conspiracy of the wicked does not come under consideration [to make a decision].” (Sanhedron 26a)

a. In short, though Judaism emphasizes unity and following the will of the majority, it recognizes on the basis of this passage that there are times when the wicked will sway the majority by making traitorous alliances, and then the majority must be defied.

iii. “fear” can mean reverence, i.e., “the fear of HaShem”, as follows in this passage

iv. Isaiah is prophesying of a time when those who revere the Lord who is revealed in the “stumbling stone,” Yeshua, will be called traitors by those who fear/reverence that which is not the Holy One (e.g., the Zealots and the Sadducees)

Isa 28:15-18 - Because you said, "We made a covenant with death, we made a contract with Sh'ol. When the raging flood passes through, it will not touch us. For we have made lies our refuge and hid ourselves in falsehoods" therefore here is what Adonai ELOHIM says: "Look, I am laying in Tziyon a tested stone, a costly cornerstone, a firm foundation-stone; he who trusts will not rush here and there. I will make justice the plumbline and righteousness the plumb-bob; hail will sweep away the refuge of lies, water will overflow the hiding place, your covenant with death will be annulled, and your contract with Sh'ol will not stand. When the raging flood passes through, you will be trampled down by it.”
show

i. Speaks of those who rejected Yeshua because they thought they had made secure covenants with the powers around them

1. John 11:48 - The Sadducees: "If we let Him go on like this, all men will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation."

ii. A dual-prophecy

1. Speaks of the Sadducees and priests

2. Also speaks of the covenant the Antichrist will make with many nations when he appears (cf. Dan. 9:27), at which time the Foundation-Stone, Yeshua, would be set in Jerusalem.

iii. The imagery is much as in the parable of the two houses (Mat. 7:24ff) – Yeshua is the only Rock on which one’s house can stand against the coming flood, and we can only build on that Rock by hearing, trusting, and obeying Him.

Back

Want to help Restore the Hebrew Root?

All donations are Tax deductible