Romans 11:1-12 - A Remnant Of Israel Remains

¹ Then I ask, "Did God reject His [own] people [i.e., the Jews]?" Certainly not! For I am an Israelite too, a descendant of Abraham and a member of the tribe of Benjamin. ² God did not reject His people whom He knew previously. Or, do you not know what the Scriptures say in the passage where Elijah pleads with God against Israel?

³ [I Kings 19:10], "Lord, they [i.e., the Israelites] have killed your prophets and have destroyed your altars; I am the only one left and they are trying to kill me, too."

⁴ But how did God answer him? [I Kings 19:18 says], "I [i.e., God] have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed their knee [in worship] to Baal [Note: "Baal" was a term used for one of the idols worshiped in Elijah's day by Canaanites and others in Palestine]. ⁵ So, now also, there is a small minority which has been selected by God's unearned favor [i.e., to be saved]. ⁶ And if [they were selected] by God's unearned favor, [then] the choice is not based on the good that people may do. Otherwise, God's favor would not be [really] unearned.

⁷ What then? [Just this]: The very thing that the Israelites are looking for [i.e., a right relationship with God], they have not found. But God's selected ones obtained [this right relationship with Him] and the rest [of the Israelites] were made insensitive to God's call, ⁸ as it has been written [Isa. 19:10], "God gave them a spirit of numbness [i.e., they developed a spiritual insensitivity to God and His word]. [He gave them] eyes to see with [but they would not look], and ears to hear with [but they did not listen]. And they still have this spirit."

⁹ And King David said [Psa. 69:22-23], "Let their table ensnare and trap them [i.e., let the Jews' devotion to such things as lavish feasts become the occasion for leading them astray], and become an occasion for their falling [away from God]. And let them be repaid [for such conduct with punishment]. ¹⁰ Let their eyes become [spiritually] dim so they cannot see, and may their backs always bend [i.e., under heavy burdens]."

¹¹ I say then, did the Jews trip [over Jesus] just so they could fall [away from God]? Certainly not! [There was another reason]: Instead, it was by means of their sin that salvation was made available to the Gentiles, so that the Jews might become jealous of them [i.e., causing them to want what the Gentiles now had]. ¹² Now if the Jews sinning meant blessings for [the rest of] the world, and their [spiritual] defection meant blessings for the Gentiles, how much more will their fullness [also produce blessings]! [Note: "Fullness" here may mean either a large or the complete number of Jews who will be saved, or become completely obedient to God].