Section 9
the firstfruit was not for the people to eat; it was first offered to God and then given to the priests to be their food. According to Numbers 15:18-21, God told Israel that after they had entered the land they had to offer the first piece of dough to the Lord. That piece of dough was termed the firstfruit, and the phrase "the dough offered as the firstfruit" in Romans 11:16 is a reference to it. The Apostle Paul uses this first piece of dough to illustrate Abraham along with Isaac and Jacob. These three patriarchs should be considered as one person, and the spiritual experiences of the three are actually the experiences of one person. These three patriarchs were and still are the first piece of dough offered to God as the firstfruit, and all of their descendants are the whole lump. Likewise, the three patriarchs were and still are the root of God's cultivated olive tree (Jer. 11:16), and all of their descendants are the branches. Therefore, Paul's argument is that if the dough offered to God is holy, then the entire lump is holy. This means that all the Israelites are holy. Furthermore, if the root, the patriarchs, is holy, then all the branches, the descendants of the pa triarchs, are also holy. Although Israel has stum bled, they did not fall. They have been cut off temporarily; later they will be grafted in again.