Romans 11.2b-3-Paul Cites 1 Kings 19.10 To Support His Teaching In Romans 11.1-2a That God Has Not Rejected Israel
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Thursday June 18, 2009
Romans: Romans 11:2b-3-Paul Cites 1 Kings 19:10 To Support His Teaching In Romans 11:1-2a That God Has Not Rejected Israel
Lesson # 354
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 11:1.
This evening we will note Romans 11:2b and Romans 11:3 in which Paul cites 1 Kings 19:10 to demonstrate that God has not rejected Israel.
In this passage, Elijah prayed to the Father against Israel when he was fleeing from Jezebel.
Romans 11:1, “I say then, God has not rejected His people, has He? May it never be! For I too am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.”
Romans 11:2, “God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scripture says in the passage about Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel?”
Romans 11:3, “Lord, THEY HAVE KILLED YOUR PROPHETS, THEY HAVE TORN DOWN YOUR ALTARS, AND I ALONE AM LEFT, AND THEY ARE SEEKING MY LIFE.”
Romans 11:4, “But what is the divine response to him? ‘I HAVE KEPT for Myself SEVEN THOUSAND MEN WHO HAVE NOT BOWED THE KNEE TO BAAL.’”
Romans 11:5, “In the same way then, there has also come to be at the present time a remnant according to God's gracious choice.”
Now, let’s concentrate on the question that appears in verse 2, which follows the declarative statement that opens the passage.
Romans 11:2, “God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scripture says in the passage about Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel?”
The question in this passage presents an alternative if the reader does not accept Paul’s statement that God has by no means rejected Israel whom He foreknew.
This question introduces the account of God dealing with Elijah in which the prophet prayed to God against Israel because Jezebel sought to assassinate him.
The Lord’s response was to reveal to Elijah that He had set aside for Himself seven thousand men who had not bowed the knee to Baal.
This substantiates Paul’s teaching in Romans 9:27-29 that God always set aside a remnant of believers in Israel throughout her history.
This question in Romans 11:2b implies that Paul’s readers would not be unaware of the story of Elijah pleading with God against Israel since they would have learned this by their Christian instruction in the Old Testament.
That it is implied that Paul’s readers should have known the account of Elijah in 1 Kings 19:10 is indicated by the perfect tense of the verb oida, which expresses the concept of a continued completed state and possession of knowledge of this account.
“Do you know not” denotes that Paul is asking his readers if they have “totally forgotten” the story of the Father’s response to Elijah’s prayer against Israel that He had set aside a remnant of believers in that day.
“The Scripture” refers to a specific Old Testament passage, namely, 1 Kings 19:10 and 18 as indicated by the fact that they are quoted in Romans 10:3 and 4 respectively and validates Paul’s teaching that God has by no means rejected the nation of Israel.
“In the passage about Elijah” refers to 1 Kings 19:1-18.
Romans 11:2, “God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scripture says in the passage about Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel?”
“He pleads” is the third person singular present active indicative form of the verb entunchano (e)ntugxavnw) (en-toong-khan-o), which is used of Elijah pleading with God against Israel since 1 King 19:10 makes clear that this is exactly what the prophet did.
It is not an intercessory prayer since this type of prayer is for the benefit of someone.
Here it is used of Elijah offering a personal petition to the Father to destroy Israel as a result of Jezebel’s threat against him even though, he makes Israel’s unfaithfulness the motivation for the prayer.
The prophet made this petition when he was involved in self-pity and the Lord’s answer reveals that his petition was not according to His will.
The present tense is an “iterative” present, which indicates that Elijah “repeatedly” pleaded with God in prayer against Israel since 1 Kings 19:10 and 14 indicate that he offered the same prayer to God twice.
“God” is the articular dative masculine singular form of the noun theos (qeov$), which refers to the Father since the articular construction of this noun in the New Testament commonly signifies the first member of the Trinity.
Also, indicating that the Father is in view is that the Scriptures teach that the believer-priest must address God the Father in prayer (John 14:13-14; 16:23-27; Romans 8:15; Galatians 4:6; Ephesians 2:18; 3:14; 5:20; Col 1:3, 12; 3:17; 1 Peter 1:17; Revelation 1:6).
“Against Israel” indicates that Elijah’s prayer to the Father was in “opposition to” or “against” idolatrous Israel.
Next, we will note Romans 11:3 and in this passage Paul cites 1 Kings 19:10, which records Elijah praying to the Father against Israel when he was fleeing from Jezebel.
Romans 11:3, “Lord, THEY HAVE KILLED YOUR PROPHETS, THEY HAVE TORN DOWN YOUR ALTARS, AND I ALONE AM LEFT, AND THEY ARE SEEKING MY LIFE.”
In context, Elijah offered this prayer to the Father after two great victories.
The first is recorded in 1 Kings 18:1-40 where he defeated the prophets of Baal with the power of the Lord.
The second is found in 1 Kings 18:41-46 where he prayed for rain to fall in Israel and it did.
After these two great victories, Jezebel, Ahab’s wife got wind of Elijah’s victory over the prophets of Baal and his execution of them and sends a threatening letter to the prophet and seeks to assassinate him.
Elijah in turn, out of despair for his life, flees to the desert and prays to God against Israel but God responds by telling Elijah that He has set aside for Himself a remnant of believers who will not bow to Baal.
In Romans 11:3, Paul is quoting from the Septuagint translation of 1 Kings 19:10 and 14 with some variations to suit his purposes with changing their meaning.
“Lord” is a reference to the Father since the Scriptures teach all prayer must be addressed to the Father.
“THEY HAVE KILLED YOUR PROPHETS” means that Israel caused the death of God’s prophets by violent means, with intent and without legal justification.
“THEY HAVE TORN DOWN YOUR ALTARS” refers to the unsaved citizens of Israel “destroying” the altars dedicated to the worship of the Father.
“AND I ALONE AM LEFT” emphasizes Elijah’s self-pity and loneliness and despair as a result Jezebel’s threats to kill him and refers to Elijah’s circumstances where he was isolated in the desert because of Jezebel’s threats and he was the only prophet left in Israel since they had all been killed.
“THEY ARE SEEKING MY LIFE” indicates that Israel and in particular the wife of the king of Israel, Jezebel was making it a top priority to diligently and earnestly and tenaciously seek to assassinate Elijah, sparing no effort or expense to do so because it was of great value to her (See 1 Kings 19:1-2).
As we have noted in Romans 11:1, Paul poses a rhetorical question that is the result of an inference that could be implied from his teaching in Romans chapters nine and ten, namely that God has rejected Israel.
He emphatically rejects this idea and then presents himself as living proof that this is not the case.
Then, in Romans 11:2, he emphatically declares that God has by no means rejected the nation of Israel whom He foreknew.
Next, in Romans 11:3, he cites 1 Kings 19:10 to demonstrate that God has not rejected Israel.
In this passage, Elijah pleaded with the Father against Israel when he was the lone surviving prophet in Israel who was alone in the desert because he was fleeing Jezebel who sought to murder him.
In Romans 11:4, Paul presents the Father’s response to Elijah’s complaint against Israel by citing 1 Kings 19:18,which records God telling him that He had set aside a remnant composed of seven thousand men in Israel that had not bowed the knee to Baal.
Paul in Romans 11:5 states that in the same way that God set aside a remnant for Himself in Elijah’s day so He had done so in Paul’s day in the mid first century.
Therefore, Romans 11:1-5 teaches that God has not rejected Israel because He has set aside a remnant of believers at the present time.