THE HOPE OF ISRAEL - The Preterist Archive

The Hope of Israel: What Is It? 73
covenant and Isaac the true Israel, the seed of Abraham,
the heirs of the promise. And the climax of the
lesson is found in the words of Sarah, which the apostle
here declares to be the voice of Scripture; for, in declaring
what was to be the outcome of the controversy
between the natural Israel, that which "was born after
the flesh," and the true Israel, that which "was born
after the Spirit," and which was being persecuted by
the natural Israel, he says: "Nevertheless, what saith
the Scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son;
for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with
the son of the freewoman." And he concludes with this
comforting statement: "So then, brethren, we are not
children of the bondwoman, but of the free."
It is superfluous to say that these New Testament
Scriptures make certain that the national restoration
of Israel after the flesh is not a part of the revealed
will of God, but that the reverse is true.
THE PERIOD OP THE JUDGES
The period of the Judges is one of repeated departures
by the people of Israel from the right ways of the
Lord, and of repeated lapses into idolatry. Yet He
exercised great patience and long forbearance with
them, not casting them off for one offence, or for many ;
but permitting them to have one bitter experience after
another at the hands of their enemies, to teach them
that their welfare, and indeed their very existence as
a nation, depended upon their faithfulness to Him and
their obedience to His law. And again and again,
during that long period of decline, He intervened for
their deliverance by "the hand of one and another of
the Judges.