Romans 10:21 But to Israel he saith. Quoted from Isaiah 65:2. All day long I have stretched forth my hands. It presents the figure of a parent, with hands extended, appealing to a wayward child. That child was the Jewish nation. It was cast off because it "would" be cast off. It refused to listen to appeals. See Matthew 23:37. The apostle is far from ascribing the rejection of Israel to a divine decree, but he assigns the cause to Israel itself. Just so the Savior says in the passage just referred to, "How often 'would I' have gathered, . . . but 'ye would not'". The divine wish was that Israel should be saved, but Israel stubbornly refused.
Romans 10:19-21 Did not Israel know? Why, the Jew is supposed to object, if the Gospel has been extended so widely, is the greater portion of Israel in ignorance that the Gentiles were to be saved? Paul replies that Israel should have known: First, Moses saith. (1) Moses foretells the call of another people to the favor of God (Deuteronomy 32:21); Esaias . . . saith. (2) Isaiah still more plainly predicts the salvation of the Gentiles in Isaiah 65:1, and (3) he predicts the falling away of Israel in Isaiah 65:2.
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