St. Chrysostom, who wrote his Discourses after the fulfillment of this punishment predicted by St. David, dwells on it both as proof of the correctness of the prophecies, and as a testimony to the perniciousness of unbelief.

"Is there any need here," he says, "any interpretation? Is this not clear even to the most unreasonable? Even before our words, actual experience testified to what the Prophet said. When has it ever happened that the Jews were so easily captivated and overcome? When were they subjected to such slavery? The most important thing is that there will be no end to these disasters, as the Prophet remarked. For he did not simply say, "Lay down their back," but added, "I will take it out." But if you, Jew, assert that the calamities will end, then judge the present by the past. You were carried away to Egypt, but two hundred years passed, and in spite of all your wickedness, God immediately freed you from this bondage. After your deliverance from Egypt, you worshipped the calf, you sacrificed your sons to Baal-Peor (Num. 25:3), you defiled the temple, you plunged into all kinds of iniquity, you filled the mountains, the wilds, the hills, the springs, the rivers, the gardens with abominable sacrifices, you killed the prophets, you overthrew the altars, you fully succeeded in wickedness and wickedness; but God, having delivered you over to the Babylonians for seventy years, brought you back to your former freedom, and restored to you the temple, and the fatherland, and the former form of prophecy. Even during the captivity itself you were not forsaken; but Daniel and Ezekiel were with thee also. After this, you again turned to your former vices, gave yourself over to debauchery, and under the impious Antiochus accepted the Hellenic rules of life. But even then, after three years or a little more as a subject of Antiochus, through the Maccabees you erected for yourselves new famous monuments of victory. But now you don't have anything like that, on the contrary, everything went differently. And what is especially surprising, the former vices are not visible, and the punishment is increasing, and there is no hope for a change in your situation. Not seventy, not a hundred, not two hundred years, but three hundred (and now 1800) and much more; yet even the shadow of such hope is imperceptible. And all this has befallen you then, "Do not serve idols, do not do anything that you dared to do before." What is the reason for this? That the image is replaced by truth, and the law is excluded by grace. Foretelling this of old, the Prophet said: "I will take out their backs." Do you notice the accuracy of the prophecy, how it predicts unbelief, how it reveals stubbornness, how the judgment that follows is announced, and how the endless punishment is indicated?"

Having explained that the rejection of the Jews and the reception of the Gentiles into the Kingdom of Christ is in accordance with the given promises, and having pointed out the reason for this in the faith of some and the unbelief of others, St. Paul now introduces this event into the plans of Divine providence for the human race, in order thus to finally calm the minds and put an end to all perplexities on this subject. But in doing this, he at the same time gives a strong admonition to the Gentile believers not to neglect the mercy shown to them, and consoles those who are tormented by pity for the Jews by predicting that blindness has come upon Israel only for a time, after which he will all be converted and saved. "Thus does the Apostle in order that the Jews, having plunged them into despair, should not be barred from the way to faith, and those who believe from among the Gentiles should not be given cause for arrogance, and they, being proud, would not suffer loss in the faith. We should not just listen to what is being said, but delve into the speaker's thought and intention. If we accept every word with such reflection, then we will not encounter difficulties in any of them. And in the present case, the purpose of the Apostle is to destroy the arrogance of those who believe from among the Gentiles (and to convince the Jews that they have not completely fallen); for just as the Gentiles, having learned modesty, will remain safer in the faith, so the Jews, being led out of despair, will more willingly approach grace. Thus, paying attention to this purpose of the Apostle, let us listen to all that he said in the present place" (St. Chrysostom).

Verse 11. For I say, the food of those who have sinned, let them fall away? Let it not be: but those are saved by the fall of the tongue, in which they are provoked.

You think that it all happened so-so, without much reason. No. The consequence of Israel's falling into unbelief is that the Gentiles are brought into the fold of salvation, and this introduction is well deigned in order to draw Israel into the same place after that, arousing in them jealousy or emulation, and thus the whole human race is saved. This is the providential significance of what is now happening before our eyes among the Gentiles and Jews!

The food of those who have sinned, let them fall away? — Μη επτοασαν ϊνα πεσωσιν? It can be translated in two ways: did they stumble, of course, against the Stone, Christ the Lord, through unbelief, and thereby sinned in order to fall completely, being bruised to death? Or: Did they stumble only to fall and nothing else? The last thought is seen here by Blessed Photius in Ecumenia. It is closer to the immediately following words, and the first to further speech. It is therefore appropriate to accept both. Blessed Theophylact writes: "Have they sinned in such a way that it is no longer possible to heal them? Nohow. They have sinned, that is, they have stumbled, but their fall is not such that there is no means of correcting the matter." So it is with St. Chrysostom, Ambrose, Ecumenius. The latter writes: "The sin of the Jews is very great; but did they stumble in such a way that, having fallen, they could not rise, even if they wanted to? No. No matter how much they stumble, they can be accepted by God again into mercy, if they will." Then he quotes the words of Blessed Photius. "As among those who stumble some only stumble like those who slipped, and others fall completely, the Apostle, wishing, on the one hand, to arouse pain for himself in the Jews, as worthily subjected to reproach, and on the other hand, to dispose them to faith, says that their stumbling did not occur in their complete fall, but that they seemed to have only slipped. And this is not simply (it did not happen in some way), but was allowed by some providential dispensation, so that on the occasion of their fall the salvation of the Gentiles would be accomplished, and then their own restoration, when by the salvation of the Gentiles they would become irritated to emulation and would imitate them. in this salvation is the irritation of the zeal of the Jews, and through this jealousy is the restoration of those who have stumbled. Such is the ineffable and incomprehensible providence and dispensation of God, which extracts from the harmful the useful and from the destructive the beneficial! The Jews stumbled and fell, and they would have to lie down, neither for themselves nor for others, without any benefit. But God used this fall of theirs as a means both for the salvation of the pagans and for the restoration of them from this fall. So that, according to God's order, they stumbled not in order to fall, but in order to arise and correct themselves through stumbling."

That in the stumbling block of the Jews the salvation of the Gentiles was according to the Divine dispensation, the Apostle understood this from the events themselves. Both he and the other Apostles everywhere proclaimed the word of the gospel first to the Jews, and then, seeing that when one or another of the Jews received the gospel, and the others persisted, the pagans listened with joy to the word of the gospel, they saw in this very thing the indication of the finger of God and became convinced that the reception of the Gentiles, instead of the stubborn Jews, is the direct will of God. St. Chrysostom mainly develops this thought.

"Those are saved by the tongue by falling. These are not only Paul's words, on the contrary, and the parables in the Gospels have the same meaning. He who had made a wedding feast for his son had already begun to call from the crossroads, when those who were invited did not want to go (cf. Matt. 22:9). And he who planted the vineyard then decided to give it to other tenants, when the first had killed the heir (cf. Matt. 21:38). And Paul said to the Jews who were arming themselves against him: "It would be foolish for you to speak the word of God first: but since you are unworthy, do yourselves, behold, we turn to tongues" (cf. Acts ί3:46). From all this it is evident that in order the Jews should have come first, and then the Gentiles; but since the Jews were found to be unbelievers, the order was changed. The unbelief and fall of the Jews caused the Gentiles to enter first. For this reason the Apostle says: "Such are the salvation of the tongue by falling, wherein they are provoked." The meaning of his words is this: The Lord Jesus came to the Jews; but they, in spite of the great multitude of miracles performed by Him, did not accept Him and crucified Him. After this, He began to draw the Gentiles to Himself, in order to wound the insensitive Jews by the honor shown to them, and to persuade them to come to Him by mutual competition. For it was necessary to receive the Jews first, and then us. For this reason the Apostle said: "For the power of God is for the salvation of everyone who believes, and of the Jews first and of the Greek" (1:16). And because the Jews split off, we, the second, became the first. And so, you see what honors he deduces for them from this. First, the one that we were called when they did not want to; secondly, that we are called not for our sole salvation, but that they also may become better by being zealous for our salvation. What, someone will say, would we not have been called and saved, if it had not become necessary for the Jews? They would have been called and saved, but in the proper order, that is, not before, but after the Jews. For this reason, Christ the Lord, sending His disciples to preach, did not simply say: "Go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel," but: "Go rather than that" (cf. Matt. 10:6), showing that after the Jews we must go also to the Gentiles. Yet all this is done and said, so that the Jews may not have recourse to the shameless excuse that they have been neglected, and therefore have not believed. For this reason, although Christ foresaw everything, nevertheless came to them first."

Verse 12. And if their sin is the riches of the world, and their falling away is the riches of tongues: how much more is their fulfillment.

St. Chrysostom says to this: "Here the Apostle says things that are pleasing to the Jews. He encourages the fallen among them, proving in abundance that they can hope for salvation if they change. If, he says, so many were saved when they stumbled, and so many were called while they were rejected, then consider what will happen when they are converted? For he did not say, "How much more is their conversion, or their change, or their correction," but, "How much more is their fulfillment," that is, when all come to Christ. And by this he gives us to understand that then there will be a greater or full measure of God's grace."

In the words: their falling away, the richness of languages — falling away in Greek: ήττημα — which means, among other things, smallness, a small number; and in the words: how much more is their fulfillment — the fulfillment in Greek: πλήρωμα, — which means completeness, a full number.

For it would be more convenient for all to believe, if they did not reproach, but preached the truth with us."

Affirming that the fulfillment of them will bring riches, the Apostle prophesies that this will happen in time, that is, that the Jews will convert, enter the fold of faith, and give the fullness of the assembly of believers. When this comes to pass, he explains it below; here he only hints at it.

Verse 13, 1st half. For I speak to you with the tongue (and so on until the 17th verse).