The Epistles of Paul - Romans Part 13, 07-04-2014: Jacob and Esau continued

The Epistles of Paul - Romans Part 13, 07-04-2014: Jacob and Esau, continued

Before continuing with the second part of our presentation of Paul's discussion of Jacob and Esau in Romans chapter 9, there are a few prophecies which we already presented concerning Esau, or the Edomites, which we should further consider. In our first part of this presentation on Romans 9 we cited parts of Ezekiel chapters 34 and 35 [I had erred, only attributing chapter 34 while quoting from both chapters] in order to understand how it was that the Edomites had come to be fellow-citizens of the Israelites in first century Judaea, both politically and in their religion. In that presentation we also presented much historical evidence from the works of Flavius Josephus which corroborates these prophecies. Now we shall address an even greater prophetic aspect of this prophecy, and that of Malachi chapter 1 which Paul cites in the last verse we had read, Romans 9:13.

First, in Ezekiel chapter 34 we see a prophecy of the scattering of Israel and an admonishment of the shepherds of Israel for neither nourishing nor gathering the flocks of the people. Immediately thereafter, in chapter 35 the attention is turned towards those of the Edomites who took the ancient lands of Israel to themselves. Moving on to Ezekiel chapter 36 there is a continuation of the vision in chapter 35 but the subject changes. The first part of chapter 36 addresses the mountains of Israel, and how they were made desolate on every side, and it gives the reason in verse 2: “Because the enemy hath said against you, Aha, even the ancient high places are ours in possession”, which is a reference to the same thing mentioned in Ezekiel 35:10 where the Word of Yahweh attributed to Edom that “thou hast said, These two nations and these two countries shall be mine, and we will possess it”. So we see that Ezekiel chapter 36 confirms our interpretation of Ezekiel chapter 35, and especially verse 10, which we offered here last week. It is also no coincidence, that the failure of the shepherds of Israel to feed the sheep is closely inter-related with the design of the Edomites to control the “ancient high places”, having religious authority over the people.

Ezekiel chapter 36 then proceeds to discuss at length the scattering of the people of Israel among the nations, for the pagan idolatry which they had practiced, and then it describes a future regathering to their own land from all the countries where they were scattered, a regathering which has never happened in Palestine. The reference to a future regathering would not happen until “the day that I shall have cleansed you from all your iniquities”, as Yahweh says in verse 33 of the chapter, so this regathering cannot be talking about the 70-weeks kingdom of Judaea, since the history of that kingdom was precisely the opposite of the description in the prophecy. That 70-weeks kingdom was permanently destroyed, and not built, only a short while after the sacrifice of the Christ for the sins of Israel.

Being followed by the vision of the valley of dry bones, the prophecy concerning the making of Israel and Judah into one stick, and then the vision of the great invasion of the mountains of Israel by all the nations gathered together against Israel by Gog, the same satanic entity of Revelation chapter 20, it should become evident that from the time of the Edomite takeover of the ancient high places until the time of the sanctification of Israel described in Ezekiel chapter 39 which follows the destruction of the enemies of Yahweh, these chapters contain a prophecy which would occur over a long period of time. It is not our purpose here to fully elucidate the fulfillment of this prophecy, but only to explain that it could not have been fulfilled already, and especially in the 70-weeks kingdom of Judaea, although it is certainly in the process of being fulfilled in quite another manner.

With this in mind, we should discuss another prophecy that we cited in the first part of our presentation of Romans chapter 9, because Paul quoted from it in Romans 9:13, but which we did not discuss completely. That is found in the opening verses of Malachi chapter 1: “1 The burden of the word of the LORD to Israel by Malachi. 2 I have loved you, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother? saith the LORD: yet I loved Jacob, 3 And I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness. 4 Whereas Edom saith, We are impoverished, but we will return and build the desolate places; thus saith the LORD of hosts, They shall build, but I will throw down; and they shall call them, The border of wickedness, and, The people against whom the LORD hath indignation for ever.” Verse 4 certainly justifies Paul's having called the Edomites “vessels of destruction” later in this same chapter.

Malachi was prophesying in the Second Temple period, as the temple and the city were rebuilt by the remnant which returned from Babylon. Therefore this prophecy cannot apply to the rebuilding of Jerusalem for the 70-weeks kingdom of Judaea, since the Edomites had no part in that. After the 70-weeks kingdom was destroyed by the Romans, a process which took several decades from the war of 65 AD and the several others Judaean revolts against Rome which followed, most of the Edomite Jews were driven out or migrated out of Palestine, and Jerusalem and the ancient lands of Israel and Judah were for the most part inhabited at first by Romans and Greeks and Israelite Judaeans who had turned to Christianity, and later by Arabs, primarily Islamic. Of course, there were certainly non-Judaean Canaanites among these, but they were never identified ethnically as Canaanites, a distinction which practically disappeared in literature before the start of the Hellenistic period. [It is difficult to summarize history without over-simplifying it.]

Examining these four verses of Malachi, one should realize that they represent a dialogue offered by Yahweh which presents the attitude of Jacob and certain deeds of Esau. Yahweh informs Jacob that He loved him, but Jacob responds with an inquiry concerning Esau. Yahweh informs Jacob that He loved him, and Jacob responds by saying “Wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother?” And Yahweh answers those questions by explaining that He hated Esau, laid his heritage waste. Then Esau is portrayed as saying “We are impoverished, but we will return and build the desolate places.” Yahweh then says that “They shall build, but I will throw down; and they shall call them, The border of wickedness, and, The people against whom the LORD hath indignation for ever.”

Edom did not return to rebuild the desolate places after they took most of the land for themselves in the centuries before Christ. That was a takeover of something that was never theirs, and not a return. Israel did rebuild many cities after spreading out from a rebuilt Jerusalem and conquering the Edomites who had earlier taken the formerly Israelite cities for themselves. So, as we have already said, Malachi cannot be describing the 70-weeks kingdom. Neither did the Edomite Jews return to rebuild the desolate places after they were driven out of Palestine by the Romans. Any building at that time was done by the Romans, the Byzantine Greeks, and later by the Islamic Caliphates that followed – under which much of the land remained quite desolate by modern Western standards.

Edom did not return to the lands of Israel and Judah to rebuild anything until the advent of modern Zionism and the founding of the counterfeit Israeli state in 1948. That is the only time that Edom ever returned to rebuild these desolate places. And the attitude of Jacob towards Yahweh his God who loves him, by inquiring on behalf of Esau instead of praising Yahweh for His love, is perfectly descriptive of the situation found today in the Christian love for Jewish Zionism. In truth, White Christians are ancient Israel, and that is a historical fact. Modern Jews are the Edomites of old, and that also is a historical fact. Today White Christians have more concern for the Jews than they have for the love of their God, and only recently have these verses of Malachi chapter 1 been fulfilled.

Paul quoted the end of Malachi 1:2 and the beginning of 1:3 in relation to the Judaeans of his own time, where Yahweh said “yet I loved Jacob, And I hated Esau”. Last week we demonstrated from the Scriptures from both Paul's words to the Hebrews in chapter 12 of that epistle, and from the Genesis accounts, that evidentially the only reason Yahweh could have seen fault in Esau was because of his fornication, or race-mixing, with the women of the Hittites. With this in mind, we shall proceed with our presentation of Romans where we last left off, with Romans 9:14:

14 Now what may we say? Injustice is with Yahweh? Certainly not! 15 Indeed to Moses He says, “I will show mercy to whomever I show mercy, and I will feel pity for whomever I feel pity.”

It may be inquired of Judah, that if Yahweh hated Esau for his race-mixing, why did he not treat Judah likewise? In the earlier segments of our presentations of this epistle we had discussed the race-mixing of Judah and some of the history of the Canaanites amongst the tribe of Judah in the ancient Kingdom, and the prophecy concerning this very thing in Malachi chapter 2 where it is said that Judah “married the daughter of a strange god”. Paul explains here in verse 14, in direct reference to Jacob and Esau, that “I will show mercy to whomever I show mercy, and I will feel pity for whomever I feel pity.” Judah was therefore granted mercy and preserved simply because Yahweh had mercy on Jacob his father. Esau married Canaanites, lost his birthright, and never found opportunity for a recovery. Yahweh hated him for that. Judah married a Canaanite woman, and Yahweh had mercy on Jacob. So it was, ostensibly, arranged that Tamar, who must have been a woman of legitimate lineage, would play the whore and thereby seducing Judah she gave birth to the twins Pharez and Zarah. The twins were placed ahead of Judah's Canaanite sons in the kingdom and the inheritance, and the only reason for that must have been that they were of legitimate birth, while the Canaanite sons were certainly illegitimate. Without this act on the part of Tamar, it is evident that there would have been no authentic tribe of Judah. Yahweh therefore used Judah's own incontinence to ensure that Judah would have legitimate heirs, and demonstrate His mercy upon Jacob.

We have often asserted that when the apostles quote from Scripture, the original context of the Scripture being quoted must be examined so that the original meaning of that which is being cited can be properly understood. It cannot be taken for granted that the apostles quoted Scripture out of context. Here Paul quotes from Exodus 33:19, which is a part of a conversation between Moses and Yahweh: “16 For wherein shall it be known here that I and thy people have found grace in thy sight? is it not in that thou goest with us? so shall we be separated, I and thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth. 17 And the LORD said unto Moses, I will do this thing also that thou hast spoken: for thou hast found grace in my sight, and I know thee by name. 18 And he said, I beseech thee, shew me thy glory. 19 And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy.” The command for the children of Israel is to be a separate people, which is what sanctification means, and that command has never been rescinded. As we discussed in our presentation of Romans 9:13, when illustrating Paul's words to the Hebrews concerning Esau, we saw that Paul had said in Hebrews 12:14 that without sanctification (where the King James Version has holiness), no one would see Christ. Paul then called Esau profane, which is the opposite of something which is holy or sanctified, and he was called profane because he was a fornicator.

The apostle Peter said to those lost Israelites who were turned to Christ (1 Peter 2:9-10) that “9 But you are an elect race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people, so that you should proclaim the virtues for which from out of darkness you have been called into the wonder of His light, 10 who at one time were 'not a people' but now are the people of Yahweh, those who 'have not been shown mercy' but are now shown mercy.” Peter was addressing those Israelites put off from Yahweh, who in Hosea were said to be “not my people” but who were promised to one day be reconciled to God.

This is found in Hosea chapter 1: “10 Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered; and it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God. 11 Then shall the children of Judah and the children of Israel be gathered together, and appoint themselves one head, and they shall come up out of the land: for great shall be the day of Jezreel.” That “one head” can only be Christ. The people who were “not a people” but who were then recognized for the υἱοθεσία, or the position of sons, can only be the reconciled children of Israel. Therefore Hosea 1:10-11 demonstrate the prophetic context of the word υἱοθεσία as the word appears in the New Testament. The υἱοθεσία, or position of sons, is indeed a matter of prophecy and a promise to the children of Israel which had once been alienated from Yahweh their God.

16 So then, it is not of he that wishes, nor of he that strives, but of he that Yahweh shows mercy upon.

The mercy of Yahweh was also a matter of prophecy for the children of Israel, as we have just seen in Exodus 33:19, and as it is also prophesied in Ezekiel chapter 39: “25 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Now will I bring again the captivity of Jacob, and have mercy upon the whole house of Israel, and will be jealous for my holy name”. Likewise there are many places in Scripture where mercy is promised unto Israel. But there is no place where mercy is promised for any people other than Israel.

So we see that Paul affirms here that the promise of life in Christ is not for those that wish or strive out of their own effort, that they may have the inheritance. Christianity is not for anyone who just happens along and professes some sort of belief in Christ because they desire to have a share in His promises. But rather it is only for those to whom Yahweh God had already made these promises through His mercy. These are the called “in accordance with purpose”, the chosen, the preordained, the “appointed beforehand” whom Paul mentioned several times up to this point in his epistle. These are the children of Israel, and earlier in this chapter Paul himself reckoned the children of Israel, his brethren and his kinsmen, according to the flesh. It is not for he who wishes or strives, because Yahweh God has chosen Israel and because men cannot choose God. Just as Christ told His apostles, as it is recorded in John chapter 15, “16 Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you”. [We discussed these things at length in the first part of this presentation of Romans chapter 9.]

17 For the writings say to Pharaoh, “That for this reason I raised you, so that I would demonstrate in you My power, and so that My name is declared in all the land.”

The Pharaoh existed so that Yahweh could destroy him, showing His Own glory to Israel. The citation is from Exodus chapter 9: “15 For now I will stretch out my hand, that I may smite thee and thy people with pestilence; and thou shalt be cut off from the earth. 16 And in very deed for this cause have I raised thee up, for to shew in thee my power; and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth.” Here in Romans, Paul is likening the Edomites of Judaea to the Egyptians of the Exodus: the Edomites also exist so that Yahweh shall destroy them, thereby showing His power to His people. This is a matter of prophecy awaiting fulfillment as we have just discussed concerning Malachi chapter 1, which is evident in other Scriptures as well, such as in Obadiah verse 18.

18 So then, He shows mercy to whom He wishes, and He hardens whom He wishes.

The Egyptians were Adamic people of the tribe of Mizraim, the son of the patriarch Ham. While it can be established through documents found in archaeology that the Pharaoh at the time was of partial Hittite ancestry, and therefore according to Scripture he should be considered a bastard, the Egyptian people certainly suffered from his decisions and, ostensibly, at least most of them at that time were certainly not bastards. But in accordance with other prophecies, today and for the last 2,500 or so years all of the Egyptians are bastards, because eventually Yahweh gave them up, as He says in Isaiah chapter 43, on behalf of the children of Israel. By the time of Isaiah the nation became overrun with Nubians and fell into decline.

As Paul of Tarsus forewarned in Romans chapter 16, Yahweh would “crush satan under your feet shortly”, and about 14 years after Paul had written those words Jerusalem was destroyed by the Roman armies. Here, by comparing him to the Pharaoh of the Exodus, Paul is explaining that Yahweh also raised up Esau in order to tear him down, to exhibit His power to His people. In 70 AD the power of Esau was destroyed in Jerusalem, but the Edomites were not fully destroyed, and Malachi prophesied that they would indeed “return and build the desolate places”. Those Edomite Jews who survived the Roman armies in 70 AD were taken captive into all nations, as Christ said they would be in Luke 21:24. Yet there were also many Edomites turned to Judaism who were outside of Judaea at that time, and that is also clear in the accounts of the Book of Acts. Not accepting Christ, they all eventually became a reproach, a taunt, a proverb and a curse, as Yahweh also said that the bad figs of Judah would be in Jeremiah chapter 24:9. This is precisely how all Jews should be looked upon by Christians today. There are no exceptions for Jews in the Word of God. They are all indeed a reproach, a taunt, a proverb and a curse, and being of Canaanite blood they are all also pricks in our sides and thorns in our eyes. History and even current events demonstrate the fulfillment of these ancient prophecies over and over again.

The Pharaoh seemed invincible to the Israelites of the Egyptian captivity, and, ostensibly, the Edomites shall seem invincible in the moments leading up to their final destruction, as this is now the “time of Jacob's trouble” where according to the prophecy in Genesis chapter 27, Isaac had said to Esau “40 And by thy sword shalt thou live, and shalt serve thy brother; and it shall come to pass when thou shalt have the dominion, that thou shalt break his yoke from off thy neck.”. The Edomites today are alive and well in world Jewry, and this prophecy of Isaac has certainly only recently come to pass with the emancipation of Jewry in European society at the beginning of the 19th century. Today they rule our society, and we wait for Yahweh to destroy them for good.

19 Therefore you will say to me: yet why does He find fault? Indeed who has resisted His purpose?

Here Paul makes a rhetorical argument against those who would challenge the will and purpose of Yahweh God, by questioning why He would accept or reject particular people based upon their identity alone. Paul is explaining that Yahweh has mercy on Jacob, and has no mercy on Esau, and that His decision concerning Israelites and Edomites is based solely upon the fact of their race. Yahweh God is the author of race, as His first laws in Genesis are those of “kind after kind”. Yahweh God is therefore a racist, and Christians are obligated to conform themselves to His image. Racism is love for God and His laws. Anti-racism is hatred for God and the integrity of His creation.

20 But rather, O man, who are you to be arguing against Yahweh? Will the figure say to its fabricator: why did you make [D has “form”] me in this manner?

Paul is making an analogy which is also found in the Old Testament, but in different contexts. Man cannot protest before God as to how he was made, or why. The Creator has ownership rights over His works and has made man as He pleases. Furthermore, the Creator is not obliged to accept bastards, which are corruptions of the creation perpetrated by sinful man.

From Jeremiah chapter 18: “1 The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, 2 Arise, and go down to the potter's house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words. 3 Then I went down to the potter's house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels. 4 And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it. 5 Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 6 O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the LORD. Behold, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel.”

Paul uses the analogy of the potter here, but in a different context. The people of Israel were as sinful as any other people, however Yahweh had mercy upon Israel and Yahweh sustained Israel and promised to reform them. But Esau is a different story, and the Edomites are vessels of destruction which Yahweh shall not reform. By His permissive will they were made for destruction.

21 Or does the potter not have authority over the clay, to make from out of the same lump one vessel for honor, and one for dishonor?

From the Wisdom of Solomon, chapter 15: “7 For the potter, tempering soft earth, fashioneth every vessel with much labour for our service: yea, of the same clay he maketh both the vessels that serve for clean uses, and likewise also all such as serve to the contrary: but what is the use of either sort, the potter himself is the judge.”

Jacob and Esau were made from the same clay, or lump, in their parents. Yahweh God foresaw Esau's race-mixing, because as Paul explains here, Esau was hated from the womb of his mother. By the permissive will of Yahweh, Esau became a nation, but as Paul explains here they are a nation of vessels fitted to destruction. We had previously explained, presenting Romans chapters 6 and 7, that the Adamic man is here to learn what sin is, and its consequences. Ostensibly, if God does not permit man to sin, there is no lesson. The sin of Esau was fornication, and Esau therefore becomes the paramount Biblical example to race-mixers everywhere.

22 Moreover, if Yahweh wishes to display wrath, and to make known His power, with much patience having bore vessels of wrath furnished for destruction; 23 and so that He will make known the wealth of His honor upon vessels of mercy, which He previously prepared for honor;

This is the permissive will of Yahweh, and not His sovereign will, to bear with the sins of men until the day of His judgment. In His judgment, He has mercy upon whom He wishes, and He destroys those whom He wishes. However the Word of Yahweh cannot fail in that judgment: He has already told us whom He has mercy upon, and whom He shall destroy, as it is written in the Law and the Prophets. Paul says that the vessels of mercy are previously prepared for honor, and therefore those who are to be honored in Christ are only the previously anointed, previously chosen, previously ordained and previously called children of Israel.

Furthermore, Paul's analogy here only concerns Jacob and Esau because here Paul is concerned with the Judaeans, among whom we find both Israelites and Edomites. If we wanted to inquire of anyone else, then there are other places in the law and the prophets and in the sayings of Christ where we may find the Word of God in respect to others. However Paul has already made it clear, and states here once again, that Israelites are found both in Judaea, and among the nations.

24 whom also He has called, us not only from among the Judaeans, but also from out of the Nations?

The text of the Nestle-Aland Novum Testamentum Graece (in either editions 27 or 28) does not include this verse as part of the question begun at verse 22, however the King James Version does agree with the punctuation provided here. Considering both possible readings, either way the meaning is basically the same.

However those who would use this verse in order to support universalist ideas are wrong, taking the verse out of context and applying it in a way that Paul himself did not apply it. Firstly, Paul already explained at length which nations he meant when he refers to the nations: which are those nations which descended from the seed of Abraham, of which the Romans themselves were included. In the verse which follows, Paul himself defines the meaning of his statement here. The promise of God was to call Israel, and only those of the Israelite race are the called, the elected, the predestined, the pre-ordained, and the chosen, as Paul has already explained in concert with the words of the prophets in the preceding verses of this chapter. As we shall see in verses 25 and 26 which follow, by quoting Hosea in relation to his own statement here in verse 24, or in answer to the question he has asked in verses 22 through 24, once again Paul specifically informs us as to just who it is that Yahweh has called out of both the Judaeans and the nations, and Paul's words cannot be removed from that context. To do so is tantamount to stealing, and in this case, it would be stealing from God!

25 And as He says in Hosea, “I will call that which is not My people, My people; and that which is not beloved, beloved.” 26 “And it shall be, in the place where it was said to them, [B wants “to them”; P46 and some later mss. have “in the place where they would be called”; the text is supported by א, A, D, and the MT] you are [P46 wants “you are”] not My people, there they shall be called sons of Yahweh who is living.”

In verse 26 Paul quotes from Hosea 1:10. In verse 25 Paul quotes from Paul quotes from Hosea 2:23. In order to understand why Paul quoted these passages we shall read them from Hosea, first from chapter 2, in part, where Yahweh instructs the prophet: “1 Say ye unto your brethren, Ammi [“My people”]; and to your sisters, Ruhamah [“beloved” or “mercied”]. 2 Plead with your mother, plead: for she is not my wife, neither am I her husband [Israel is being put away, or divorced]: let her therefore put away her whoredoms out of her sight, and her adulteries from between her breasts; 3 Lest I strip her naked, and set her as in the day that she was born, and make her as a wilderness, and set her like a dry land, and slay her with thirst. [In Hosea Yahweh admits the same husband-wife relationship between Himself and Israel which Paul described in the opening verses of Romans chapter 7.] 4 And I will not have mercy upon her children; for they be the children of whoredoms. 5 For their mother hath played the harlot: she that conceived them hath done shamefully: for she said, I will go after my lovers, that give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, mine oil and my drink. 6 Therefore, behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns, and make a wall, that she shall not find her paths. 7 And she shall follow after her lovers [the other nations and their gods], but she shall not overtake them; and she shall seek them, but shall not find them: then shall she say, I will go and return to my first husband; for then was it better with me than now. [Israel will one day want to return to Yahweh their God.] 8 For she did not know that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold, which they prepared for Baal. [Both Hosea and Amos describe the sin of Israel as the making of alliances with other nations for the sake of international trade.] 9 Therefore will I return, and take away my corn in the time thereof, and my wine in the season thereof, and will recover my wool and my flax given to cover her nakedness. 10 And now will I discover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and none shall deliver her out of mine hand. 11 I will also cause all her mirth to cease, her feast days, her new moons, and her sabbaths, and all her solemn feasts. 12 And I will destroy her vines and her fig trees, whereof she hath said, These are my rewards that my lovers have given me: and I will make them a forest, and the beasts of the field shall eat them. 13 And I will visit upon her the days of Baalim, wherein she burned incense to them, and she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels, and she went after her lovers, and forgat me, saith the LORD. [Israel would be punished for playing as a harlot and violating the laws and covenants of Yahweh her God, who is also the Husband of the nation.] 14 Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her. 15 And I will give her her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope: and she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt. 16 And it shall be at that day, saith the LORD, that thou shalt call me Ishi; and shalt call me no more Baali. 17 For I will take away the names of Baalim out of her mouth, and they shall no more be remembered by their name. [This is the woman of Revelation chapter 12, who was taken to the wilderness and nourished by angels for a prophetic period of three-and-a-half times.] 18 And in that day will I make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven, and with the creeping things of the ground: and I will break the bow and the sword and the battle out of the earth, and will make them to lie down safely. [This day comes at the Second Advent of the Christ, when all of His enemies are destroyed.] 19 And I will betroth thee unto me for ever; yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in lovingkindness, and in mercies. 20 I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness: and thou shalt know the LORD. [This describes the ultimate fulfillment of all of the promises to the children of Israel, as Zacharias is recorded as having said in Luke that the purpose of the Christ is “71 That we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us; 72 To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant”.] 21 And it shall come to pass in that day, I will hear, saith the LORD, I will hear the heavens, and they shall hear the earth; 22 And the earth shall hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil; and they shall hear Jezreel. [Now this last verse is quoted by Paul here in Romans:] 23 And I will sow her unto me in the earth; and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to them which were not my people, Thou art my people; and they shall say, Thou art my God.”

Paul did not quote from Hosea because he thought that this last passage in Hosea chapter 2 sounds good. Rather, Paul quoted from Hosea because it applies directly to the purpose of the Gospel. This entire message in Hosea is to the children of Israel as a people. For their sin, Israel was to be put out of the site of Yahweh, punished, sent off to the wilderness, plead with, and then ultimately reconciled to Yahweh. Israel was indeed put out of the site of Yahweh in the Assyrian and Babylonian deportations, Israel went off into the wilderness in the mass migrations of people that later resulted in the origins of the Germanic and related peoples of Northern Europe, Israel was plead with in the wilderness when the Gospel of Christ reached those very places, and this same people Israel shall indeed once again be recognized as the people of Yahweh their God. This is the entire story of the Bible and the Gospel and the history of our race, and Paul is teaching its fulfillment. This Gospel, or good message of reconciliation to the children of Israel is not for any other people, and Paul's words here leave no room for universalism, otherwise he would certainly not be in agreement with Hosea.

The Romans, Greeks and some of the other tribes of the coasts of Europe were descended from earlier migrations and dispersions of the children of Israel, some of them dating all the way back to the time of the Exodus itself. However they are nonetheless Israelites, and the Gospel message therefore includes them as well, but it does not include anyone other than Israel. Paul has already discussed the faith of Abraham in Romans chapter 4, and we cannot take this reference to the nations out of that context. Abraham believed that his offspring would become many nations, and Paul taught the historical fulfillment of that promise in the tribes to which he preached the gospel. Yet Paul did not teach that everyone he preached to was Israel, as can see in the content of his sermons to the Athenians and the Lycaonians in the Book of Acts.

The Word of Yahweh regarding the scattering of Israel is first found in the law in Deuteronomy chapter 4: “24 For the LORD thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God. 25 When thou shalt beget children, and children's children, and ye shall have remained long in the land, and shall corrupt yourselves, and make a graven image, or the likeness of any thing, and shall do evil in the sight of the LORD thy God, to provoke him to anger: 26 I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that ye shall soon utterly perish from off the land whereunto ye go over Jordan to possess it; ye shall not prolong your days upon it, but shall utterly be destroyed. 27 And the LORD shall scatter you among the nations, and ye shall be left few in number among the heathen, whither the LORD shall lead you. 28 And there ye shall serve gods, the work of men's hands, wood and stone, which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell.” This same scattering of Israel is also forewarned in the prophecy of the consequences of disobedience found in Deuteronomy chapter 28, and repeated in that same context in Leviticus chapter 26.

This same scattering is mentioned in the prophets in Psalm 106, in Jeremiah, in Ezekiel, and in Daniel. The prophet Isaiah tells us where the children of Israel would be scattered, and we read in Isaiah 66:19 of the Israelites of the Assyrian deportations that Yahweh said “I will send those that escape of them unto the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, that draw the bow, to Tubal, and Javan, to the isles afar off, that have not heard my fame, neither have seen my glory; and they shall declare my glory among the Gentiles.” The reference to Gentiles in that passage is a reference to those Genesis 10 Adamic nations which Isaiah tells us is where Israel would ultimately be scattered. All of these nations mentioned by Isaiah can be identified in ancient history, and they are all situated between Mesopotamia and the area around the Black Sea, and along the southern portions of Europe as far as its westernmost extremes. The Germanic and related peoples began to migrate from out of Mesopotamia and Asia and appear in those areas and among all of those nations within a couple of hundred years of the time that Isaiah had written. The apostles, and most notably Paul of Tarsus, all followed those same paths in search of the lost sheep after the time of Christ.

To repeat Romans 9:25 and 26: “25 as He [meaning Yahweh] says in Hosea, 'I will call that which is not My people, My people; and that which is not beloved, beloved.' 26 'And it shall be, in the place where it was said to them, you are not My people, there they shall be called sons of Yahweh who is living.'”

We have just discussed at length Paul's quotation from Hosea chapter 2 found in verse 26. Now we shall examine the passage which Paul quotes from Hosea chapter 1, found in Romans 9:25. We have already discussed this passage briefly at the beginning of this presentation, where we saw that the apostle Peter had also quoted from it in relation to his Christian Israel readers. Here we shall read from Hosea chapter 1: “1 The word of the LORD that came unto Hosea, the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel. 2 The beginning of the word of the LORD by Hosea. And the LORD said to Hosea, Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms: for the land hath committed great whoredom, departing from the LORD [Hosea's whore wife becomes an allegory for Israel, the wife of Yahweh who commits whoredom]. 3 So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim; which conceived, and bare him a son. 4 And the LORD said unto him, Call his name Jezreel [“God sows”]; for yet a little while, and I will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu, and will cause to cease the kingdom of the house of Israel. 5 And it shall come to pass at that day, that I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel. 6 And she conceived again, and bare a daughter. And God said unto him, Call her name Loruhamah [“not beloved” or “not mercied”]: for I will no more have mercy upon the house of Israel; but I will utterly take them away. 7 But I will have mercy upon the house of Judah, and will save them by the LORD their God, and will not save them by bow, nor by sword, nor by battle, by horses, nor by horsemen. 8 Now when she had weaned Loruhamah, she conceived, and bare a son. 9 Then said God, Call his name Loammi [“not my people”]: for ye are not my people, and I will not be your God. 10 Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered; and it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God. [Hosea does not tell us that this will be said to anyone other than Israel.] 11 Then shall the children of Judah and the children of Israel be gathered together, and appoint themselves one head, and they shall come up out of the land: for great shall be the day of Jezreel.”

By quoting this passage of Hosea in relation to those who were prophesied to be called the sons of Yahweh, Paul defines what he means by sonship, or “adoption” as most versions have it, where he uses the Greek term υἱοθεσία here in Romans chapters 8 and 9. Earlier in Romans 9 Paul tells us that the adoption belongs to “those who are Israelites”, and here we see that there are Israelites not only in Judaea, but who have also been scattered among the nations. That promise of sonship, the recovery of the position of the sons of Yahweh, is a matter of prophecy and it is exclusive to the children of Israel, as Paul admitted in Romans 9:4. Therefore sonship can never be extended to any other people, because the Word of Yahweh promises it in Hosea to nobody other than the children of Israel, as even Paul of Tarsus specifies and quotes here in Romans chapter 9. He specifies it in Romans 9:4, and he quotes Hosea who specifies it in that same manner in Romans 9:26. Therefore the idea that somehow Paul of Tarsus changed the scope of the covenants of God to be universal in their application, as if he ever would or even could, is an insane idea and a blatant lie.

27 Moreover Isaiah cries out concerning Israel, “If the number of the sons of Israel were as the sand of the sea, the remnant shall be preserved:”

Here we shall quote Isaiah chapter 10 from the Septuagint, because that is clearly the version which Paul himself had read from and cites here, where the Masoretic Text apparently differs in the meaning of some of the words: “20 And it shall come to pass in that day that the remnant of Israel shall no more join themselves with, and the saved of Jacob shall no more trust in them that injured them; but they shall trust in the Holy God of Israel, in truth. 21 And the remnant of Jacob shall trust on the mighty God. 22 And though the people of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant of them shall be saved. 23 He will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness: because the Lord will make a short work in all the world. 24 Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts, Be not afraid, my people who dwell in Sion, of the Assyrians, because he shall smite thee with a rod: for I am bringing a stroke upon thee, that thou mayest see the way of Egypt [to go back into captivity]. 25 For yet a little while, and the indignation shall cease: but my wrath shall be against their council.”

Earlier in Isaiah chapter 10, Yahweh declared the Assyrian to be the rod of His anger. The remnant which was preserved and taken into captivity was the remnant which Yahweh brought into the wilderness and drove to all of those nations which Isaiah later explains in chapter 66 of his prophecy, which we have already cited here. Paul's quotation from Isaiah reinforces our assertion for the reasons as to why he was quoting from Hosea. Paul is teaching what we may want to describe as fulfillment theology, rather than the false and universalist replacement theology of the denominational sects. If we chose to use the terminology of the mainstream denominational theosophibabblers, we would call our Christian Identity beliefs fulfillment theology, because we actually believe the prophets. However we cannot call it that because others who pervert the Word of God have already co-opted the term. We will have to stick with Christian Israel Identity.

28 “Indeed Yahweh will make a complete and quickly executed account upon the earth.”

The Codex Claromontanus (D) the Majority Text and some later manuscripts have a lengthy addition which follows the word that is read here as “quickly executed”, and if we would include it then in our English word order the entire verse may be read: “He is accomplishing and finishing quickly the word with justice, because a quick execution of the word Yahweh will do upon the earth,” and that would be much closer to the text of Isaiah 10:23 as it is found in the Septuagint, which we have already cited at verse 27 of this chapter of Romans. Here the reading of the text in the Christogenea New Testament, which is supported by the 3rd century papyri P46 and the Codices Sinaiticus (א), Alexandrinus (A), Vaticanus (B) and other later manuscripts is closer to the text of Isaiah 28:22. This explains why this verse here is significantly different from the reading found in the King James Version.

29 And just as Isaiah said beforehand, “Unless Yahweh of armies had left to us offspring, like Sodom we would have become, and as Gomorrah we would have been compared.”

Here once again Paul quotes from Isaiah, and these words from Isaiah 1:9 once again apply to the punishment of ancient Israel. From the King James Version: “7 Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire: your land, strangers devour it in your presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers. 8 And the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city. 9 Except the LORD of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah.”

30 Now what may we say? That the Nations not pursuing justice, have happened upon justice; but that justice is from of faith. 31 But Israel pursuing a law of justice, with law did not attain.

At the end of verse 31 the Majority Text has “to a law of justice did not attain”, referring to Israel, and the King James Version followed that reading. The reading of the Christogenea New Testament is supported by the 3rd century papyrus P46 and the Codices Sinaiticus (א), Alexandrinus (A), Vaticanus (B) and Claromontanus (D). This is an important difference, and we must reject the reading found in the King James Version. Paul is not teaching that Israel – by which the King James translators and the denominational sects think he means the Jews – did not attain to a law of justice. In fact, many Israelites in Israel did accept Christ, through whom they have justice. What Paul is saying is merely reiterating the same ideas which he often expressed throughout the first 8 chapters of Romans, that Israel could not attain justice with the law. As the older manuscripts have it, verse 31 should only read “But Israel pursuing a law of justice, with law did not attain.”

The Nations which Israel became in their dispersions, in fulfillment of the promises to Abraham which Paul explained in Romans chapter 4, in fulfillment of many other prophecies of Scripture such as those in Genesis chapters 48 and 49, in the aftermath of the Assyrian deportations as we have just seen Paul himself refer to from the prophecies of Isaiah and Hosea, these are the nations which he intends here. Those nations happened upon the justice of Yahweh although they had long gone off into paganism. They had forgotten Yahweh their God, but He never forgot them. Now they have reconciliation and justification through Christ, since true justice is the justice of Yahweh God.

Those of Israel who were pursuing justice through the law would not attain it, and ostensibly Paul means those Israelites among the Judaeans who continued to seek their justification in the law. This was a major theme in earlier in this epistle, which we discussed at length when we presented Romans chapters 2 and 3. Here Paul is repeating, in a different way, the same thing which he had already explained in Romans chapter 3: “19 Now we know that whatever the law says, to those in the law it speaks, that every mouth shall be stopped, and all the Society will be brought under the judgment of Yahweh, 20 since from the rituals of the law not any flesh will be deemed acceptable in His sight; indeed through the law is knowledge of error. 21 But now apart from the law, the justice of Yahweh is made known, as attested by the law and the prophets; 22 but justice of Yahweh through the faith of Yahshua Christ, for all of those who are believing, for there is no distinction [there is no distinction between Israelites of the dispersions or Israelites of Judaea who believe in Christ]: 23 for all have done wrong [or sinned, and only Israel could sin] and fall short of the honor of Yahweh; 24 being freely accepted by His favor, through the redemption that is at the hands of Christ Yahshua; 25 whom Yahweh set forth as a propitiation through faith in His blood, for a display of His justice by means of the pretermission of forthcoming errors, 26 by the tolerance of Yahweh; for the display of His justice in the present time; for He is just and is accepting of him that is from the faith of Yahshua.”

Paul explained in Romans 4 that righteousness could not be from the law because Israel could not be justified by rituals, and he proceeds to say the same thing again here in Romans 9:

32 Why? Because it was not from faith, but from rituals. They have stumbled at the stumbling stone.

The Codex Claromontanus and the Majority Text have “rituals of law”; the text follows the Codices Sinaiticus (א), Alexandrinus (A) and Vaticanus (B). Those Israelites who sought to attain justice through the law clung to the rituals, and in this same respect Paul said in Galatians chapter 3: “11 And that in law no one is deemed righteous before Yahweh is clear, because 'the just shall live by faith.'”

Therefore the stumbling-stone is a stone of self-justification in rituals, when Christians should know that they can only truly be justified in Christ.

33 Just as it is written, “Behold, I place in Zion a stumbling stone and a rock of offense: and he who is trusting [the MT has “all who are trusting”] of Him shall not be ashamed.”

Here Paul quotes from Isaiah 28:16, and we shall read parts of that chapter of Isaiah, but once again from the Septuagint since that is clearly the version from which Paul is quoting: “1 Woe to the crown of pride, the hirelings of Ephraim, the flower that has fallen from the glory of the top of the fertile mountain, they that are drunken without wine. 2 Behold, the anger of the Lord is strong and severe, as descending hail where there is no shelter, violently descending; as a great body of water sweeping away the soil, he shall make rest for the land. 3 The crown of pride, the hirelings of Ephraim, shall be beaten down with the hands and with the feet. 4 And the fading flower of the glorious hope on the top of the high mountain shall be as the early fig; he that sees it, before he takes it into his hand, will desire to swallow it down. 5 In that day the Lord of hosts shall be the crown of hope, the woven crown of glory, to the remnant of the people... 14 Therefore hear ye the word of the Lord, ye afflicted men, and ye princes of this people that is in Jerusalem. 15 Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with Hades, and agreements with death; if the rushing storm should pass, it shall not come upon us: we have made falsehood our hope, and by falsehood shall we be protected: 16 Therefore thus saith the Lord, even the Lord, Behold, I lay for the foundations of Sion a costly stone, a choice, a corner-stone, a precious stone, for its foundations; and he that believes on him shall by no means be ashamed. 17 And I will cause judgment to be for hope, and my compassion shall be for just measures, and ye that trust vainly in falsehood shall fall: for the storm shall by no means pass by you, 18 except it also take away your covenant of death, and your trust in Hades shall by no means stand: if the rushing storm should come upon you, ye shall be beaten down by it. 19 Whenever it shall pass by, it shall take you; morning by morning it shall pass by in the day, and in the night there shall be an evil hope. Learn to hear, 20 ye that are distressed; we cannot fight, but we are ourselves too weak for you to be gathered.”

The stumbling stone placed in Zion was placed, according to the Word of God in Isaiah, for the people of Israel, for the hirelings of Ephraim, and for the rulers in Jerusalem. Verse 5 promises that “In that day the Lord of hosts shall be the crown of hope, the woven crown of glory, to the remnant of the people.” These things in Romans cannot be properly understood outside of the context in which they are expressed in Isaiah, which is precisely why Paul is quoting Isaiah! The stumbling stone placed in Zion is Christ, and He professed coming “but unto the lost sheep of the House of Israel”, those very same people to whom Paul the apostle had his ministry. The stumbling stone was not for anyone else.

From Deuteronomy chapter 32: “31 For their rock is not as our Rock, even our enemies themselves being judges.”