Romans 11:7-10 - Who is Israel?

Romans 11:7-10 - ⁷ What then? What Israel is seeking, it has not obtained, but those who were chosen obtained it, and the rest were hardened; ⁸ just as it is written,

“God gave them a spirit of stupor,
Eyes to see not and ears to hear not,
Down to this very day.”

⁹ And David says,

“Let their table become a snare and a trap,
And a stumbling block and a retribution to them.
¹⁰ “Let their eyes be darkened to see not,
And bend their backs forever.”

Message: The definition and description of those that are hardened to God. 

Time: Written in AD 57 from Greece, to the Christians, both Gentile and Jewish in Rome.

What the Lord is Saying:  

God's perspective and Man's perspective
This is what these verses seem to be saying at first glance. They appear to be saying that when we look at God's work from His perspective, He chooses. When we look at it from man's perspective, man chooses or man does not choose. The chosen chose. And the rest were hardened. What it doesn't say? It doesn't say that people didn't choose. It says that people had hard hearts. He had foreknowledge of the chosen, we learned previously. But, does it mean he predetermined the chosen ones? I don't think so. To say that, I think, would mean that God orchestrated the entire history of mankind all at once, in one instant and now simply is watching it unfold. Again, that seems unlikely. 

Israel
The beginning of verse 7 mentions Israel. In my reading of Table Talk on August 18, 2014, it describes four different ways Paul uses the word Israel. I thought it was interesting. 

1. Ethnic Jews - True Faith (Romans 9:6)
2. All Ethnic Jews (Romans 9:2)
3. Ethnic Jews - No True Faith (Romans 9:31-32; Romans 10:21; Romans 11:7-10)
4. Believers - All Ethnic Jews and All Gentiles or non-Jews (Galatians 6:16; Romans 11:11-24)

More to this life
Hardness of the heart I think is something very interesting. To me, it expresses comfort. To me, it says that a person is comfortable where they are at. And to me, this is one of the biggest dangers of life, yes we need to be content, but I don't think we need to never be comfortable. I am not talking materially speaking, but I am talking spiritually. 

There is always more to this life, as Steven Curtis Chapman sung. 

Today I watched in silence as people passed me by,
And I strained to see if there was something hidden in their eyes;
But they all looked back at me as if to say
Life just goes on.

The old familiar story told in different ways,
Make the most of your own journey from the cradle to the grave;
Dream your dreams tomorrow because today
Life must go on.

But there's more to this life than living and dying,
More than just trying to make it through the day;
More to this life, more than these eyes alone can see,
And there's more than this life alone can be.

Tonight he lies in silence staring into space,
And looks for ways to make tomorrow better than today,
But in the morning light it looks the same;
Life just goes on.

He takes care of his family, he takes care of his work,
And every Sunday morning he takes his place at the church;
And somehow he still feels a need to search,
But life just goes on.

But there's more to this life than living and dying,
More than just trying to make it through the day;
More to this life, more than these eyes alone can see,
And there's more than this life alone can be.

So where do we start to find every part
Of what makes this life complete;
If we turn our eyes to Jesus we'll find
Life's true beginning is there at the cross where He died.
He died to bring us...

But there's more to this life than living and dying,
More than just trying to make it through the day;
More to this life, more than these eyes alone can see,
And there's more than this life alone can be.

I like that line: There is more than just trying to make it through the day. There is more than just being content.

Chosen and Hardened
Verse 7 states that Israel has not yet obtained what they are seeking. This shows me that people are seeking. People of many different faiths are seeking the answer. They are trying to find the answer. Most think that they have arrived. And where they stand now is in the doing. There is clearly a contrast here between two different types of people: chosen and hardened.

The chosen was talked about previously in verse 5 as the remnant: "there has also come to be at the present time a remnant according to God’s gracious choice." God chose, man responded. God reached down, man grabbed a hold of. 

The Hardened Defined
Verse 8 is a combination of Isaiah 29:10 and Deuteronomy 29:4.  

Isaiah 29:10a
For the Lord has poured over you a spirit of deep sleep,

Deuteronomy 29:4
Yet to this day the Lord has not given you a heart to know, nor eyes to see, nor ears to hear.

Grace means some are chosen, some are hardened. Never for a moment do we think we are better than anyone else because we are chosen because in being chosen we have done nothing to deserve this. And so throughout life we continue to look to the Lord and ask Him to choose. 

Sometimes I wonder if I should wrestle so much with those people that are so bent in a different direction. They are not supple or teachable, but instead they are stiff necked, thinking they have arrived. What is clear is I should never parade myself around as being better than others. In my friend Derek, the atheist, I believe this is something he thinks Christian are, is people that think they are better than others. Maybe it is because of the priest or leader of the faith and how much reverence they give that individual. He sees that there is a clear dividing line between the leader and the adherents or congregation. But, that is really a misunderstanding. God is clear that no one is better than anyone else. He has simply called different people to different functions. He has gifted people differently.


The Hardened Described
Verses 9 and 10 show the picture of what hardening looks like. Romans 1 is also a picture of hardening that Paul describes. "They knew God, but they did not give thanks." And Romans 1 shows the falling away from the things of God and the result, God gave them over to that which they wanted.

⁹ And David says,

“Let their table become a snare and a trap,
And a stumbling block and a retribution to them.
¹⁰ “Let their eyes be darkened to see not,
And bend their backs forever.

Psalm 69:22-23

May their table before them become a snare;
And when they are in peace, may it become a trap.

May their eyes grow dim so that they cannot see,
And make their loins shake continually.

This is the picture of the hardened person. The place where they eat and what they see, it is all a stumbling block to them. There eating and their perspective is away from God. They are consumed with other things. This is the danger of the hardened for they have replaced the joys of God's providence with abusing things before them. May I always have compassion on people. 

Promise: Unbelief is real and it is not a surprise; There are hardened hearts.