Cv – Understanding the Jewish Community 10: 16-21

Understanding the Jewish Community
10: 16-21

Understanding the Jewish community DIG: What is the purpose of Paul’s series of questions here? Some have accused Paul of being anti-Isra’el. What do you think? How does this underscore the importance of evangelism? How does God’s righteousness motivate us to godly behavior? Which Jews have listened to the message? What was the result of the Jewish rejection? Why were the Isrealites ignorant of God’s righteousness? How was sending the gospel to the Gentiles an act of mercy to both the Gentiles and the Jews?

REFLECT: Do you ever, or have you ever, blamed God for your sin? How can you guard against trying to earn God’s approval and acceptance? What can you learn from Isra’el’s response to God’s plan of salvation? What is wrong with the Jew’s zeal for God? What does it mean to trust in Messiah? How does it make you feel? What are the stumbling blocks in your walk with ADONAI? Has the need to have faith been a stumbling block or a stepping stone for you? How might you bring the Good News into the lives of your family and friends this week?

Isra’el rejected the Good News because of their rejection of the Messiah, so the gospel has gone out to the Gentiles, but ADONAI continues to seek after His chosen people.

Blaming God for human sin is as old as Adam (Genesis 3:12), and Paul will have none of it. No! He says, your analysis is wrong. The problem is that only some of the Jews, not all, have paid attention to the Good News and obeyed it. The ones that have paid attention to the Good News are the Messianic Jews. Paul supports his argument with a question from the same portion of Isaiah that was cited by his imaginary opponent. For Isaiah says, “Who believed our report? To whom is the arm of ADONAI been revealed” (Romans 10:16; Isaiah 53:1)? From us emphasizes that Isra’el did indeed hear. Thus, the only missing link in the chain is trust, which Isra’el has refused to supply. Trust means that you not only believe it, but you are living your faith to the best of your ability.

In quoting Isaiah 53:1, Paul, like any good rabbi, expects his readers to recall the context. Here, the context extends through Isaiah 53:12 and includes the most extensive and detailed prophecy in the whole TaNaKh of Messiah’s First Coming, when He would die an atoning sacrificial death for sins. Thus, Paul is telling his imaginary opponent, “Isra’el has had the Good News that should have led them all to trust in Yeshua – they have had it in Isaiah 53, but they didn’t believe it.”

Paul then points out the relationship between faith and hearing. So, trust comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through a word, the content of the message, proclaimed about the Messiah (10:17). Therefore, since trust comes from what is heard, Isra’el should have trusted. What is the message that Isra’el has neglected to listen to? Namely this: the Messiah died for our sins, in accordance with what the TaNaKh says; and He was buried; and He was raised on the third day, in accordance with what the TaNaKh says (First Corinthians 15:3b-4). This is the message that the non-Messianic Jews must believe to attain the salvation they think they will attain through legalistic observance of the Torah.²⁷⁷

Paul’s imaginary opponent counters, “You say Isra’el should have trusted. I am willing to admit, for the sake of argument, in theory, that people were sent to proclaim, but the problem isn’t Isra’el’s failure to trust. Isn’t it rather that they didn’t hear?” Paul replies: No, they did hear, as proved by the Scriptures: The heavens declare the glory of God, the dome of the sky speaks the work of His hands. Every day it utters speech, every night it reveals knowledge. Without speech, without a word, without their voices being heard, their voice has gone out throughout the whole world and their words to the ends of the earth (Romans 10:18; Psalm 19:1-4). So, the problem wasn’t a lack of hearing; the problem was a lack of obedience. By the time the letter to the Roman church had been written, the Good News had gone out to every Jewish community in the whole world.²⁷⁸

As a result, if everyone in the whole world, including, of course, the Gentiles, has had the kernel of the gospel proclaimed by the heavens, so that anyone could respond by trusting in ADONAI; how much more should Isra’el, who have the written Torah (in which Psalm 19:7 calls it “Perfect, restoring the inner person”), have paid attention and trusted!

The debate continued. “Alright! Granted, they may have heard,” replies the opponent, “But, it still isn’t their fault that they haven’t come to faith in Yeshua. I say, isn’t it rather that Isra’el didn’t understand the message they heard? Paul does not deny the possibility that Isra’el failed to understand, but he does not admit it’s an acceptable excuse. Isra’el should have understood. If a non-nation, that is, a nation void of understanding, the Gentiles, understood the message declared without words from heaven (10:18), how much more should Isra’el have understood it from the written Torah! But the argument is even stronger.

Paul quotes from the TaNaKh to show that YHVH predicted long ago that He would use jealousy of the Gentiles as the very means of Isra’el’s deliverance. I will provoke you to jealousy over a non-nation, meaning the Gentiles, over a nation void of understanding, didn’t have the knowledge, didn’t have the Torah, didn’t have the feats. Through them, Ha’Shem declared, “I will make you angry” (Romans 10:19; Deuteronomy 32:21). The context of Deuteronomy 32:21, cited here, shows that God is using an eye-for-an-eye justice with Isra’el – the rest of the verse says that because Isra’el has made God jealous and angry – God will make Isra’el jealous and angry. Paul will elaborate on this point further in Chapter 11 (to see link click Cy – The Jealousy of the Gentile Believers).²⁷⁹

The TaNaKh clearly predicted a period of time where salvation would be declared to the Gentiles, and that Gentiles salvation would cause the Jews to be jealous. This is a parallel passage to Deuteronomy 32:21, in which God states that He would make His people jealous because of the zeal the Gentile believers have for Him.²⁸⁰

Moreover, Isaiah boldly says: “I was found by those who were not looking for me, I became known to those who did not ask for me” (Romans 10:20; Isaiah 65:1). Yeshua depicted this truth in a parable: A farmer put a wall around the vineyard, dug a pit for the winepress and built a watchtower. Then he rented it to tenants and then went away on a long journey. When the harvest-time came, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his share of the crop. But the tenants rebelled and seized his servants – this one they beat up, that one they killed, another they stoned. Then the farmer sent other servants to them, more than the first group, and they killed them – some they beat up, others they killed. Yet the farmer sent another; this one they also killed. He still had one person left, a son whom he loved; finally, the farmer sent him to them, saying, “I will send My beloved son, surely they will feel shame before him.” But when the shameless tenants saw the son, they said to one another, “This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and take his inheritance.” So, they grabbed him, threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants? The priests in the Temple answered Him, “he will viciously destroy those vicious men and rent out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him his share of the crop when it’s due” (Matthew 21:33-39). Thus, salvation was brought to the Gentiles.

Yet ADONAI has been gracious to Isra’el in spite of her disobedience, and He continues to say to this day: “All day long I held out My hands to a people who kept disobeying and contradicting” (Romans 10:21; Isaiah 65:2). As Jesus entered Jerusalem before being crucified, He saw the City and wept over it (Luke 19:41). Now, as if it were the last time to receive Him, Christ cried out to the holy City: Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you. With such a horrific reception, we might expect Yeshua to rain down burning sulfur as the LORD did on Sodom and Gomorrah. On the contrary, He spoke tenderly saying: How often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings (Matthew 23:37a). Whether it was the Angel of the LORD who appeared to Abraham (Genesis 12:1-3), or the message of repentance to Micah (Micah 7:8-20), Messiah’s desire has always been to gather His people together for blessing. Isra’el, as a nation, has rejected the Good News because of their rejection of the Messiah; however, ADONAI continues to seek after His chosen people, and individual Jewish people can, and are, being saved.