Some thoughts on Israel and the lifting of the veil.

By Elon Moreh

This originally appeared in the Moriel Bulletin of Jan 2013

I was considering this matter recently and because of upcoming events, I thought this might be of interest (please note this is not intended to an exhaustive treatment).

But their minds were hardened: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ. But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart. Nevertheless when it (or he; the verb is 3rd person masculine singular) shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away. Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. (2 Cor. 3:12-18)

There are certain things about this passage that used to puzzle me. However chief among them was 'when it (or he referring either to an individual here or Israel as a whole) shall turn to the Lord the vail shall be taken away.' Now I used to think, 'The vail is the hardening and needs to be lifted first so that people can see the Lord and turn to Him?' But this is not correct. Paul knew exactly what he was saying; the turning to the Lord comes before the lifting of the veil (the hardening).

The problem with Israel in the wilderness, in Paul's day and even today in the context of Jewish evangelism is not one of revelation but an issue of the heart.

In the wilderness the children of Israel had plenty of revelation. Just think about it. They saw the mighty hand of God at work in Egypt, a miraculous deliverance at the Red Sea, the cloud of glory and the pillar of fire, God's daily provision of the manna. Yet they moaned, griped, tested the LORD and rebelled. At the very moment of Moses receiving the Law on Mount Sinai, they were cavorting around the Calf of gold. The Psalmist comments on that time in the wilderness.

To day if ye will hear his voice, Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness: When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my work. Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said, It is a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known my ways. (Psa. 95:8-10).

From this we can see that even then in the wilderness the Israelites were already hardening their hearts.

In Isaiah 6 we read:

And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not. Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed.

Isaiah wrote this some 700 or so years after the Israelites left Egypt (approx. 1500 BC). It wasn't that the LORD had unconditionally decreed before time began to harden Israelites so they wouldn't be able to listen. Not at all, this was the LORD's response to 700 years of rebellious behaviour and apostasy. The Israelites hardened their hearts first, then when repentance was not forthcoming the LORD hardened them some more until they ate the fruit of their doings,¹ for we see in verse 11:

Then said I, Lord, how long? And he answered, Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate, And the LORD have removed men far away, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land.

Israel was devastated and left desolate. But it was not for ever, only until repentance was forthcoming. When the remnant returned from Babylon, it was a chastened people, done with the kind of blatant idolatry that had plagued Israel in the past. However it was not too long before they began hardening their hearts again in different ways. By Yeshua's time in place of true heart-faith in God, there had been a drift into religious formalism, and works-righteousness; tradition and commandment keeping became more important than the Creator to whom the Torah was designed to point us. This is a far more subtle and deadly form of idolatry and has a heart hardening effect. Note Jesus' comments in Matthew 13:

And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables? He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath. Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, 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.

We see here that the people had closed their own eyes, LEST they should see. They didn't really want the truth, or to be convicted of their sin, that they could be forgiven ('heal' here is a metaphor for 'forgive'', see Mark 4:12). If we look at John 6:26 we see that the minds of most of them were fixed completely on the material. Because of this Jesus spoke the Word to them in hidden fashion.

Scripture teaches us that when we persistently harden our hearts and refuse to repent God may add to that hardening. Interestingly Matthew's quote differs somewhat from Isaiah 6; the different wording is because in NT times the Hebrew text was still unpointed (unvowelled) and in its unpointed form the Hebrew admits either the possibility of the Israelites hardening their own hearts; or being hardened by an outside agency, all depending on how one vocalises the text. The LXX followed one option and the Massoretes another, thus the same passage teaches about hardening from the human and divine perspectives. Be that as it may; the effect of hardening is to make us blind to the Word of God.² In Romans 11 Paul alludes to Isaiah 6 in regard to God's hardening activity:

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.

He thus links Isaiah 6 with Isa. 29:10 which stated the following;

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 (i.e Because) this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men: Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid.

If anything describes Rabbinic Judaism, that is it. I have no doubt that Rabbbinic Judaism is one of the mechanisms that God used to harden or blind Israel to her Messiah. The impression left when reading Rabbinic literature is 'so near but so far'. Especially in regard to Messianic prophecy; it is clear that they understood some things but were unable to 'join the dots' and were groping in the dark because of their rejection of divine truth on certain critical issues. Even though it has been this way for 2000 years, this should not leave us despondent. While God hardens in response to wilful and persistent unbelief and rejection. He promises:

And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart. (Jer. 29:13)

The Word of God will be opened to willing and responsive hearts. I think many who love and pray for Israel believe that for some time we have been seeing the beginning of Israel's turning to the LORD; though it may come in fulness only on the wings of terrible national distress, when Israel comes to an end of herself and is forced to cry out to Him. We would ask your prayers for this year, that as we scatter the seeds here that the LORD's grace would go before us and it would find those seeking Him with all their heart.

Footnotes

1. This is exactly the same pattern as we see in God's dealings with Pharoah. First he hardened his heart and refused to repent so God hardened it, until he was broken.

2. There is not space to speak of it here but the NT passages (Rom. 9-11, John 6:36-44 etc.) mangled by Augustine, (whose impositions on scripture were later continued and systematised by Calvin); when restored to their proper context are set against this background; that is, God's hardening and blinding of His people being a response to their unbelief not the cause of it.