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NASB | Romans 9:15 For He says to Moses, "I WILL HAVE MERCY ON WHOM I HAVE MERCY, AND I WILL HAVE COMPASSION ON WHOM I HAVE COMPASSION." |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Romans 9:15 For He says to Moses, "I WILL HAVE MERCY ON WHOMEVER I HAVE MERCY, AND I WILL HAVE COMPASSION ON WHOMEVER I HAVE COMPASSION." [Ex 33:19] |
Subject: Mercy's God's prerogative |
Bible Note: Greetings Steve! I appreciate your response. I do have two questions though. 1) Did God reject Israel? Rom. 9:30-32 makes the case that Israel stumbled, but it never says that God rejected them. In fact, Rom. 11 makes the exact opposite case. Rom. 11:1-2a says, "I ask then: Did God reject his people? By no means! I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin. 2 God did not reject his people, whom he foreknew..." 2) Jacob and Easu: Are you interpreting Rom. 9:13 as a reference to individual election to salvation or as a reference to God's choice of one nation over another? The reason I ask is that Rom. 9:13 is a quote from Mal. 2:2-3. This passage says, "2 ‘‘I have loved you,” says the LORD. ‘‘But you ask, ‘How have you loved us?’ ‘‘Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” the LORD says. ‘‘Yet I have loved Jacob, 3 but Esau I have hated, and I have turned his mountains into a wasteland and left his inheritance to the desert jackals.” This passage deals with Israel complaint against God. As prove of His love for Israel, He appeals to His choice of Jacob to be the one through who the blessing of the convenant would come. The Bible Knowledge Commentary says of Mal. 2:2-3: "The Lord’s claim over Israel was vindicated by two considerations. First was His love expressed in His free choice, His election of Jacob and his descendants (including this generation which had questioned Him) to inherit the promise. This was contrary to the normal practice of choosing the oldest son. Esau, also named Edom and the father of the Edomites (Gen. 36:1), was the firstborn of the twins. Yet even before birth God freely elected Jacob, later named Israel, as the heir (Gen. 25:21-34; Rom. 9:10-13). The Hebrew words for loved and hated refer not to God’s emotions but to His choice of one over the other for a covenant relationship (cf. Gen. 29:31-35; Deut. 21:15, 17; Luke 14:26). To hate someone meant to reject him and to disavow any loving association with him (cf. Ps. 139:21). Nor do these words by themselves indicate the eternal destinations of Jacob and Esau. The verbs refer to God’s acts in history toward both of the two nations which descended from the two brothers." Just curious my friend! Your Brother in Christ, Tim Moran |