Much every way: chiefly, because unto them were committed the oracles of God.
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Ambrosiaster
AD 400
Although Paul says that there are many things which pertain to the honor and merit of the seed of Abraham, he records only one of them openly, because it is their greatest boast: They were judged worthy to receive the law, by which they learned to distinguish right from wrong. Only after that was it possible for the value of other things to be understood. But as far as the Jews according to the flesh are concerned (that is, the unbelievers among them), Paul shows that the witness of their race is of no advantage to them. But so as not to appear to be treating them all, including the believers among them, badly, he teaches that the law is very useful to Jewish believers, because they are children of Abraham. For it was to them that the oracles of God were entrusted. It is by the merits of their ancestors that they received the law and were called God’s people…. Egypt was hit by different plagues because of the wrongs which it did to them. They dined on heavenly manna; they were a terror...
When Paul says “To begin with,” he does not go on to list a second or third item. He means rather that what he begins with is comprehensive of all good things. For what could be better than to believe the words of God? Pauline Commentary from the Greek Church.
What does entrusted mean? It means that the Jews had the law put into their hands because God thought so highly of them that he entrusted them with oracles which came down from on high. I know that some people take the entrusted not of the Jews but of the oracles, as if to say: “The law was believed in.” But the context does not allow this interpretation. For in the first place he is saying this in order to accuse them and to show that, in spite of the fact that they enjoyed many blessings from above, they still showed great ingratitude. Then look at [verse ]. If some of the Jews did not believe, how is it that some say that the oracles were believed in? So what does Paul mean? He means that God entrusted the oracles to the Jews, not that the Jews entrusted themselves to the oracles, for the context does not make sense otherwise.
