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the `diminishing'
hettema: verse 12);
`casting away'
(apobole: verse 15);
`broken off'
(ekklao: verse 17);
`spared not'
(pheidomai: verse 21);
`blindness'
(porosis: verse 25);
`enemies'
(echthros: verse 28);
and
`concluded in unbelief'
(sugkleio: verse 32).
In these eight terms, we behold the `severity' of God (verse 22).
The `fall' of Israel is likened to the `offence' of Adam, the word
paraptoma being translated `offence' in Romans 5:15,16,18 and 20. The word
literally means `to fall aside'. Israel follow very much in the steps of
Adam. Both fail of their high purpose, and are set aside; and both will
realize their destiny only when `in Christ'. Just as in Romans 5:20 the
abounding `offence' was overruled by God unto much more abounding grace, so
in Romans 11:12,15, we discover something of the same argument -- an argument
which, approached from the wrong angle, has been resolutely set aside in
Romans 3:7, for no amount of overruling grace can minimize the positive
wickedness of individual sin, however much good may result by the
intervention of grace.
In Deuteronomy 27 and 28 Moses gives the people the solemn words that
were to be pronounced from Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal. Among the blessings
we find:
`And the Lord shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou
shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath' (Deut. 28:13).
This high position Israel forfeited because of unbelief, but a day is coming
when the Redeemer shall come to Zion (Isa. 59:20), and Israel shall be
restored, and enter into their high glory:
`The nation and kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish; yea,
those nations shall be utterly wasted' (Isa. 60:12).
`But ye shall be named the Priests of the Lord: men shall call you the
Ministers of our God: ye shall eat the riches of the Gentiles' (Isa.
61:6).
With this high destiny in mind, coupled with Israel's terrible fall,
the apostle uses the word `diminish'. The primary meaning of hettaomai is to
be overcome as in battle or in a law-suit (2 Pet. 2:19,20), and so to be
inferior (2 Cor. 12:13). Israel, by their unbelief and failure to repent,
were losing their high prerogatives, set out so fully in Romans 9:4,5. This
high position, now in danger of being forfeited, was not, of course, given to
them on account of any intrinsic worth in themselves, but rather because of
their place in the scheme of blessing. And so, when they fail, the apostle
speaks of them as being `cast away' -- as the blind man is said to have cast
away his garment, that apparently encumbered him, or as the ship that was
wrecked was `a loss' (Acts 27:22). Israel had made shipwreck of their
calling; they had fallen aside; they were becoming inferior; they were `a
loss'. And so through all the terms used by the apostle to explain their
condition.