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Levi to consecrate themselves, and as a result there fell about 3,000 men by the sword
(Exod. 32: 26-30).
Immediately following this incident there occurs a passage that closely resembles the
words of Paul in Rom. 9: 3:
"Yet now, if Thou wilt forgive their sin ---; and if not, blot me, I pray Thee, out of the
book which Thou hast written" (Exod. 32: 32).
The Angel of the Lord now goes before the people, and we read in Exod. 33: 3:
"I will not go up in the midst of thee, for thou art a stiff-necked people: lest I
consume thee in the way."
By the time we reach the verses quoted from Exod. 33: in Rom. 9: 15, we know
without further debate that mercy extended to such a people must proceed from the
sovereign choice of God alone. All reasoning based upon mere physical association with
Abraham is inadmissible. God could have raised up a great nation through Moses, and
no injustice would have been done. Indeed, as the Baptist declared:
"Think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto
you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham" (Matt. 3: 9).
It is a great mistake to go to Rom. 9: 15, lift the verse out of its context, and then to
use it as a basis upon which to build a doctrinal system. The basis of our faith is found
already firmly laid in the first eight chapters of Romans. In 9:-11: things are viewed
from the dispensational standpoint.
If God has the unchallengeable right to "love" whom He will, He also has the
sovereign right to "hate" whom He will, "for all have sinned and come short of the glory
of God". This is the Apostle's second argument.
"For the Scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee
up, that I might show My power in thee, and that My name might be declared throughout
all the earth. Therefore hath He mercy on whom He will have mercy, and whom He will
He hardeneth" (Rom. 9: 17, 18).
The LXX translates this passage: "Thou wert preserved to this day"--instead of: "I
have raised thee up." This has led some expositors to believe that there is a direct
reference here to the fearful plague that had fallen upon all the Egyptians. There may be
some truth in this suggestion, for it appears that all suffered from the plague.
The Apostle, however, passes by the LXX and translates the Hebrew for himself. The
word he uses is exegeiro. In the LXX version this same word is used by Hezekiah in
Isa. 38: 16, where there is an evident reference to recovery from illness, as also in
James 5: 15. On the other hand, exegeiro is found in Zech. 11: 16: "I will raise up a
shepherd against the land." And in John 7: 52: "Out of Galilee no prophet is raised
up." The passage in Romans, therefore, might well mean: