Verse 22
For though thy people Israel be as the sand of the sea ,.... These words are spoken either by the Lord to the prophet, calling Israel his people; or by the prophet to Hezekiah, as Jarchi and Kimchi think; or they may be rendered thus, "for though thy people, O Israel, be as the sand of the sea" F19 "Nam etsi fuerit populus tuus, O Israel, sicut arena maris", Piscator. ; that is, innumerable, as was promised to Abraham, Genesis 22:17 ,
yet a remnant of them shall return ; or "be converted in it" F20 ישוב בו "convertetur in eo", Montanus, Cocceius. , to the Messiah; or "be saved", as the apostle interprets it; see Gill on Romans 9:27 ; a remnant is a few, as Kimchi explains it, out of a great number: it signifies, that the majority of the Jewish nation should reject the Messiah, only a few of them should believe in him; and these should certainly believe in him, and be saved by him; and that for the following reason, because
the consumption decreed shall overflow with righteousness ; that is, the precise and absolute decree, concerning the salvation of the remnant, God will cause to overflow, or abundantly execute, in a righteous manner, consistent with his divine perfections; and so it makes for the comfort of the remnant of the Lord's people, agreeably to the intent of the apostle's citation of it; see Gill on Romans 9:28 ; though some understand it of God's punitive justice, in consuming and destroying the greater part of the Jewish people, the ungodly among them, and saving a remnant, which return and repent; and to this sense are the Targum, and the Jewish commentators.
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