Romans 9:4

4 who are Israelites and to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises;

Romans 9:4 Meaning and Commentary

Romans 9:4

Who are Israelites
Which were their national name, as descended from Jacob, whose name was Israel; and it was accounted a very honourable one; see ( Philippians 3:5 ) ( 2 Corinthians 11:22 ) ; and the very name they bore gave the apostle some concern that they should be cut off; and then he proceeds to enumerate the several distinguishing favours and privileges they had been partakers of:

to whom pertaineth the adoption;
not that special adoption, which springs from eternal predestination, is a blessing of the covenant of grace, comes through the redemption of Christ, and is received and enjoyed only by believers in him; for all that were Israelites, were not in this sense the children of God; but national adoption is here meant, by which the whole body of the people, as nation, were the sons of God, his firstborn:

and the glory;
either the ark of the covenant, which is so called in ( Psalms 63:2 ) , according to Kimchi; or the clouds in the tabernacle and temple, which were called the glory of the Lord, and were symbols of his presence, the same with the Shekinah; and so Aben Ezra interprets power, the ark, and glory, the Shekinah, ( Psalms 63:2 ) ,

and the covenants;
not the two Testaments, Old and New, but the covenant of circumcision, made with Abraham their father, and the covenant at Sinai they entered into with the Lord; some copies, and the Vulgate Latin and Ethiopic versions, read, "the covenant":

and the giving, of the law:
(hrwt Ntm) , a way of speaking the ^F24 Jews make use of when they take notice of this privilege; for it was peculiarly given to them with great solemnity by God himself, through the disposition of angels into the hands of Moses the mediator, and by him to them; and on account of this, they reckoned themselves more beloved of God than the rest of mankind ^F25

and the service of God;
or "the service", as in the Greek text. So the Jews ^F26 are used to call it (hdwbe) , "the service"; and false worship is called by them (hrz hdwbe) , "strange service", which is the title of one of their Misnic tracts; and here it signifies the whole worship of God, in the whole compass of it, sacrifices, prayer, praise daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly:

and the promises;
both temporal and spiritual, especially such as related to the Messiah, and which now had their accomplishment.

---

FOOTNOTES:

F24 T. Bab. Zebachim, fol. 116. 1. Zohar in Lev. fol. 5. 2, 3.
F25 Tzeror Hammor, fol. 103. 2.
F26 Vid. Pirke Abot, c. 1. sect. 2.

Romans 9:4 In-Context

2 that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart.

3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh,

4 who are Israelites and to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises;

5 of whom are the fathers, and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen.

6 It is not as though the Word of God hath taken no effect. For they are not all Israel, who are of Israel;