Theod. in Dan. x. 15 to translate Ὁ Τὴλ
(cognate to MT), and in other
places of any overpowering emotion: see Fritzsche ad loc. Winer, p. 117. It is God Who sends this spirit of stupor, but He does not send it arbitrarily nor at random: it is always a judgment. ἕως τῆς σήμερον ἡμέρας: in Deut. xxix. 4 ἕως τῆς ἡ. ταύτης. The change emphasises the fact that what Israel had been from the beginning it was when Paul wrote,
678
xl.
ΔΝ - θήραν, καὶ εἰς σκάνδαλον καὶ εἰς ἀνταπόδομα αὐτοῖς' 1Ο. σκοτισ-
θήτωσαν οἱ ὀφθαλμοὶ αὐτῶν τοῦ μὴ βλέπειν, καὶ τὸν νῶτον αὐτῶν
ε Ps, Ixviii. δια παντὸς "σύγκαμψον Tes 221. (LXX).
f'Ch. iv..25. > Vg A Shi
g Ch. x. 19. is TO® παραζηλῶσαι αὐτούς.
11. Λέγω οὖν, Mi) ἕπταισαν ἵνα πέσωσι; » γένοιτο ἀλλὰ τῷ αὐτῶν παραπτώµατι ἡ ί is ἐθ μὴ Υ 2 p µατι ἡ σωτηρία τοῖς ἔθνεσιν,
12. ci δὲ τὸ παράπτωμα αὐτῶν πλούτος
κόσμου, καὶ τὸ ἥττημα αὐτῶν πλούτος ἐθνῶν, πόσῳ μᾶλλον τὸ πλή-
and that God had acted toward it from the beginning on the same principle on which He was acting then. Cf. Acts vii. 51 f. καὶ Aaveid λέγε: another proof of ἐπωρώθησαν, though strictly speaking a wish or an imprecation cannot prove anything, unless it be assumed that it has been fulfilled, and so can be taken as the description of a fact. Paul takes it for granted that the doom invoked in these words has come upon the Jews. γενηθήτω ἡ τράπεζα αὐτῶν κ.τ.λ. Their table in the psalm is that in which they delight, and it is this which is to prove their ruin. παγίς, θήρα, and σκάνδαλον are all variations of the same idea, that of snare or trap—i.e., sudden destruction. What the Jews delighted in was the law, and the law misunderstood proved their ruin, In seeking a righteousness of their own based upon it they missed and for- feited the righteousness of God which is given to faith in Christ. καὶ els ἀνταπόδομα αὐτοῖς: this does not exactly reproduce either the Heb. or the LXX, but it involves the idea that the fate of the Jews is the recompense of their sin—not a result to be simply referred to a decree of God. Their perverse attitude to the law is avenged in their incapacity to understand and receive the Gospel. τοῦ μὴ βλέπειν: for this Gen. both in ver. 8 and ver. 10, see Buttmann, Gram. of N.T. Greek, p. 267 (E. tt.). τὸν νῶτον αὐτῶν διὰ παντὸς σύγκαμψον: keep them continually in spiritual bondage, stoop- ing under a load too heavy to be borne: cf. Acts xv. 1ο.
This is the condition in which by God’s act, requiting their own sins, and especi- ally their self-righteous adherence to the law as a way of salvation, the Jews find themselves. It is a condition so grievous, and so remote from what one anticipates for a people chosen by God, that it con- fronts Paul again with the difficulty of ver. 1, and obliges him to state it once more—this time in a way which mitigates its severity, and hints that the fall of Israel is not the last thing concerning them to be taken into account. What if God’s purpose includes and uses their fall? What if it is not final? It is
with new ideas of this sort, introduced to take the edge from the stern utter- ances of vers. 8-10, that Paul deals in vers. II-24. '
Ver. 11. λέγω οὖν: I say then, taking up the problem again. μὴ ἔπταισαν ἵνα πέσωσιν; surely they did not stumble so as to fall? The subject is the mass of the Jewish nation, all but the elect rem- nant. The contrast here between stum- bling and falling shows that the latter is meant of an irremediable fall, from which there is no rising. This is one of the cases in which tva is loosely used; it cannot possibly be translated ‘‘in order that”. For similar examples cf. 1 Thess. v. 4, 1 Cor. vii. 29, Gal. v. 17. ἀλλὰ: on the contrary, by their (moral) fall salvation has come to the Gentiles to provoke them (the unbelieving Israelites) to jealousy. The fact stated here is illustrated at every point in Paul’s own ministry; he turned to the Gentiles because the Jews would not hear him. See Acts xiii. 46 ff., xvili. 6, xxviii. 25-28. The end in view in it (cf. x. Ig) is his proof that the stumbling of the Jews is not to be interpreted in the sense of a final fall. A recovery is in prospect.