(11) I sai/, then, have they stumbled that they should fall? God for hid, &c. This verse begins with the same formula as the first verse of the chapter, and for the same reason. As there the apostle wished to have it understood that the rejection of God's ancient people was not entire, so here he teaches that this rejection is not final. That this is the meaning of the verse seems evident, 1. From the comparative force of the words stumble and fall. As the latter is a much stronger term than the former, it seems plain that Paul designed it should here be taken emphatically, as expressing irrevocable ruin in opposition to that which is temporary. The Jews have stumbled, but they are not prostrated. 2. From the context ; all that follows being designed to prove that the fall of the Jews was not final. This is indeed intimated in this very verse, in which it is implied that the conversion of the Gentiles would lead to the ultimate conversion of the Jews. The word rendered should fall is used here, as elsewhere, to mean should perish, become miserable, Heb. 4: 11.
But through their fall salvation has come unto the Gentiles. The stumbling of the Jews was not attended with the result of their utter and final ruin, but was the occasion of facilitating the progress of the gospel among the Gentiles. It was, therefore, not designed to lead to the for- mer, but to the latter result. From this very design it is probable that they shall be finally restored, because the natural effect of the conversion of the Gentiles is to provoke the emulation of the Jews. That the rejec- tion of the gospel on the part of the Jews was the means of its wider and more rapid spread among the Gentiles, seems to be clearly intimated in several passages of the New Testament. " It was necessary," Paul says to the Jews, " that the word of God should first have been spoken to you ; but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy