Chapter # 10 Paragraph # 3 Study # 5
October 14, 2018
Humble, Texas

• I. There Is, Yet Again, The "Whiplash" of Strong Contradiction.
  • A. Paul declared, from Psalm 19:4, that everyone has always "known" because the testimony of the heavens/firmament has gone out "into all the earth" and unto "the limits of the inhabited world".
  • B. But, his reader may immediately insert, "Israel was not subjected to this testimony".
  • C. And, again, Paul directly contradicts that insertion.
• II. Paul's Argument.
  • A. The translation, again, ought to read, "But am I saying, not Israel, he did not know?" This possible meaning is rooted in the ambiguous "they" of 10:18 that might well be assumed to be "the nations" who cover the "inhabited earth" where the "sound" went. About this, Paul says, "But am I saying, not Israel, he did not know?" Breaking from the pattern of 10:18 where his question is met with a strong denial, in this verse, there is no "denial" in a word or words. There is simply the appeal to Moses and his prophetic words, and to Isaiah and his prophetic words.
  • B. "Moses first says..." (Deuteronomy 32:21).
    • 1. Paul's use of "first" is common in his writings. Typically, as Strong's indicates, the word means "foremost in time, place, order, or importance".
      • a. Paul is not arguing that Moses said this "first" as "this is the first thing Moses taught" (Deuteronomy 32:21 is pretty far down the progression of time from Deuteronomy 1:1).
      • b. Paul is arguing that Moses said this as a "the first" as "before others such as Isaiah".
    • 2. The quote comes out of "the song of Moses", immediately on the heels of Deuteronomy 31:29 where he simply declares that he knows of Israel's future apostasies after his death. This makes it a matter of "most fundamental reality" (foremost in reality; the overriding characteristic).
  • C. What Moses said.
    • 1. The verb is actually present tense; "Moses is saying..." His words are current in reality even though the times have moved forward approximately 1500 years.
    • 2. "I shall provoke to jealousy you..." This is immediately upon the heels of the accusation that "they" provoked "Me" to jealousy (so I am going to turn the tables on them and do unto them what they have first done to Me).
      • a. This is a precursor to Romans 11:11-14.
      • b. The issue of "jealousy" is the issue of identified as "provoking to an extreme level of multiple emotions centering upon the desire of the 'jealous' to have the attention of the one whose attentions have been, and are being, showered upon someone else".
    • 3. "...upon a not-nation..." God is saying that He is going to give His attention to people who are not even qualified to be a "nation" so that Israel will crave the attention He is giving to someone else.
      • a. The "not-nation" has its meaning defined by the reality of what happened after the Cross: God turned His attention to a host of individuals who belonged to "every nation and tongue" in the world; not making them a "nation", but gathering them out of nations.
      • b. The "not-nation" is, then, more particularly identified as "a nation" in the sense of a grouping of people pulled into a unity by a common bond (in harmony with 1 Peter 2:9).
        • 1) But this "not-nation that is a nation" is collectively characterized as "without understanding".
        • 2) This characterization is used by Paul earlier in Romans (1:21 and 1:31). The word means something like "incredibly stupid". All of the peoples upon the earth, in their worship of "not-gods" (Note 1 Corinthians 8:4), are beyond any sense of "understanding".
      • c. If we were to use the analogy of a man saying to his incredibly beautiful wife that he was so disappointed in her that he was going to turn to the ugliest woman on the streets, we would have a parallel idea to Paul's".
    • 4. "...I will provoke you..."
      • a. When it dawns upon Israel that He has turned His attention to others with the fact of an out-pouring of blessings, Israel will get really angry, conflicted, jealous, vindictive, etc.
      • b. God, however, is not like Israel in this "provoking". Israel simply followed its own lusts and perversity in turning to "another". God, alternatively, is going to turn to another in order to pound some sense into Israel so that Israel will turn back to Him.
  • D. Then Isaiah "very plainly also says..."
    • 1. God says, "I was found by those not seeking Me".
      • a. Herein is the characterization of the "not-nation" that is a "nation", but is without understanding. To not seek after God is to be without understanding.
      • b. This is the same basic truth as Romans 9:30: God grants righteousness to those not even looking for it.
    • 2. God also says, "I made Myself manifest to those not asking after Me."
      • a. This is much like Paul's Damascus road experience: Jesus made Himself manifest to him even though he was not asking after Him.
      • b. This became the "standard" for the future ministry, taking the "manifest Word" to those who were not looking for Him.
  • E. And Isaiah goes on to say (65:2) about Israel that God had stretched out His hands all the day to an "unpersuaded" and "argumentatively contradictory" people.
• III. Paul's "Point".
  • A. As a presentation of God's larger plan, Paul is revealing the fact that the time of the prophecies has come and God is turning His attention elsewhere.
  • B. That this is the outcome of prophecies indicates that Israel had this information before them from Moses' time onward.