Romans 9–11: “Paul, Moses, and the Fate of All Israel”

  

 

Romans 9–11: “Paul, Moses, and the Fate of All Israel”

Some Artistry, Some Meaning

The story of Israel in Egypt begins with a groan.

As an enslaved people, they cry out, and their lament rises to God. What follows is deliverance, failure, and intercession—Moses even offering himself in place of the people. But the story doesn’t end there.

When Paul turns to Israel in Romans 9–11, he picks up the intercession seeing Israel’s continued need for deliverance from failure.

Paul structures these chapters as a lament about the nation of Israel. It artistically looks back to Israel’s post-Exodus formation as a nation and looks forward to the salvation of all Israel.

In this “What about Israel?” lament, he opens with a groan, telling about the “great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart” (9:2). But, as laments do, he works through it to a conclusion of praise. Chapter 11 concludes with, “Oh, the depths of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God… To him be glory forever! Amen.”

The artistry is not just the lament itself, but also how it echoes the ancient lament of the Exodus. The Exodus account in the book of Exodus is also structured as a lament. After introducing the hardship and oppression the Israelites were subjected to, it says, “The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God” (2:23).

What follows is Yahweh’s liberating work, which ends with a free Israel on the other side of the Red Sea in what has become known as “The Song of the Sea” in Exodus 15. There, Moses and Israel sing a song of praise to Yahweh, ending with Miriam singing, “Sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; horse and rider he has thrown into the sea” (15:21). So, as laments do, the Exodus opens with groaning but works its way to praise.

The resonances don’t end there. Israel is liberated but immediately struggles to follow Yahweh, turning to golden calf worship. God is ready to wipe out Israel and start over, but Moses says, “But now, please forgive their sin—but if not, then blot me out of the book you have written” (32:32). Paul echoes this in his lament when he indicates he would prefer to be cursed—cut off for the benefit of his countrymen (Rom. 9:3). Paul is connecting with the ancient lament over Israel, but also with God’s restoration plan for Israel.

This leads to a crucial clarification:  the lament is about Israel, not simply the Jews. Much of Paul’s writing in Romans up to this point concerns the salvation of Jew and Gentile together as one family of God. There are not two plans of salvation—one for Jew and one for Gentile—but one: for the Jew first and also for the Gentile.

When we get to chapters 9–11, it’s important to note that “Israel” is not a synonym for “Jew.” There is overlap, but “Jew” is a subset of Israel. So Paul is not just talking about Jews who don’t turn to Jesus, but asking the bigger question: What about Israel? The Law and the Prophets have set the expectation that there will be a restoration of all Israel.

When it comes to “all Israel,” there were the northern ten tribes that were taken off into Assyria, never to return. These ten tribes were subsumed into the nations. The word of the Lord through Hosea to the ten tribes was, “You are not my people, and I am not your God” (1:9). The distinction between the ten tribes and the nations/Gentiles was gone, as their population was intermingled with the nations. Israel’s status as “my people,” in distinction from the nations, was gone. They were now the same “not my people” as the nations (goyim/Gentiles).

But this was not the final word. Hosea speaks of a day when “in the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ it shall be said to them, ‘Children of the living God’” (1:10b). Not only that, but “the people of Judah and the people of Israel shall be gathered together” (1:11).

Elsewhere in the prophets, we see an expectation that one day Judah and the ten northern tribes of Israel will be restored into one. In the “dry bones” chapter, Ezekiel is instructed to write on one stick, “Belonging to Judah (and associated Israelites),” and on another stick, “Belonging to Joseph (that is, to Ephraim) and all the Israelites associated with him” (Ezek. 37:16). Then God tells Ezekiel to explain it: “I will take the Israelites out of the nations where they have gone. I will gather them from all around and bring them back into their own land” (37:21). He goes on to explain that they will have one king, be one nation (not divided into two), and “they will be my people, and I will be their God” (37:23).

This is just a sample—there is much more written that fuels the expectation of a greater restoration of Israel—all twelve tribes—that God will bring about.

When we return to Romans 9–11 with the understanding that Paul had been talking about “salvation for the Jew first and then the Gentile,” but now his question is, “But what about Israel—has God’s word failed?”, we see that he is no longer talking about just the Jews, but about Israel and the scriptural expectation of a greater restoration.

I won’t work through all the ways Paul works through the story of Israel in chapters 9–11, but the focus here is the conclusion.  Paul claims that God is accomplishing the restoration of “all Israel” in the most unexpected fashion. Israel’s “rejection” (its dispersion and blending into the nations) has brought reconciliation to the world; how much more will their acceptance result in life from the dead (11:15–16)?

Paul quotes the same Hosea passage referenced above, saying that God would call those who are not his people “my people,” and goes on to explain a revealed mystery. The mystery is this: the hardening of Israel ends when the fullness of the Gentiles comes in—and in this way, all Israel will be saved.

Gentiles—or “the nations” (those formerly “not my people”)—now include Israel, which had been absorbed and intermingled into the nations (intermarriage with the nations). Thus, when the Gentiles (the nations) are brought in, God establishes the grand restoration of Israel that had been promised.

There are many debates about what Paul means when he says in Romans 11:26, “all Israel will be saved.” Many of these debates look at 11:26 in isolation. But when you consider the larger Israel question Paul is asking and pay attention to the connection between Romans 11:25 and 11:26, the meaning becomes clearer.

Romans 11:25
Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in,

Romans 11:26
and in this way all Israel will be saved.

The salvation of “all Israel” is connected to the full number of Gentiles (nations) coming in. The Greek phrase kai houtos is appropriately translated as “in this way”, expressing the means by which this happens (as opposed to sequence).  The implication is that the northern ten tribes, having been scattered and intermingled among the nations, are included in this ingathering—so that when the nations come in, Israel itself is being restored.  

Ezekiel’s sticks have been brought back together. The divided people are one again, under one king—what Paul describes as a single olive tree, with branches grafted in. Groaning is not the final word. God’s promise, spoken through the prophets, is coming to pass. Through Abraham’s family, blessing is reaching all the families of the earth—and in the ingathering of the nations, Israel itself is being restored.

This post is deeply influenced by the work of Jason Staples, as well as the broader biblical theology, and specific insights of N. T. Wright and John Goldingay. The specific connections drawn here—particularly the way Romans 9–11 is read alongside Israel’s earlier story—reflect my own attempt to synthesize and extend those insights.