I say then, Has God cast away his people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the descendants of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.
All Commentaries on Romans 11:1 Go To Romans 11
Thomas Aquinas
AD 1274
After showing that the fall of the Jews is deplorable, though not entirely excusable [n. 813], the Apostle now shows that it is not universal. First, he raises a question; secondly, he answer it [v. 1b; n. 861]; thirdly, he draws a conclusion [v. 7; n. 872]. 860. First, therefore, he says: I ask then, has God rejected his people? i.e., the Jews, because he calls them unbelieving and contrary. Even the Psalmist asks: "O God, why dost thou cast us for ever?" (Ps 74:1; "The Lord has scorned his altar" (Lam 2:7). 861. Then when he says, By no means, he answers the question and shows that God has not totally rejected the Jewish people. And this is what he says: By no means has the Jewish people been rejected in its entirety. He proves this, first of all, with respect to himself, saying: I myself, living in the faith of Christ, am an Israelite by race: "are they Israelites? So am I" (2 Cor 11:22). And because there were among the people of Israel some proselytes not descended in the flesh from the patriarchs, he says that this is not so of him, adding: a descendant of Abraham: "Are they descendants of Abraham? So am I" (2 Cor 11:23). Furthermore, among the Jewish people the tribes were distinguished according to the sons of Jacob, some of whom were sons of slaves and some of wives. Joseph and Benjamin were sons of Rachel, Jacob's fondest wife. Hence he shows his eminence among the Jewish people, saying: a member of the tribe of Benjamin: "Of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin" (Phil 3:5). Hence, some apply to Paul what is in Gen (49:27): "Benjamin is a ravenous wolf, in the morning devouring the prey, and at evening dividing the spoil." 432 862. Secondly, when he says: God has not rejected, he shows that his people has not been rejected by God in regard to many chosen ones. First, he states is proposition; secondly, he recalls a similar situation [v. 2b; n. 864]; thirdly, he adapts it [v. 5; n. 871]. 863. First, therefore, he says: Not only have I not been rejected, but God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew, i.e., the predestined ones: "For the Lord will not reject his people" (Ps 94:14). The Apostle applies this to the predestined. 864. Then when he says, Do you not know, he recalls a similar situation which occurred during the time of Elijah, when all the people seemed to have turned from the worship of the one God. First, he presents Elijah's plea; secondly, the Lord's reply [v. 4; n. 870]. 865. First, therefore, he says: Do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, i.e., in the book written about Elijah? For the entire Book of Kings was written mainly to make known the saying and deeds of the Prophets. That is why it is counted among the prophetic books, as Jerome says. How he pleads with God against Israel. 866. The word of Samuel seems to be contrary to this when he says: "Far from me be this sin against the Lord, that I should cease to pray for you" (1 Sam 12:23). Much less, then, should one intervene against the people. But it should be noted that prophets intervene against the people in three ways: in one way by conforming their wills to the divine will revealed to them, as it says in Ps (58:10): "The righteous will rejoice when he sees the vengeance." In another way by 433 intervening against the kingdom of sin, in order that men's sins but not men be destroyed. In a third way that the intervention or prayer be construed as a denunciation, as in Jer (17:18): "Let them that persecute me be confounded," i.e., they will be confounded. 867. In this intervention Isaiah alleges two things against them. First, the impiety they committed against the worship of god. First, by persecuting His ministers, to which he refers when he says: Lord, they have killed thy prophets: "Which of the prophets did not your fathers persecute?" (Ac 7:52); "Has it not been told my lord what I did when Jezebel killed the prophets of the Lord" (1 Kings 18:13). Secondly, impiety against God's holy places, as it says in Ps (74:7): "They set they sanctuary on fire." In regard to this he says: They have demolished thy altars. 868. Here it should be noted what the Lord commanded, saying: "You shall seek the place which the Lord your God will choose out of all your tribes to put his name and make hi habitation there; thither you shall go, and thither you shall bring your burnt offerings and sacrifices" (Dt 12:5-6). However, before the temples was built, the people were allowed to build altars in various places for divine worship; but because this became illegal after the temple had been built, the pious king Hezekiah destroyed all such altars. And that is what it says in 2 Kgs (18:220 "Is it not he whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and to Jerusalem, 'You shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem'?" Therefore, what Hezekiah did in a spirit of piety, Achab and Jezebel did in a spirit of impiety in their desire to root out the worship of God entirely. 869. Thirdly [cf. n. 867], he alleges against them the impiety they intended to do, saying: and I alone am left, namely, to worship the one God, because the rest did not show very clearly that they were God's worshippers: and they seek my life. For Jezebel 434 had sent word to Elijah, saying: "so may the gods do to me, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them (1Kgs 19:2), namely of the prophets of Baal whom Elijah had killed. 870. Then he gives the divine reply, saying: But what is God's reply to him, i.e., to Elijah. It is this: I have kept for myself, i.e., for my worship by not permitting them to fall into sin, seven thousand men (this definite number is put in place of the uncertain number, because seen and thousand are perfect numbers), who have not bowed the knee to Baal, i.e. who have not abandoned the worship of God: "All who call on my name, whom I created for my glory" (Is 43:17). 871. Then when he says, So, too, at the present time, he adapts all this to the present situation. First, he sets out the adaptation, saying: So, too, at the present time, in which a multitude of people seems to have gone astray, there is a remnant chosen by grace, saved according to the choice of God's grace: "You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you" (Jn 15:16). Secondly, he draws the conclusion from this: But if it is by grace that they have been saved, it is no longer on the basis of works: "He saved us, not because of deeds done by us in righteousness, but in virtue of his own mercy" (*** 3:5). Thirdly, that this conclusion follows from the premises is shown when he says: Otherwise, i.e., if grace is in virtue of works, grace would no loner be grace, for it is given gratis: "The free gift of righteousness through his grace" (Rom 5:17). 872. Then when he says, What then, he draws the conclusion he intended. 435 And first he sets it out, saying What then shall we say follows from what has been said? This, namely, that Israel, as far as the greater part of its people was concerned, failed to obtain what it sought, namely, righteousness. This is the way one must interpret what was said above (9:31): "But Israel whop pursued the righteousness based on the law did not attain it." Nevertheless, the elect of the Jews obtained it: "He chose us in him, that we should be holy" (Eph 1:4). But the rest were hardened because of their malice: "Their own malice blinded them" (Wis 1:22) 873. Then when he says, As it is written, he clarifies the first part of the conclusion: first, on the authority of Isaiah; secondly, of David [v. 9; n. 876]. 874. In regard to the first it should be noted that the Apostle bases himself on two passages from Isaiah. For it says in Is (29:10): "The Lord has poured out upon you a spirit of deep sleep." In regard to this he says: God gave them a spirit of compunction, which has to do with a perversity of emotion. For compunction implies a puncturing of the heart or sorrow. Hence there is good compunction by which ones grieves over his own sins, as it says in Ps 60(:3), "You have made us drunk with the wine of compunction." There is also evil compunction, i.e., the compunction of envy, by which one grieves over the goods of another. Therefore God gave them this spirit of compunction, i.e., envy, not by instilling malice but by withdrawing grace, as was said above (10:19): "I will make you jealous of those who are not a nation." 436 875. Likewise it says in Is (6:10): "Male the heart of this people fat, and their eyes heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears." In this vein he designates their weakened power of knowing, when he adds: eyes that should not see the miracles which Christ performed in their presence, and ears that should not hear fruitfully the teachings of Christ and the apostle: "He sees many things but does not observe then, his ears are open, but he does not hear" (Is 42:20). To this the Apostle adds on his own: down to this very day, because they will see and hear at the end of the world, when the hearts of the children will be converted to the hearts of their fathers, as it says in Mal (4:5). 876. Then when hey says, And David says, he presents the authority of David on the same point. First, he touches on the things which occasioned the fall of the Jews, saying" Let their table, i.e. the malice with which sinners are nourished: "Though wickedness is sweet in his mouth, though he hides it under his tongue" (Jb 20:12). This table is before them, when they sin from malice aforethought and it becomes a snare, i.e., a temptation to sin: "He who combs out of the pit shall be caught in the snare: (Is 24:18) and a trap, when they succumb to the pleasure of the temptation: "They shall be trapped and taken" (Is 8:15) and a pitfall, when they fall from one sin into another: "Much peace to those who love your law, and it is not a pitfall to them" (Ps 119:165) and a retribution for them, namely, when they will be punished for their sins. Or because they very fact that God permits them so to fall is itself a retribution for their sins: "Render to the proud their deserts" (Ps 94:2). 437 Or the table is the Sacred Scripture put before the Jews: "She has set forth her table" (Pr 9:2). It becomes a snare, when something ambiguous occurs; a trap, when it is not correctly understood, a pitfall, when it falls into obstinate error; and a retribution , as explained above. 877. Secondly, he mentions the weakening of their power to understand when he says: let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see, which is said more as a prediction then as a desire; and their backs, i.e., free choice, which carries something for good or for evil, bend forever, i.e., bend from eternal things to temporal things, from the path of justice to iniquity: "Bow down, that we may pass over" (Is 51:23).
