Romans 11:7-10 (NIV)

Romans 11:7-10 (NIV)
7 What then? What Israel sought so earnestly it did not obtain, but the elect did. The others were hardened,
8 as it is written: "God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes so that they could not see and ears so that they could not hear, to this very day."
9 And David says: "May their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a retribution for them.
10 May their eyes be darkened so they cannot see, and their backs be bent forever."

Why did God seemingly just give up on some and others got in no matter what? I believe that Paul is back arguing about the whole package of Israel being hardened and not individuals. In the next verses Paul picks up the argument about the Gentiles being grafted into the vine which is Israel. You will see that Paul lets us know that if the church does not do its job, then that branch will be pulled out. The whole nation of Israel sought God's blessing, but on the whole they were disobedient. Israel sought God's presence in wrong way and paid a heavy price for it. There were those that God had set aside so that all Israel would not be lost. There are two lines of reasoning that Paul has to deal with in this letter of Romans. He has to deal with the individual as in Romans 10:10 "...that everyone who calls upon the Lord will be saved." Then Paul has to deal with the Israel and church issue. Israel thought that the kingdom was going to come and Jesus announces at Peter's confession that he will build his church. What is a church? It wasn't long afterwards that Israel found out and they, for the most part, did not like it. They were going to lose their identity and yet, in Christ, they would find their true identity. Jesus was Israel's messiah. We got in on this by the grace of God!! Thank God He did not darken our eyes and allowed us in as who were, so far from His promises, to participate in His grand and glorious promises.