^1–211Does this mean, then, that God is so fed up with Israel that he’ll have nothing more to do with them? Hardly. Remember that I, the one writing these things, am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham out of the tribe of Ben-jamin. You can’t get much more Semitic than that! So we’re not talking about repudiation. God has been too long involved with Israel, has too much invested, to simply wash his hands of them.

^2–6Do you remember that time Elijah was agonizing over this same Israel and cried out in prayer?

God, they murdered your prophets,

They trashed your altars;

I’m the only one left and now they’re after me!

And do you remember God’s answer?

I still have seven thousand who haven’t quit,

Seven thousand who are loyal to the finish.

It’s the same today. There’s a fiercely loyal minority still—not many, perhaps, but probably more than you think. They’re holding on, not because of what they think they’re going to get out of it, but because they’re convinced of God’s grace and purpose in choosing them. If they were only thinking of their own immediate self-interest, they would have left long ago.

^7–10And then what happened? Well, when Israel tried to be right with God on her own, pursuing her own self-interest, she didn’t succeed. The chosen ones of God were those who let God pursue his interest in them, and as a result received his stamp of legitimacy. The “self-interest Israel” became thick-skinned toward God. Moses and Isaiah both commented on this:

Fed up with their quarrelsome, self-centered ways,

God blurred their eyes and dulled their ears,

Shut them in on themselves in a hall of mirrors,

and they’re there to this day.

David was upset about the same thing:

I hope they get sick eating self-serving meals,

break a leg walking their self-serving ways.

I hope they go blind staring in their mirrors,

get ulcers from playing at god.

Pruning and Grafting Branches

^11–12The next question is, “Are they down for the count? Are they out of this for good?” And the answer is a clear-cut No. Ironically when they walked out, they left the door open and the outsiders walked in. But the next thing you know, the Jews were starting to wonder if perhaps they had walked out on a good thing. Now, if their leaving triggered this worldwide coming of non-Jewish outsiders to God’s kingdom, just imagine the effect of their coming back! What a homecoming!

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