What is it? What came out of such an order of life in Israel? That Israel, if we look at it as a whole, in all the mass of nations, did not get what it sought; but in the midst of this same mass, God foresaw before, and now He saw a certain remnant of worthy persons and chose them from the mass by His grace, so that this chosen remnant received what He sought, and the rest were blinded. What was Israel looking for? To be God's and heir of the promises made to the fathers. But this is a good search, in accordance with God's intentions; Why did he not receive this? Because he did not give due to the grace of God. He did the works of the law, and by these only his labors and efforts he hoped to obtain what he sought, forgetting that obtaining this is a work of grace, acceptable by faith, and not by right. From this it came about that when grace appeared and the word of faith was offered to him as a condition for receiving what he sought, he persisted, insisting on the conviction which he had stuffed into his mind and heart. As this was contrary to the orders of God, God for this obstinacy deprived him of that which he hoped for, and which should have become his possession, if he had not persisted and resisted the faith. On the contrary, those who are not the few who are the remnant of God, although they also faithfully kept the law, placed the hope of obtaining what they sought in the grace of God alone. Why, when grace appeared and the word of faith was proclaimed, they received it with all their hearts and cleaved to Him that was being preached. For that, they received more than they had hoped for or could have hoped. They were blinded by their wrong prejudice; but these, not allowing prejudice, always had their eyes open to God and conveniently saw the grace sent down from Him, which chose them. Blessed Theodoret writes: "The Apostle calls those who believe from among the Jews election. And he says this: Israel, having been attached to the law, has not reached the goal, because now it keeps the law against law, and does not reap any righteousness from it; but those who believed from among Israel received it. And the rest were blinded, that is, unbelief hardened their hearts." Why does St. Chrysostom rightly see in the present passage "not only a question, but also a rebuke? The Apostle says that the Jew contradicts himself, seeks justification and does not want to accept it. He makes the Jews unpardonable, proving their wrongness by what some have received: election, he says, receive. The Jews will be condemned by the elect. Thus also Christ the Lord said: "If I cast out demons for Beelzebub, for whom shall they cast out your sons?" For this reason ye shall be judges" (Luke 11:19). In order that no one should dare to refer to the nature of the deed itself, and that everyone should blame the will of the Jews, the Apostle mentions those who have received. For this reason he uses expressive utterances, depicting both grace from above and their own diligence. For by the word, "Receive," it is not free will that destroys, but expresses the greatness of good things, and that the greater, though not all, was the work of grace. And it is our custom to say about a person who makes a large profit: he received, he found. Because the greater part is acquired not by human labor, but by the gift of God. The rest were blinded. Notice when the Apostle dared to call the rejection of others by his own name. Though he had spoken of him before, yet he represented the prophets as accusers, and now he himself is the accuser. However, even here he is not satisfied with his own opinion, but is again testified to by the prophet Isaiah; For having said, 'Being blinded,' He added:

Verse 8. As it is written: God will give them the spirit of tenderness, eyes cannot see, ears cannot hear, even to this day (cf. Isaiah 29:10; Deut. 29:4).

These words are taken by St. Paul from two prophetic passages, and the prophecy itself is expressed in his own words. The first words, that God gave them the spirit of tenderness, or stupefaction, are taken from the 29th chapter of the Prophet Isaiah, and the last, about the eyes of the blind and the ears of the deaf, are taken from the Prophet Moses (Deuteronomy 29:4). In that chapter, the Prophet Isaiah predicts an extreme calamity for the Jews from their enemies, and that when these enemies consider their goal already achieved, help from above will come and ruin their hopes. Then, addressing the Jewish authorities, he says that they will be like drunken men in amazement, because the Lord will make them drunk with the spirit of stupefaction and will sweep away their eyes, and their prophets, and their princes; and they will understand nothing of what is done before them; it will be for them like a sealed book.

The Apostolic Spirit pointed this out to the Apostle in the words of the Prophet, and he faithfully testified with them what he needed to testify, namely, that he was blinded.

The holy Prophet Moses, in the 29th chapter of Deuteronomy, having mentioned how the Lord God delivered the Israelites from slavery in Egypt and how many wondrous signs and wonders He showed in this case, then adds: "And the Lord God will not give you to understand the heart, and to see the eyes, and to hear even to this day" (cf. Deuteronomy 29:4). and they did not see; they have heard of these things with open ears, and have not heard, and have not had a heart to understand what all these things mean. The deliverance of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt by St. Moses is the most obvious prototype of our deliverance from slavery to sin and the devil by our Lord Jesus Christ. Why what the Prophets say about the first was undoubtedly a prophetic insight about the second. The Apostolic Spirit understood this and cited the words depicting the mental state of those of that time, as a picture of the present. As then the hearts did not have understanding, so now they are blinded.

From these two passages the Apostolic spirit took the prophetic thought and offered it in his own word: God will give them the spirit of tenderness, their eyes will not see and their ears will not hear. Both the Prophets and the Apostles say that God Himself by His own power brought about such an evil state. This is how it is customary to say to the Prophets, who relate everything to God, both good and bad. But some things are given directly from God, and others are only allowed. God wishes good to all people and seeks to give it to everyone. But when it encounters resistance from people, then, after trying to overcome this resistance, it leaves them in the hands of their will, which, as one who resists God, never leads to good, but is always accompanied by evil consequences. These evil consequences are evidently in the form of God's punishment for resisting His will. That is why they are attributed to Him, although the reason why God allows this is in the people themselves, in their disobedience. So it was with the Gospel. How many proofs did the Lord Himself show the Jews that clearly pointed to Who He was? How many also did the Apostles, both in word and deed, convince that He is precisely the Promised One and that His teaching should be followed? The Jews had no heart to understand what was happening before their eyes, and they did not want to hear about the meaning of it. But who is to blame? The Lord also left them in His blindness to them. Blessed Theodoret writes: "The word "give," as well as "betrayed," means "allowed." For it was not God who did it, that they did not believe; otherwise, is it possible that He Himself should have put unbelief in them and punished them Himself? The Prophet also taught this more clearly: "For the heart of these people is clothed, and their ears are hard to hear, and their eyes are swept away" (cf. Isaiah 6:10). Wherefore it was not another who blinded them, but their own eyes, and would not see the light." St. Chrysostom says: "From what did this blindness arise? The Apostle had previously explained the reasons for this, laid all the blame on the heads of the Jews themselves, proving that they had been blinded for their untimely obstinacy, and now he repeats the same thing. For when he says, "Eyes do not see, and ears do not hear," he blames nothing else but their stubborn will. Having eyes to see miracles, having ears to hear this miraculous teaching, they did not make good use of either one or the other. Why do you understand the word "give" here not as an action, but as an allowance?"

Give them, he says, the spirit of tenderness, κατανύξεως. — Κατάνυξις — tenderness, contrition of heart — is a good disposition; How is this word used to denote an unkind state? But this word, from νύσσω — to strike, can depict a state of such a defeat or striking impression in which the struck person is lost, cannot collect his thoughts, looks and does not see, hears and does not feel what is heard. Such were the Jews before the Lord and the Apostles, as if they were stunned, stupefied, stunned, like those of whom we say: tetanus attacked. The Slavonic replacement of this word with the word "insensibility" in the footnote expresses the power of speech well. Our interpreters do not change the meaning of the word, but take into account in their interpretation not the contrition and tenderness itself, but its power, that when it takes possession of the heart, it no longer bows to the worst. It is this steadfastness of tenderness that they take into account here by the spirit of tenderness: κατανύξεως — they mean the spirit of the unbending perseverance of the Jews. Blessed Theodoret writes: "The Prophet (and the Apostle) called the spirit of tenderness the indispensable disposition of the heart; for just as he who has commendable tenderness does not accept a change for the worse, so he who completely gives himself over to vice does not allow a change for the better." St. Chrysostom says the same thing more fully and clearly: "The Apostle here calls tenderness such a habit of the soul for the worse, which is incorrigible and irreplaceable. For in another place it is also said: "Let my glory sing to Thee, and I shall not be touched" (cf. Psalm 29:13), that is, I will not change. Just as he who has been touched in piety does not suddenly come out of this state, so he who has been touched in evil can hardly change. For this reason, the Apostle, wishing to express that the will of the Jews is incorrigible and incomprehensible, called it the spirit of tenderness."

Verses 9-10. And David saith: Let their table be for a snare, and for a snare, and for a stumbling-block, and for a recompense: let their eyes be darkened, lest they see, and bring out their backs (cf. Psalm 68:23-24).

This passage is taken from the 68th Psalm, which is a prophesied psalm, which prophesied about the sufferings of Christ the Savior and about the punishment of the Jews. From this psalm in the Gospels are quoted: zeal for Thy house devour me (verse 10); and: "I have given gall for my food, and for my thirst I have given Ozta to drink" (verse 22). This verse concludes the depiction of the sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ, followed by the verses quoted by St. Paul (verses 23-24), with which the Prophet David begins the depiction of the disastrous consequences of the unjust condemnation of Christ the Lord to death. Undoubtedly, because in these verses there is a prophecy, which, having understood in his spirit, the holy Apostle cites in confirmation of his position. The punishment of the Jews for betraying the Lord to death is expressed in the Prophet as desirable: let it be... let them be darkened. Thus these words are quoted by the Apostle. And the meaning of this is this: and there shall be a table before them in a net, and their eyes shall be darkened, and their backs shall be bent.

St. Athanasius the Great, interpreting this psalm, says in response to the words: "Let their table be before them in a snare" (Psalm 68:23) — the following: "By this the Prophet depicts that he will come upon the Jews after the suffering of the Lord." The word "meal" – St. Chrysostom and Blessed Theodorite give an allegorical meaning, meaning by it pleasure or pleasure. How they thirsted and hungered for the death of the Lord, crying out: "Crucify, crucify Him" (Luke 23:21), and they did not heed any of Pilate's admonitions! At last they satisfied their thirst for blood, and they were satisfied. And this very thing attracted the most extreme calamities upon them. They thirsted for blood, they paid with blood. St. Athanasius the Great writes: "With these words, as it were, the Prophet speaks in the presence of the Lord: they will endure the very thing that they have prepared for Me, desiring that I should experience it. Woe to the evil one, for the evil one shall come to him according to the work of his hands (cf. Isaiah 3:11)."

The other words: catching, temptation – the same means: they were offended, – they thought to get rid of the misfortune by handing over the Deliverer to death, and they fell into the trap, to all kinds of misfortunes. And the word "and for their recompense" was added by the Prophet, so that it might be seen that the Jews would suffer all these things as a punishment.

Let their eyes be darkened if they do not see, that is, their eyes will be darkened. They did not see the Lord in the Son of Man walking on the earth, although the Lord made Himself clearly visible in Him. But it was still a semi-darkening. Complete darkness came to them after the death and resurrection of the Lord. Here it is obvious that their blindness was God's punishment upon them. How could one not see the Lord in the signs accompanying His death, when the pagan saw Him, in His resurrection before Him, in the descent of the Holy Spirit, in the testimonies of the Apostles, confirmed by the powers and miracles of the name of the Lord? One could feel the Lord in all this and exclaim, like the Apostle Thomas: My Lord and my God! (cf. John 20:28). And they did not see, because they did not want to see. And the Lord darkened their eyes, so that they could not see.

And take out their backs, and they will forever be under the yoke of slavery. They were already subject to an alien power, but still retained a certain part of self-government. But when they delivered up the Lord to death, they soon afterwards lost everything, both the city and the sanctuary, and were scattered everywhere in the form of slaves. And to this day they are under foreign authorities; and they will always be under them, as the prophetic word shows: "Take them out," that is, always keep them bent under the yoke.

In order to confirm his thought with prophecy, St. Paul could only be quoted with the following words: "Let their eyes be darkened if they do not see," that is, their eyes darkened. And he cited both what is ahead of the Prophet and what is after. Why did he do this? Perhaps so that the speech would not be scarce and more rounded. Or rather, in order to show that this delusion, according to the prophecy, is their recompense, the punishment and punishment of God, which is spoken of in the future, and that it is only the threshold of temptation, snare and trapping, and the end of this will be the final enslavement. When the Apostle quoted these words, darkness was already active in the Jews, but there was still no comparison of the backbone: they still proudly held their heads and cherished vain hopes of their exaltation. Citing a prophetic prophecy about this, he led them to think of what awaited them soon, and thus hoped to dispose those who had not yet accepted it to accept the gospel and to confirm those who had accepted it in faith.