Romans 11:2-3

“ God hath not cast away His people which He foreknew. Or wot ye not what the Scripture saith in the passage about Elijah; how he maketh intercession to God against Israel:Lord, they have killed Thy prophets, they have digged down Thine altars, and I am left alone, and they seek my life. ”

The formal denial which begins Romans 11:2 is intended to introduce the more general proof, the exposition of which begins with the words: Or wot ye not? Several commentators (Or., Aug., Chrys., Luth., Calv., etc.) have explained the words: whom He foreknew, as a restriction narrowing the general notion of the people of Israel: “He could undoubtedly cast away the mass of the people, but not the foreknown elect who form, strictly speaking, His people. ” This meaning is inadmissible; for, as we have already seen in Romans 11:1, the matter in question here is not the lot of this elect portion, but that of the people as a whole. Is it not of the entire people that the apostle speaks when, in Romans 11:28-29, he says: “ As touching the election, they are loved for the Father's sake; for the gifts and calling of God are without repentance?” These words are the authentic explanation of the expression in Romans 11:2: His people whom He foreknow. Of all the peoples of the carth one only was chosen and known beforehand, by an act of divine foreknowledge and love, as the people whose history would be identified with the realization of salvation. In all others salvation is the affair of individuals, but here the notion of salvation is attached to the nation itself; not that the liberty of individuals is in the least compromised by this collective destination. The Israelites contemporary with Jesus might reject Him; an indefinite series of generations may for ages perpetuate this fact of national unbelief. God is under no pressure; time can stretch out as long as He pleases. He will add, if need be, ages to ages, until there come at length the generation disposed to open their eyes and freely welcome their Messiah. God foreknew this nation as believing and saved, and sooner or later they cannot fail to be both.

As usual, the form: or know ye not, signifies: “Or if ye allege the contrary, do ye forget”...

The expression ἐν ᾿Ηλίᾳ, literally, in Elias, is a form of quotation frequent in the N. T. (Mark 12:26; Luke 20:37) and in the Rabbins to denote: “in the passage of the Scriptures which contains the history of Elias.”

The preposition κατά can signify nothing else here than against. To intercede against is a strange expression, but fitted to bring out the abnormal state of the people in regard to whom the prophet could only pray thus, that is to say, protesting before God against their conduct. Comp. 1 Kings 19:10; 1 Kings 19:14; 1 Kings 19:18.