Related resources...

Summary on the Attributes of God
Spurgeon on the Attributes of God

Israel of God - Is God "Finished" with Israel in His prophetic plan?

Off Site - Table Comparing/contrasting Israel & Church
Off Site - Does the Church Fulfill Israel's Program? - John Walvoord
The Jewish People, Jesus Christ and World History - S Lewis Johnson

Are you confused about God's plan for Israel? Then I highly recommend Tony Garland's 12 Hour Course on Romans 9-11 in which he addresses in depth the question of  What Will Happen to Israel?  (click) or see the individual lectures below)

Romans 9:1-5 Paul's Sorrow Concerning Israel
Romans 9:6-13 Children of the Promise
Romans 9:14-24 The Potter and the Clay
Romans 9:25-33 A Remnant Will be Saved
Romans 10:1-13 The Righteousness of God
Romans 10:14-21 Has Israel Not Heard?
Romans 11:1-6  God Has Not Cast Away The Jews
Romans 11:7-15 Life from the Dead
Romans 11:16-24 Two Olive Trees
Romans 11:25-36 The Salvation of Israel

Note that when you click the preceding links, each link will in turn give you several choices including an Mp3 message and brief transcript notes. The Mp3's are long (avg 70+ min) but are in depth and thoroughly Scriptural with many quotations from the Old Testament, which is often much less well understood than the NT by many in the church today. Tony Garland takes a literal approach to Scripture, and his love for the Jews and passion to see them saved comes through very clearly in these 12 hours of teaching! Take your home Bible Study group through this series if you dare! Take notes on the tapes as the transcripts are a very abbreviated version of the audio messages. This course is highly recommended for all who love Israel! I think you will agree that Tony Garland, despite coming to faith after age 30 as an engineer, clearly has been given a special anointing by God to proclaim the truth concerning Israel and God's glorious future plan for the Jews. Garland has also produced more than 20 hours of superb audio teaching in his verse by verse commentary on the Revelation (in depth transcripts also available) which will unravel (in a way you did not think was possible considering the plethora of divergent interpretations) God's final message of the triumph and return of the our Lord Jesus Christ as the King of kings and Lord of lords! Maranatha!

WHAT SHALL WE SAY THEN THERE IS NO INJUSTICE (unrighteousness) WITH GOD IS THERE: Ti oun eroumen (1PFAI) me adikia para to theo: (Ro 2:5; 3:5,6; Genesis 18:25; Deuteronomy 32:4; 2 Chronicles 19:7; Job 8:3; 34:10-12,18,19; Job 35:2; Psalms 92:15; 145:17; Jeremiah 12:1; Revelation 15:3,4; 16:7)

Paul anticipates a human reaction to God's choice of Jacob over Esau. Paul anticipates men judging God and accusing God of unjust. And yet we know from studying God's attributes (see discussion of God's attribute of Justice), that He is always fair. He is never unjust in His essence. So here we see where human logic comes to a "logical" but wrong conclusion.

Injustice (93) (adikia [word study] from a = negates what follows + dike = right) describes the condition of not being right. Adikia describes unrighteousness of heart and life resulting in wrongdoing. It can describe a  deed violating law and justice.

He is going to say that it is not a matter of injustice but a matter of mercy. God sovereignly (See God's attribute Sovereignty) has mercy (see God's attribute Mercy) on who He will although all deserve His wrath (see God's attribute Wrath).

MAY IT NEVER BE: me genoito (3SAMO):

The idea is "Away with the thought. Perish the thought. By no means! Certainly not!"

Phillips renders it

The connection and the argument are obvious:

It is not unjust for God to exercise his sovereignty in the distribution of his mercies, for he expressly claims the right.

Paul quotes the Septuagint (LXX) of (Exodus 33:19)

Paul has already shown us that all mankind is under sin (Romans 3:9, 10-note, Ro 3:19-note, Ro 3:23-note Ro 6:23-note) and justly deserves God's righteous wrath (Ro 1:18-note). But God who is rich is mercy (see His attribute Mercy)  looks down and has mercy on some and compassion on some. He has mercy and compassion on whomever He chooses. This should cause us to fall on our face and cry out

"Have mercy on me when I justly deserve hell."

What awesome truth this is.

Mercy (1653) (eleeo [word study] from eleos [word study]) means “to feel sympathy with the misery of another, especially such sympathy which manifests itself in action, less frequently in word.” It describes the general sense of one who has compassion or person on someone in need. Eleeo indicates that one is moved to pity and compassion by tragedy and includes the fear that this could happen to me (although this latter obviously does not apply to God). The idea of this verb is to see someone in dire need (including one who may not deserve the misfortune), to have compassion on them, and to give help to remove the need. Specifically in context eleeo means God extends help for the consequence of sin. He has compassion on sinners who are in unhappy circumstances (that's stating it somewhat euphemistically!).

Mercy implies that there is absolutely nothing within us that caused God to bestow His mercy upon us. It is simply according to His good pleasure. There was nothing in us to commend us to God. We could do nothing to help ourselves (Ro 5:6-note, Ro 5:8-note, Ro 5:10-note). Mercy also implies that the one bestowing the mercy has the means to meet the need. Here God meets the need of those He chooses.

signifies, in general, "to feel sympathy with the misery of another," and especially sympathy manifested in act, (a) in the Active Voice, "to have pity or mercy on, to show mercy" to, e.g., Matt. 9:27; Matt. 15:22; Matt. 17:15; Matt. 18:33; Matt. 20:30, 31 (three times in Mark, four in Luke); Rom. 9:15, 16, 18; Ro 11:32; Ro 12:8; Phil. 2:27; Jude 1:22, 23; (b) in the Passive Voice, "to have pity or mercy shown one, to obtain mercy," Matt. 5:7; Rom. 11:30, 31; 1Cor. 7:25; 2Cor 4:1; 1Tim. 1:13, 16; 1Pet. 2:10. (Vine, W E: Vine's Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words. 1996. Nelson)

Eleeo - 29x in 26v in NAS - Matt 5:7; 9:27; 15:22; 17:15; 18:33; 20:30, 31; Mark 5:19; 10:47, 48; Luke 16:24; 17:13; 18:38, 39; Ro 9:15-note, Ro 9:18-note; Ro 11:30-note, Ro 11:31-note, Ro 11:32-note; Ro 12:8-note; 1Cor 7:25; 2Cor 4:1; Phil 2:27-note; 1Ti 1:13, 16; 1Pe 2:10-note. NAS =  found mercy(1), had mercy(4), has mercy(2), have mercy(15), mercy(1), receive mercy(1), received mercy(3), show mercy(1), shown mercy(3), shows mercy(1). 

AND I WILL HAVE COMPASSION ON WHOM I HAVE COMPASSION: kai oiktireso (1SFAI) on an oiktiro (1SFAI):

Compassion (3627) (oikteiro) is used only here in Scripture and means to exercise pity or to have compassion on as one is moved or motivated by sympathy

Mercy (eleeo) expresses the heart motivation and compassion  (oikteiro)  the manifestation of that feeling.

The reference in Ex 33 deals with Israel’s idolatry while Moses was on the mount receiving the Law (Ex 32:4ff). The whole nation deserved to be destroyed, yet God killed only 3,000 people (Ex 32:27-28) not because they were more wicked or less godly, but purely because of His grace and mercy.

In other words, His sparing the people and continuing to guide and protect them was purely reflective of His mercy and grace. He had the absolute right to condemn or to save as He divinely saw fit. God’s sovereignty and His grace not only are compatible but are inseparable.

Spurgeon comments...

 It is equally true that he wills to have mercy, and has already had mercy on every soul that repents of sin and puts its trust in Jesus.—13.309

If there is one doctrine in the world which reveals the enmity of the human heart more than an-other, it is the doctrine of God's sovereignty. When men hear the Lord's voice saying, "I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy," they gnash their teeth and call the preacher an An­tinomian, a High Calvinist, or some other hard name. They do not love God except they can make him a little God. They cannot bear for him to be su­preme. They would gladly take his will away from him and set up their own will as the first cause

Spurgeon writes in his devotional that...

This means that God’s mercy and compassion cannot be subject to any cause outside his free grace. God had mercy on the Israelites (not destroying them for their idolatry), not because they deserved it, but simply because he chose to be merciful.

This is a picture of human thinking and striving as seen in John's description of those who became children of God by faith and...

who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. (John 1:12,13)

Did you come to God because you wanted to come to God? You would not have even wanted to unless God had placed that desire in your heart to even want Him. So it is not because you actively willed & purposed or resolved to come to God.

BUT ON GOD WHO HAS MERCY: alla tou eleontos (PAPMSG) theou: (Ro 9:11; Genesis 27:1, 2, 3, 4,9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14; Psalms 110:3; Isaiah 65:1; Matthew 11:25,26; Luke 10:21; John 1:12,13; 3:8; 1Corinthians 1:26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31; Ephesians 2:4,5; Philippians 2:13; 2Thessalonians 2:13,14; Titus 3:3, 4, 5; James 1:18; 1Peter 2:9,10)

God Who has mercy - The present tense signifies He never lacks for mercy. It a continual attribute of His character

It is not man’s choice or pursuit but God who initiates mercy for the sinner. Salvation is never initiated by human choice or merited by zealous human effort. It always begins in God’s sovereign, gracious, and eternal will. Those who receive God’s mercy receive it solely by His grace.

Ishmael desired ("the man who wills") the blessing but failed to receive it. Esau ran ("the man who runs") for the blessing, as it were, but also failed to receive it (Ge27). Esau received a blessing from his father but not the blessing he sought with tears, because he was ungodly and sought the blessing without repentance or faith (Heb12:16, 17-note).

Paul writes of God's mercy on those dead in their trespasses and sins...

But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), (Eph 2:4, 5- note)

And again in Titus God showed mercy on those who were foolish , disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending their life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another, Paul recording that...

when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, (Titus 3:4, 5-see notes on Titus 3:4 Titus 3:5)

Finally Peter says

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, (see notes on 1 Peter 1:3)

G Campbell Morgan writes that Paul...

Scripture (1124) (graphe from grapho = to write; English = graphite - the lead in a pencil!) means first  a writing or thing written, a document. Graphe is used in such a way that quoting Scripture is understood to be the same as quoting God! And here Scripture "speaking" to Pharaoh is tantamount to God speaking to Pharaoh.

Being an absolute monarch, Pharaoh assumed that, certainly within his own realm, everything he said and did was by his own free choice to serve his own human purposes. But the Lord made clear through Moses that Pharaoh was divinely raised up to serve a divine purpose, a purpose of which the king was not even aware.

FOR THIS VERY PURPOSE I RAISED YOU UP TO DEMONSTRATE MY POWER IN YOU: hoti eis auto touto exegeira (1SAAI) se opos endeixomai (1SAMS) en soi ten dunamin mou:

Paul quotes the Septuagint (LXX) of (Exodus 9:16)

Paul does say "for this very purpose I created you". Out of a mass of unregenerate mankind God raises up a man who had suppressed the truth, who refused to give God thanks and honor, exchanging His truth for the lie and who was therefore without excuse (Ro 1:20, 21 -note).

God This is who God called forth (almost as one would do in a play) on to the stage of world history (His story) saying in essence "I will use you to demonstrate my power." It is not as if Pharaoh had said I want to believe in You and be saved. In fact when Pharaoh is faced with the clear demonstration of God's power and refuses to bow down, instead becoming becoming hardened. And Pharaoh is used for God's purposes to deliver many from bondage.

Raised up (1825) (exegeiro from ek = out + egeíro = to raise) carries the idea of bringing forward or lifting up and was used of the rise of historical figures to positions of prominence.

The only other NT use is also by Paul in the context of the resurrection...

1 Corinthians 6:14 Now God has not only raised (egeiro) the Lord, but will also raise (exegeiro) us up through His power.

Exegeiro is used 61 times in the Septuagint (LXX). - Gen 28:16; 41:21; Num 10:35; 24:19; Jdg 5:12; 1 Sam 26:12; 2 Sam 12:11; 19:18; 23:18; 1 Kgs 16:3; 2 Chr 36:22; Ezra 1:1, 5; Esther 8:4; Job 5:11; Ps 3:5; 7:6; 35:23; 44:23; 57:8; 59:4; 73:20; 78:65; 80:2; 108:2; 119:62; 139:18; Prov 25:23; Song 2:7; 3:5; 4:16; 8:4f; Isa 38:16; 41:2; 51:9, 17; 52:1; Jer 6:22; 31:26; 50:41; 51:1, 38; Ezek 21:16; 23:22; Dan 11:25; 12:2; Joel 3:7, 9, 12; Jonah 1:4, 11, 13; Hab 1:6; 2:19; 3:13; Hag 1:14; Zech 2:13; 4:1; 11:16; 13:7. Here are some representative uses...
 

Speaking through the prophet Nathan, the Lord told David that, because of his murder of Uriah and taking his wife, Bathsheba, for himself,

“I will raise up evil against you from your own household” (2Sa 12:11).

One of Job’s “comforters” rightly said of God that

“He sets on high those who are lowly, and those who mourn are lifted to safety” (Job 5:11)

In much the same way that He raised up Pharaoh, the Lord also raised up “the Chaldeans” to do His will, Habakkuk recording God's declaration...

"behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans, that fierce and impetuous people who march throughout the earth To seize dwelling places which are not theirs." (Hab. 1:6)

Zechariah records that one day will

“raise up a shepherd [Antichrist] in the land who will not care for the perishing, seek the scattered, heal the broken, or sustain the one standing, but will devour the flesh of the fat sheep and tear off their hoofs” (Zec11:16).

All of these events (and others too numerous to mention) underline the truth that God is sovereign over history. (See attribute  Sovereign)

Demonstrate (1731) (endeíknumi [word study] from en = in, to + deíknumi = make known the character or significance of something by visual, auditory, gestural, or linguistic means) means to point out, to demonstrate, to put on display, to prove, to show proof, to show forth, to show oneself, to give visible proof, to show in anything and implies an appeal to facts. The preposition (in) in the compound suggests more than the simplest demonstration. It is like laying the index finger, as it were, on the object. It means to to show something in someone. It can mean to do something to someone, as Alexander the coppersmith did (endeíknumi) Paul much harm (see 2Ti 4:14- note). In the papyri it could have a quasi-legal sense of proving a petition or charge or of proving that a charge was wrong. Josephus used endeíknumi to describe Herod Agrippa’s display of generosity to those of other nations (Josephus, Antiquities, 19:330).  

Endeiknumi - 11x in 11v - Ro 2:15; 9:17, 22; 2 Cor 8:24; Eph 2:7; 1Ti 1:16; 2Ti 4:14; Titus 2:10; 3:2; Heb 6:10, 11. NAS = demonstrate(4), did(1), show(4), showing(2), shown(1).

AND THAT MY NAME MIGHT BE PROCLAIMED THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE EARTH: kai opos diaggele (3SAPS) to onoma mou en pase te ge: (Exodus 10:1,2; 14:17,18; 15:14,15; 18:10,11; Joshua 2:9,10; 9:9; 1 Samuel 4:8) (John 17:26)

Proclaimed (1229) (diaggello from diá = through + aggéllo = to tell, declare) means to herald thoroughly, to declare fully or far and wide and so to declare plainly, fully and exactly.

Thayer

to carry a message through, announce everywhere, through places, through assemblies of men, etc.; to publish abroad, declare

Diaggello - 3x in 3v - Luke 9:60; Acts 21:26; Rom 9:17. NAS = giving notice(1), proclaim everywhere(1), proclaimed(1).

The psalmist Asaph appeals to God not to remain silent or still as His enemies exalt themselves pleading with Him to...

Let them be ashamed and dismayed forever; and let them be humiliated and perish, that they may know that Thou Alone, Whose Name is the LORD, art the Most High over all the earth. (Psalms 83:17,18-note)

In Isaiah King Hezekiah appeals to the Lord (for Israel's deliverance) that His name might be proclaimed...

"And now, O LORD our God, deliver us from his hand that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that Thou alone, LORD, art God." (Isaiah 37:20)

Solomon writes that...

Haldane

Here the general conclusion is drawn from all the Apostle had said in the three preceding verses, in denying that God was unrighteous in loving Jacob and hating Esau. It exhibits the ground of God's dealings both with the elect and the reprobate. It concludes that His own sovereign pleasure is the rule both with respect to those whom He receives, and those whom He rejects. He pardons one and hardens another, without reference to anything but His own sovereign will, in accordance with His infinite wisdom, holiness, and justice. 'Even so, Father,' said our blessed Lord, 'for so it seemed good in Thy sight.' God is not chargeable with any injustice in electing some and not others; for this is an act of mere mercy and compassion, and that can be no violation of justice.

That mighty act of God in delivering Israel from bondage in Egypt demonstrated two great truths. He delivered Israel to exhibit His sovereign mercy on [those] whom He desires, and He raised up and destroyed Pharaoh to exhibit the corollary truth that He hardens those whom He desires. Only His divine desire determines which it will be.

Moses was a Jew, whereas Pharaoh was a Gentile; but both of them were sinners. Both were murderers, and both witnessed God’s miracles. Yet Moses was redeemed and Pharaoh was not. God raised up Pharaoh in order to reveal His own glory and power, and God had mercy on Moses in order to use him to deliver His people Israel. Pharaoh was a ruler, whereas Moses’ people were slaves under Pharaoh. But Moses received God’s mercy and compassion, because that was God’s will. The Lord’s work is sovereign, and He acts entirely according to His own will to accomplish His own purposes. The issue was not the presumed rights of either men but rather the sovereign will of God.

AND HE HARDENS WHOM HE DESIRES: de thelei (3SPAI) sklerunei: (Ro 1:24, 25, 26, 27, 28; 11:7,8; Exodus 4:21; 7:13; Deuteronomy 2:30; Joshua 11:20; Isaiah 63:17; Matthew 13:14,15; Acts 28:26, 27, 28; 2Thessalonians 2:10, 11, 12)

Hardens whom He desires - Compare with His divine judicial activity in Romans 1 where 3 times God gives sinners over to their depraved natures (Ro 1:24-note, Ro 1:26-note, Ro 1:28-note)

We see a similar "spiritual" judgment in the time of the antichrist's rule where Paul writes that...

And then that lawless one (the Antichrist) will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming; 9 that is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, 10 and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth (What does this clearly imply? That the truth was offered/available) so as to be saved. 11 And for this reason (What reason?) God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they might believe what is false, 12 in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness (Which is why they did not love the truth, for the truth called them to righteousness and light and they loved unrighteousness and darkness). (2Thessalonians 2:8-10)

Hardens (4645) (skleruno [word study  from skleros = hard, dry, hard, rough <> from skéllo = dry up) means to make hard or stiff and is used only figuratively to refer to the heart or mind. In the active skleruno means to harden and in the passive sense, to grow hard.

The NT uses are only figurative (metaphorical) and mean to cause one to become unyielding, obstinate or stubborn (carried on in an unyielding or persistent manner) Skleruno was a medical technical term (first attested by Hippocrates) in Greek writings describing something becoming hardened or thickened. Our English word "hardening" of the arteries is known as "arteriosclerosis". This is a serious, potentially fatal physical condition, but here in Hebrews the danger is even more ominous, for spiritual hardening can lead to eternal death and damnation of one's soul, not just loss of their physical life!

Is Paul saying that God hardened Pharaoh's heart? Is Paul saying that God purposely choose Pharaoh to be an evil man? Pharaoh knew God and suppressed the truth. He did not want God. He saw God's power and hardened his heart. Yet God used him for His purposes to deliver many from bondage

The Exodus account of Moses’ confrontation with Pharaoh speaks of God hardening Pharaoh's heart (Ex 4:21 7:3), but Moses also records that Pharaoh hardened his own heart as in the following verse...

But when Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he hardened his heart and did not listen to them, as the LORD had said. (Exodus 8:15) (cf Ex 7:13; 7:22;8:32 9:7 9:34).

A study of these passages in Exodus emphasizes the tension between God’s sovereignty and man’s free will. As already discussed, Esau although rejected by God before birth, chose to reject his inheritance as the firstborn. Similarly, before he was born, Judas was appointed to betray Christ, Luke recording Peter's words...

"Brethren, the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit foretold by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus." (Acts1:16)

The apostle John also records God's sovereignty in Judas' betrayal recording that...

Jesus answered them, "Did I Myself not choose you, the twelve, and yet one of you is a devil?" Now He meant Judas the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the twelve, was going to betray Him. (John 6:70,71).

And although clearly appointed by God for their place and purpose in history, both Esau and Judas, personally and willfully chose to follow sin and unbelief.

In some mysterious way, our human decisions for which we bear full responsibility have also been God's decisions, and vice versa. This is beyond our finite comprehension and we should not try to rationalize it by some human device of reasoning. What God does is right, by definition, Moses recording

"Far be it from Thee to do such a thing (not spare Sodom and Gomorrah if there were 50 righteous in it), to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike. Far be it from Thee! Shall not the Judge of all the earth deal justly?" (Ge18:25)

The psalmist echoes this truth recording that...

For the word of the LORD is upright; and all His work is done in faithfulness. (Ps 33:4)

Indeed, Jehovah's ways are "unsearchable" (Ro11:33, cf David's declaration regarding God's knowledge and care for him -- "Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is too high, I cannot attain to it." Ps139:6).