THE SPIRIT OF SLUMBER

Romans 11:7-10 What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded (According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear;) unto this day. And David saith, Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumbling block, and a recompense unto them: let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see, and bow down their back always.

What can be made of this? What can be inferred from the fact that Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for? How can this be so; but (still) the election hath obtained it? Were the rest ...blinded? Much can be said of these suppositions - the bible student can learn many lessons from this text. In many other bible passages Israel is spoken of, as it is here, en masse, or as a whole. However, we cannot take this literally. Not all Jews rejected Jesus as the Messiah. Certainly the three thousand Jews, that obeyed the gospel call of the apostles of Christ on the Day of Pentecost, accepted Jesus as their Savior. They were Israelites, as were many others that later became obedient to God's will and were baptized into the body of Christ, including the apostle Paul. Even with these examples, Jewish conversions to Christianity were so few in comparison to their total population that they were often spoken of as if the entire nation of Israel had rejected Jesus as the Messiah.

This much is certain, that Jews everywhere, from every tribe of Israel, looked forward to the coming of the Messiah, and the establishment of His kingdom under which they hoped to live ever after. However, when the Son of God did come, Israel could not see Him - they were blinded, not physically, but were spiritually blinded. Why? Because of their closed-mindedness, Jesus said He spoke to them in parables. Quoting the prophet, Isaiah, Jesus said this of the Jewish nation: By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive: for this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them (See Matt. 13:13-17 also John 12:37-40). It was not God's will, nor was it the will of our Savior, that Israel could not see, hear, understand, be converted, and then saved. It was of their own volition. They closed their own eyes, shut their own ears, and hardened their own hearts and minds, and, by doing so, they refused to accept God's plan of salvation.

As "law abiding Jews," they thought they could merit salvation by fulfilling the works required under the Law of Moses. By carrying out the physical acts of obedience under the Jewish law, to every jot and tittle, they thought, would earn for themselves a place in the kingdom of God. To confirm this fact, one need look no further than the Jewish Pharisee. Paul, himself, was a Pharisee, (and) the son of a Pharisee (Acts 23:6). He exemplified the life of a Pharisee to the fullest extent. Of his Jewish heritage Paul said, I am verily a man which am a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, yet brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, and taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers, and was zealous toward God, as ye all are this day (Acts. 22:3). In his letter to the church at Philippi, Paul wrote this about his Jewish status: Though I might also have confidence in the flesh, if any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more: circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee; concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless (Phil. 3:4-6).

Here, Paul, as a Pharisee, found righteousness ...in the law, before his conversion. During this New Testament era, this ingrained, religious mindset exemplified practically all Israelites within the entire Jewish nation. They believed that righteousness came by performing the physical acts of the law of Moses. They were ignorant of God's righteousness (Rom. 10:3). With corruption invading the Jewish priesthood, and, under the influence of scribes that misinterpreted God's holy word, the sect of the Pharisees became strongly committed to worshipping God and conducting their lives based on the "traditions of the elders" rather than the will of God. Tithing, rituals, purity of cleansing, and other acts of man-invented religious conduct were carried out to an extreme that was never intended by their God, the Giver of their law.

What Jesus saw as He observed the scribes and Pharisees was hypocrisy - a pretentious worship with no virtue; a worship that was totally unacceptable to God. Jesus warned the multitude, (and) ...his disciples to follow the law, which they quoted, but warned them not to follow their example. Describing their conduct, Jesus said, The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat: all therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not. For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. But all their works they do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments, and love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues, and greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi (See Matt. 23:1-7).

Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted (Luke 18:10-14). This is one more view of what Jesus saw when he observed the self-righteous Pharisee. With such examples, it is easy to see that, as dogmatic as the Jewish nation was about carrying out the Mosaic Law to the letter, they were blinded by their own self-righteousness when it came to interpreting the true meaning of God's pure righteousness.

Although a few faithfully accepted Jesus Christ as the promised Savior, the first verse tells us that the rest were blinded. The word translated "blinded" carries with it the same meaning as when bones become hard and brittle. It is not used in the sense that they were physically blinded, but spiritually blinded. Their minds had become hardened, insensitive, and unreceptive to the gospel message of Jesus Christ as being the fulfillment of Old Testament prophesies. When warned to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and of the leaven of Herod, the minds of the Jews in the audience of Jesus were so blinded that they thought Jesus was referring to bread served at mealtime. Having just miraculously fed the multitude of four thousand with seven loves and a few small fishes, they were still spiritually blind and would not accept Jesus as the Messiah. Jesus told these unbelieving Jews that they could not perceive, ...neither understand because their hearts had become hardened. He told them that they had eyes (that do not see), ears (that do not hear), and fail to remember (See Mark 8:15-18).

In the lesson text, Paul explains the mind that is unreceptive to the will of God by quoting the sense, if not the exact words of this prophecy of Isaiah: (According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear;) unto this day. Isaiah said further:For the Lord hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes: the prophets and your rulers, the seers hath He covered. And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I cannot; for it is sealed: And the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I am not learned. Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near Me with their mouth, and with their lips do honor Me, but have removed their heart far from Me, and their fear toward Me is taught by the precept of men (Isaiah 29:10-13).

We often read passages such as this that can be interpreted as God being the cause of an unreceptive mind. For instance, consider this teaching of Paul to the church at Thessalonica. Here, Paul writes, And then shall that Wicked (Satan) be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming: even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness (2 Thess. 2:8-12).

It is error to interpret this to mean that God caused their strong delusion; or that God caused them to believe a lie. However, the context tells us that the deceit of Satan was the true cause for them to refuse to receive the truth of God's word - His word that would lead them to eternal salvation. It is never God that deceives, but rather God allows mankind, as free moral agents, to be deceived.

In the lesson text, God did not cause, or give, Israel the spirit of slumber; neither did He cause them to become incapable of understanding His will by blinding their eyes, and deafening their ears. Insensibility to the commandments of God is caused by the influences of Satan. False teaching that goes unchallenged - that is not compared to the truths of God's word - will, over time, numb the brain. This, Paul compares to the spirit of slumber. During sound sleep, one cannot see the physical objects that surround them; they cannot hear the sounds of noises made by things nearby. For instance, we often sleep through the lightening and thunder of a raging storm, without being aware that it is occurring. The mind that has become calloused and insensitive to God's will is as unresponsive to His call to salvation as one that is in deep slumber. Eyes have been blinded, and ears unhearing, to the pleading of God, as He calls all people of the world to follow the righteousness path He lays before them - the path that will lead to eternal salvation.

Let their table become a snare before them: and that which should have been for their welfare, let it become a trap. Let their eyes be darkened, that they see not; and make their loins continually to shake (Psalm 69:22-23). Paul quotes this Psalm of David in the last two verses of the lesson text. The person that is brain-dead to God's will; the person that is totally unresponsive to the teaching found in His word, is one that has been deceived by false teachers. Preachers, such as this, are inspired by Satan, and are driven by their own covetous desires, to teach error. Those that receive their teaching soon become insensitive to God's word. When seated at their dining tables, they are completely at ease. They receive God's gifts and use them for their own welfare, without the second thought from whence they come. They are lost in sin, yet guiltless for their conduct. They are traveling headlong, at break-neck speed, on the highway to eternal destruction, without recognizing the cautioning warnings of God that are posted throughout the bible.

Indeed, those that God has given the spirit of slumber; that is, those, of their own free will, that have become deadened, calloused, and unresponsive to God's will, are as the blind and deaf. Their lives of comfort and ease are mere traps and stumbling blocks on their earthly journey, for which there will ultimately be a severe recompense; the repayment for their actions will be eternal death. Without realizing it, their burden will be too great to bear; they will stumble under the load of unrighteousness and their backs will bow down under the great weight of sin. God has provided a way of escape from the destruction of sin through His Son, Jesus Christ. However, to those that choose to ignore His call to salvation, He will give them The Spirit of Slumber from which they will, at the end of time, awaken to the eternal punishment.