Romans 9:29

And as Esaias said before, Except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we had been as Sodoma, and been made like unto Gomorrha.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(29) Said before—i.e., in an earlier part of his book. The Book of Isaiah was at this time collected in the form in which we have it. In Acts 13:33, we find an express reference to the present numbering of the Psalms—“It is also written in the second psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee.” (Some authorities read “first,” the two psalms being arranged as one, but “second” is probably the true reading.)

A seed.—Equivalent to the “remnant” of Romans 9:27. The point of the quotation is, that but for this remnant the rejection of Israel would have been utter and complete.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

9:25-29 The rejecting of the Jews, and the taking in the Gentiles, were foretold in the Old Testament. It tends very much to the clearing of a truth, to observe how the Scripture is fulfilled in it. It is a wonder of Divine power and mercy that there are any saved: for even those left to be a seed, if God had dealt with them according to their sins, had perished with the rest. This great truth this Scripture teaches us. Even among the vast number of professing Christians it is to be feared that only a remnant will be saved.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And as Esaias said - Isaiah 1:9.

Before - The apostle had just cited one prediction from the tenth chapter of Isaiah. He now says that Isaiah had affirmed the same thing in a previous part of his prophecy.

Except the Lord of Sabaoth - In Isaiah, the Lord of Hosts. The word "Sabaoth" is the Hebrew word rendered "hosts" (armies). It properly denotes armies or military hosts organized for war. Hence, it denotes the "hosts of heaven," and means:

(1) "The angels" who are represented as marshalled or arranged into military orders; Ephesians 1:21; Ephesians 3:10; Ephesians 6:12; Colossians 1:16; Colossians 2:15; Jde 1:6; 1 Kings 22:19, "I saw the Lord sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing by him;" Psalm 103:21; Psalm 148:2.

(2) the stars; Jeremiah 33:22, "As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, etc." Isaiah 40:26; Deuteronomy 4:19, etc. God is called the Lord of hosts, as being at the head of all these armies; their King and their Commander. It is a phrase properly expressive of his majesty and power, and is appropriately introduced here, as the "act of saving" "the seed" was a signal "act of power" in the midst of great surrounding wickedness.

Had left - Had preserved, or kept from destruction. Here their preservation is ascribed to God, and it is affirmed that if God had not interposed, "the whole nation" would have been cut off. This fully establishes the doctrine of the apostle, that God might cast off the Jews, and extend the blessings to the Gentiles.

A seed - The Hebrew in Isaiah means "one surviving or escaping," corresponding with the word "remnant." The word "seed" commonly means in the Scriptures "descendants, posterity." In this place it means "a part, a small portion; a remnant," like the small portion of the harvest which is reserved for sowing.

We had been as Sodoma - The nation was so wicked, that unless God had preserved a small number who were pious from the general corruption of the people, they would have been swept off by judgment, like Sodom and Gomorrah. We are told that ten righteous men would have saved Sodom; Genesis 18:32. Among the Israelites, in a time of great general depravity, a small number of holy men were found who preserved the nation. The design of the apostle here was the same as in the previous verses - to show that it was settled in the Jewish history that God might cast off the people, and reject them from enjoying the special privileges of his friends. It is true that in Isaiah he has reference to the temporal punishments of the Jews. But it settles "a great principle," for which Paul was contending, that God might cast off the nation consistently with his promises and his plans. We may learn here,

(1) That the existence of religion among a people is owing to the love of God. "Except the Lord "had left us, etc."

(2) it is owing to his mercy that "any men" are kept from sin, and any nation from destruction.

(3) we see the value of religion and of pious people in a nation. Ten such would have saved Sodom; and a few such saved Judea; compare Matthew 5:13-14.

(4) God has aright to withdraw his mercies from any other people, however exalted their privileges, and leave them to ruin; and we should not be high-minded, but fear; Rom, Matthew 10:20.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

29. And as Esaias said—"hath said"

before—that is, probably in an earlier part of his book, namely, Isa 1:9.

Except the Lord of Sabaoth—that is, "The Lord of Hosts": the word is Hebrew, but occurs so in the Epistle of James (Jas 5:4), and has thence become naturalized in our Christian phraseology.

had left us a seed—meaning a "remnant"; small at first, but in due time to be a seed of plenty (compare Ps 22:30, 31; Isa 6:12, 13).

we had been—"become"

as Sodom, &c.—But for this precious seed, the chosen people would have resembled the cities of the plain, both in degeneracy of character and in merited doom.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

As Esaias said before; in Isaiah 1:9.

The Lord of sabaoth; or, of hosts: the mighty God, whose hosts all creatures are, which execute his will, as soldiers the will of their commander.

Had left us a seed: he means by a seed, the same that he meant before by a remnant, a small number. These were left as a little seed, out of a great heap of corn: that which is chosen, and left for seed, is little in comparison of the whole crop.

We had been as Sodoma, and been made like unto Gomorrha; i.e. utterly wasted and destroyed as they were, Jeremiah 50:40.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And as Esaias said before,.... In the beginning of his prophecy, in Isaiah 1:9.

Except the Lord of sabaoth had left us a seed; the title and character the great God goes by here, is "Lord of sabaoth", that is, "of hosts", or "armies"; the Septuagint often leave the word untranslated, as here and elsewhere, as in 1 Samuel 1:11. He is Lord of the hosts of heaven, the sun, moon, and stars, whom he brings forth by number, calls by their names, and them to praise him; of the angels, the multitude of the heavenly host, that do his pleasure, fight under him, and for him; and of the hosts of nations, of the several kingdoms of the world, who are all under his government, and among whom he acts according to his sovereign will and pleasure. Kimchi on the place says, he is called so,

"because of "the hosts above", and because of "the hosts below", who are the Israelites, that are called "hosts"; wherefore he would not consume us all, as we deserved:''

no, according to the council of his own will, he left them "a seed"; or as it is in Isaiah, a very small remnant": and so the Syriac here, a remnant"; both signify one and the same, namely, a few persons only: "a remnant" signifies a few, which remain out of a large number; and so does "seed", which is reserved for sowing again, after the whole stock is sold off, or consumed: and the leaving of this small number designs God's gracious acts of reserving in the election of a people for himself; the calling them by his grace in time, and preserving them from general corruption; which if he had not done among the Jews, as Jarchi on the text says,

"of himself, and by his mercies, and not for our righteousnesses,''

we had been as Sodoma, and been made like unto Gomorrha; the cities which God destroyed with fire and brimstone from heaven, for their iniquities: had it not been for electing grace, they would have been like the inhabitants of these cities for wickedness; and the case would have been the same with us and with the whole world, had it not been for God's act of election, choosing some to holiness here, and happiness hereafter. The decree of election is so far from being a door to licentiousness, that it is the true spring and source of all real holiness, that has been, or is in the world; and had it not been for this, there would have been no such thing as holiness in the world; and consequently not only Judea, but thee whole world, were it not for this, must have been long before now, like Sodom and Gomorrah, in their punishment.

Geneva Study Bible

And as Esaias said before, Except the Lord of {c} Sabaoth had left us a {d} seed, we had been as Sodoma, and been made like unto Gomorrha.

(c) Armies, by which word the greatest power that exists is attributed to God.

(d) Even as very few.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary

Romans 9:29. Since the preceding prophecy was not introduced by καθώς or ὡς, we must here punctuate καὶ, καθὼς προείρηκεν Ἡσαΐας, εἰ μὴ κ.τ.λ., so that Paul adopts as his own the words of Isaiah 1:9 (closely following the LXX.): “And, as Isaiah has prophesied, if the Lord of Zebaoth had not left behind to us a seed (in the sense of the apostle, this is that very ὑπόλειμμα of Romans 9:27, which, like seed out of which new fruit grows, preserves and continues the true people of God), we should have become as Sodom, and like to Gomorrha;” the whole nation (by exclusion from Messianic salvation) would have without exception perished (fallen unto ἀπώλεια).

ΠΡΟΕΊΡ] Not to be understood, with Baumgarten-Crusius and van Hengel, following Erasmus, Beza, Calvin, Grotius, Michaelis, and others: has said at an earlier place, for local specifications of this kind are quite unusual in quotations with Paul, and here such reference would be without significance. It is used in the prophetic sense; the prophet has said of the fate of the people in his time, with a forecast of its corresponding fate in the present time, what holds good of Israel’s present; the mass of its people is hardened by divine judgment, and forfeits salvation, and only a holy σπέρμα is left to it. Comp. on ΠΡΟΕΊΡ., Acts 1:16; Plato, Rep. p. 619 C; Lucian, Jov. Frag. 30; Polyb. vi. 3. 2.

ὡς Γόμ.] Two modes of conception are intermixed: become like, and become as, LXX., Hosea 4:6; Ezekiel 32:2; Fritzsche, ad Marc. p. 140 f. Compare the classical connection of ὅμοιος and ὉΜΟΊΩς with Ὡς and ὭΣΠΕΡ.

Expositor's Greek Testament

Romans 9:29. But his last quotation is in verbal agreement with the LXX Isaiah 1:9, and transparently clear. The σπέρμα or seed which God leaves is the same as the ὑπόλειμμα. The figure is not to be pressed. The remnant is not the germ of a new people; Paul expects Israel as a whole to be restored.

With this the theodicy proper closes. The unbelief of the Jews was a great problem to the Apostolic age, and one which easily led to scepticism concerning the Gospel. The chosen people without a part in the kingdom of God—impossible. This chapter is Paul’s attempt to explain this situation as one not involving any unrighteousness or breach of faith on the part of God. It is not necessary to resume the various stages of the argument as they have been elucidated in the notes. The point of greatest difficulty is no doubt that presented by Romans 9:22-23. Many good scholars, Meyer and Lipsius for example, hold that Paul in these verses is not withdrawing from, but carrying through, the argument from God’s absoluteness stated so emphatically in Romans 9:21. They hold that the σκεύη ὀργῆς κατηρτισμένα εἰς ἀπώλειαν would not be σκεύη ὀργῆς at all, if their repentance and amendment were conceivable; and although God bears long with them—that is, defers their destruction—it is only in order that He may have time and opportunity to manifest the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy. But the answer to this is plain. It assumes that human life, in its relation to God, can be interpreted by the analogy of clay in its relation to the potter; in other words, that moral and spiritual experiences can be construed and made intelligible through what are merely physical categories. But this is not the case. And if it be said that justice is not done, by the interpretation given in this commentary, to the expression σκεύη ὀργῆς, it may also be said that justice is not done, by the interpretation of Meyer and Lipsius, to the expression ἐν πολλῇ μακροθυμίᾳ. Each of these allegations may be said to neutralise the other—that is, neither is Iecisive for the interpretation of the passage; and the Apostle’s meaning remains to be determined by the general movement of his thought. In spite of the great difficulties of the section as a whole, I cannot hesitate to read it as above.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

29. And] Q. d., “And again, the small number of Jewish believers fulfils another prediction.”

said before] Lit., and better, hath said before; i.e. “as we have it in his book.”—“Before” refers not to the quotation of an earlier chapter, but to the words as a prediction. The quotation is from Isaiah 1:9, and exactly with LXX., which gives “a seed” where the Heb. gives the equivalent, “a small remnant.” St Paul instructs us that this passage not only describes a state of distress contemporary with the Prophets, but also predicts, through this as a type, the spiritual future.—“Sabaoth”:—the Gr. transliteration of Ts’vâôth, the Heb. word meaning Hosts, Armies.

Bengel's Gnomen

Romans 9:29. Εἰ μὴ—ὡμοιώθημεν) Isaiah 1:9, LXX., καὶ εἰ μὴ ὡμοιώθημεν.—προείρηκεν, said before) Before the event, or before the prophecy quoted at Romans 9:28.—σαβαὼθ) In 1 Samuel and in Isaiah, σαβαὼθ is put for the Heb. word צבאת; in all the other books it is translated παντοκράτωρ, Ruler over all. From this circumstance there is strong ground for conjecturing, that one or perhaps several persons were employed to translate those two books, and that different persons translated the rest. And in the same first book of Sam. Scripture beings to give this title to God, although others had been formerly used as it were in its place.—Exodus 34:23.—σπέρμα, a seed) There is denoted 1) a small number at the present time, 2) the propagation of a multitude after deliverance from captivity.—ὡς Σόδομα, as Sodom) where not a single citizen escaped; no seed was left.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 29. - And as Esaias hath said before (i.e. in an earlier chapter), Except the Lord of sabaoth had left us a seed, we should have been as Sodom, and been made like unto Gomorrah. This quotation is from Isaiah 1:9, and, though it seems to have no obvious reference to the Messianic age, it expresses the same idea as the other, of a remnant only being saved; and it is quoted suitably, occurring as it does at the beginning of the Book of Isaiah, and being a sort of key-note of the prevailing purport of his prophecies. The force of all the above quotations is much enhanced, if we remember that they are not mere isolated texts, but suggestive specimens of many prophetic utterances to the same effect. All familiar with the prophetic writings are aware that main ideas constantly recurring are: First, judgments to come upon the chosen people, painted often in many consecutive verses without relief; but secondly, after such denunciations, a dawn of hope and comfort appearing, and culminating in unutterable blessing under the Messiah's kingdom; and thirdly, this dawn of hope being for a remnant only of the race, compared in one place to a gleaning of the grapes when the vintage is done (Isaiah 24:13); and fourthly, the association with this remnant, not only of the "outcasts of Israel" gathered from all lands, but also of a multitude of Gentiles, who should be gathered into the Messiah's kingdom (cf. Zephaniah 3:12, etc.; Zechariah 13:9; Amos 9:9; Joel 2:32; Isaiah 6:13; Isaiah 56:6; Isaiah 60.). Romans 9:29

Vincent's Word Studies

Said before (προείρηκεν)

Not in a previous passage, but by way of prediction.

Seed

Following the Septuagint, which thus renders the Hebrew remnant. See Romans 9:27. Like the remnant of corn which the farmer leaves for seed.