Romans 11:1-10--The Remnant of Israel

Romans 11:1-10
English Standard Version

The Remnant of Israel
11 I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! For I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin. 2 God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he appeals to God against Israel? 3 “Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life.” 4 But what is God's reply to him? “I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” 5 So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace. 6 But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.

7 What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened, 8 as it is written,

“God gave them a spirit of stupor,
    eyes that would not see
    and ears that would not hear,
down to this very day.”

9 And David says,

​“Let their table become a snare and a trap,
    a stumbling block and a retribution for them;
10 let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see,
    and bend their backs forever.”

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I've been trying to make the point as we've gone along that although most of ethnic Israel has rebelled against God and His plan for them, that does not mean that God broke His covenant with the Jews or that He somehow hates them and no longer loves them.  God desires for all men, both Jew and Gentile, to be saved, but there is only a remnant of both that will be saved--which is the pattern that we see throughout all of biblical history.  God's plan seems to involve the remnant, whether that is to elect a remnant to work through or to save a remnant as part of His perfect plan.

Paul is clearly going to say these things in Chapter 11, and for this reason, I have little understanding for those who are anti-Semitic and try to call themselves "Christians" or even "evangelicals."  You cannot love God and hate God's covenant people.  Paul says that God continues to love His people and that Paul himself is evidence of that, since Paul himself is a Jewish man from the tribe of Benjamin. 

Paul goes back to Elijah's conversation with God after his victory at Mount Carmel when he hears that Jezebel wants him executed.  He fancies himself the only faithful man of God in all of Israel and God has to correct him to say that God has a remnant of 7,000 men of Israel who have never bowed their knee in idol worship to Baal.  So it is now with the grace that is being given by God to save His people that it would be easily for the apostles to feel like they were the only faithful Jews among all of Israel, but God has made a remnant for Himself by His Election--saved by grace through faith and not of ourselves or of works so that no man can boast.

While ethnic Israel may have failed to obtain their inheritance, the True Israel is all the Elect who are in Christ.  We'll see the picture in our next passage of the one true vine that includes both the saved Israelites and the saved Gentiles.

We also see something that we think is strange, but it's not the first time that we've seen this in Romans as we saw it also in Romans 1.  God sends strong delusions, described as a stupor here, as a result of their continued rebellion.  He has blinded their eyes from seeing and kept their ears from hearing.  That's usually not how we think about God working but God is both the God who reveals and the God who conceals.

Paul reinforces this by quoting David's Psalm 69, verses 22 and 23.  God has taken that which was a blessing that was set before them and make it a stumbling block to them.  He also calls it a retribution for them.  He has taken that which was sweet and let it become bitter or sour for them so that it is detestable to them.  They again are cause to be blind so that they will not see the truth, and they will feel like they have a heavy labor on their backs so that they will be carrying that heavy, back-breaking burden forever.  If only they would be caused to see and believe the gospel so that they would no longer have to bear the heavy burden of their sin and their trying to earn righteousness by their works!  Jesus has taken our burdens and has given us yoke that is easy and a burden that is light in comparison.