. Jer.
1. [xxvii in the Greek] 41; Hab. i. 6.

[7] See Matt. xiii. 14, 15; Mark iv. 12; John xii. 40.

[8] Cf. vol. i. p. 75.

[9] On the meaning of divine foreknowledge in St. Paul see vol. i. p.
317.

[10] See Joseph. _Antiq._ xiii. 5, 9; xviii. 1, 3; _Bell. Jud._ ii. 8,
14. Cf. Schuerer, _Jewish People_ (English trans.), Div. ii. vol. ii.
pp.14 ff.; James and Ryle, _Ps. of Solomon_, p. 96. The Essenes,
Josephus says, believed in fate, and not in free-will; the Sadducees in
free-will and not in fate; but the Pharisees in both. No doubt
Josephus is importing Greek philosophical views into his account of
Jewish parties, but substantially his account is probably true.

[11] e.g. Isa. xix. 24; Ezek. xvi. 55. (The exaltation into the
fellowship of the chosen people of Egypt, Assyria, Sodom, and Samaria.)

[12] Isa. vi. 13.

{44}

DIVISION IV. Sec. 3. CHAPTER IX. 30-X. 21.

_Lack of faith the reason of Israel's rejection._

What is to be our conclusion then? That Gentiles, men beyond the pale
of God's covenant, who made no pretension of pursuing righteousness,
all at once laid hold on righteousness and made it their own, simply by
accepting in faith the divine offer which came their way; while Israel,
the chosen people, devoted to pursuing a law of righteousness, never
caught up with that of which it was in pursuit. The result seems
strange enough. But the reason of it is apparent. Israel[1] had been
put under a divine election, which required of them the open ear, the
responsive will, of faith. But instead of cultivating this temper of
faith, they fastened upon the specified {45} observances of the Mosaic
law, and blindly adhered to them, as if God had nothing deeper or
greater to teach them, and they had nothing deeper or greater to
receive. Thus, when the Christ came, with His completer light and
claims, they would not have Him. They wanted nothing further, nothing
more than they were accustomed to. And thus Isaiah's prophecy was
fulfilled, that the Christ, the tried foundation stone, the destined
security of all who should believe in Him, would turn out to be a stone
at which the chosen people should stumble, and a rock on which it
should meet disaster[2] (ix. 30-33).

And here is the pathos of the situation. Here is what puts passion
into St. Paul's desire and his prayer for Israel's entrance into the
great deliverance. It is that they have such a real zeal for God,
though without a