Romans 11:7

Romans 11:7 says, What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded.  I believe Paul was telling the Jews that they had allowed themselves to become blinded to the truth of God.  Only a few accepted that Christ is the Messiah they were waiting for, and that was by faith and not their birth into the nation of Israel.  Many people today know what the gospel of Christ teaches, especially those who have grown up in the church, but they refuse to accept that Christ is the only way to salvation.  They want to believe that there are other ways to reconcile themselves to God, but just like the overwhelming majority of Jews in Paul's day, they are blinded to the truth.  Verse eight adds, (According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear;) unto this day.  Once more, we can see this as God causing them to not be able to accept Christ, but I believe that it means that He allowed them to reject Christ because they refused to see the truth.  To me, in the context of what the whole Bible teaches about God, He wants all to come to Him.  He may choose to work through a particular group, but He does it to reach the whole world.  Verse nine continues, And David saith, Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumblingblock, and a recompence unto them:  I believe Paul is saying that those things that were to set the nation of Israel apart as God's people had become a hindrance, a stumbling block, to their following the will of God.  This was not some new thought that Paul had, but went back to the days of David.  We need to be careful today that rituals do not get in the way of our relationship to God. We certainly do not need to be a stumbling block to others, and the Jews in Paul's day had.  Verse ten states, Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see, and bow down their back alway.  God did allow the eyes of the Jews to be blinded to the truth of Jesus as the Messiah, just as He does with people today. God does not cause this spiritual blindness, but He does allow it.  If God chose before hand who will and will of not be saved, then faith has no meaning. Verse eleven adds, I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy.  I believe that Paul was saying that the Jews not accepting Christ was intended to show that they had fallen out of their relationship with God.  God had not rejected them, but they had rejected God.  Through their disbelief, the gospel went to the Gentiles.  Verse twelve continues, Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness?  I believe Paul was asking if the fall of the Jews brought a richness, the gospel of Christ, to the Gentiles, then how much greater would it be for the Jews to reach the Gentiles through belief in Christ themselves.  This is what Paul was doing.  He did not cease to be a Jew but became one both physically and spiritually. Verses thirteen states, For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office: Verse fourteen adds, If by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, and might save some of them.  Paul said that he was an apostle to the Gentiles, but he still hoped to reach the Jews, those of his flesh, with the gospel of Christ. As we today reach out to the lost world, we need to never forget those born to God's people, the Jews.  They too need to hear and accept the gospel.