17 But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, an olive-tree of the fields, were put in among them, and were given a part with them in the root by which the olive-tree is made fertile,
For this reason keep it in mind that in the past you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are looked on as being outside the circumcision by those who have circumcision, in the flesh, made by hands; That you were at that time without Christ, being cut off from any part in Israel's rights as a nation, having no part in God's agreement, having no hope, and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who at one time were far off are made near in the blood of Christ.
He takes away every branch in me which has no fruit, and every branch which has fruit he makes clean, so that it may have more fruit.
Which is that the Gentiles have a part in the heritage, and in the same body, and in the same hope in Christ through the good news,
But I am like a branching olive-tree in the house of God; I have put my faith in his mercy for ever and ever.
For the word of God is for you and for your children and for all those who are far off, even all those who may be marked out by the Lord our God.
For this reason I say to you, The kingdom of God will be taken away from you, and will be given to a nation producing the fruits of it.
These are the two olive-trees and the two lights, which are before the Lord of the earth.
We being Jews by birth, and not sinners of the Gentiles,
And I say to you that numbers will come from the east and the west, and will take their seats with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven: But the sons of the kingdom will be put out into the dark, and there will be weeping and cries of pain.
And two olive-trees by it, one on the right side of the cup and one on the left.
Then great was the men's fear of the Lord; and they made an offering to the Lord and took oaths to him.
For this cause the Lord has said: Like the vine-tree among the trees of the woods which I have given to the fire for burning, so will I give the people of Jerusalem. And my face will be turned against them; and though they have come out of the fire they will be burned up by it; and it will be clear to you that I am the Lord when my face is turned against them. And I will make the land a waste because they have done evil, says the Lord.
When its branches are dry they will be broken off; the women will come and put fire to them: for it is a foolish people; for this cause he who made them will have no mercy on them, and he whose work they are will not have pity on them.
And even if there is still a tenth part in it, it will again be burned, like a tree of the woods whose broken end is still in the earth after the tree has been cut down (the holy seed is the broken end).
It sent out its arms to the Sea, and its branches to the River. Why are its walls broken down by your hands, so that all who go by may take its fruit? It is uprooted by the pigs from the woods, the beasts of the field get their food from it. Come back, O God of armies: from heaven let your eyes be turned to this vine, and give your mind to it, Even to the tree which was planted by your right hand, and to the branch which you made strong for yourself. It is burned with fire; it is cut down: they are made waste by the wrath of your face.
A land of grain and vines and fig-trees and fair fruits; a land of oil-giving olive-trees and honey;
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Romans 11
Commentary on Romans 11 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 11
The apostle, having reconciled that great truth of the rejection of the Jews with the promise made unto the fathers, is, in this chapter, further labouring to mollify the harshness of it, and to reconcile it to the divine goodness in general. It might be said, "Hath God then cast away his people?' The apostles therefore sets himself, in this chapter, to make a reply to this objection, and that two ways:-
Rom 11:1-32
The apostle proposes here a plausible objection, which might be urged against the divine conduct in casting off the Jewish nation (v. 1): "Hath God cast away his people? Is the rejection total and final? Are they all abandoned to wrath and ruin, and that eternal? Is the extent of the sentence so large as to be without reserve, or the continuance of it so long as to be without repeal? Will he have no more a peculiar people to himself?' In opposition to this, he shows that there was a great deal of goodness and mercy expressed along with this seeming severity, particularly he insists upon three things:-
Rom 11:33-36
The apostle having insisted so largely, through the greatest part of this chapter, upon reconciling the rejection of the Jews with the divine goodness, he concludes here with the acknowledgment and admiration of the divine wisdom and sovereignty in all this. Here the apostle does with great affection and awe adore,