Isaiah 61:5 English Standard Version (ESV) Strangers shall stand and tend your flocks; foreigners shall be your plowmen and vinedressers;
Clarity has returned. I am a stranger. I am a foreigner. I can relate.
Isaiah’s words to his people are in reference to a day when we would take over being shepherds and work in the field of the Lord, to prepare the way and to harvest the fruits of the labors of others.
We live in the Lord’s field. It is His Vineyard in which we labor.
This is my understanding because I serve the Lord. These words were penned to Israel when the thought of having their flock tended by strangers would have taken on a different understanding. We cannot put ourselves in their historical position. They are from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob which is a different heritage and emotional connection than our adoption.
I know how it feels to be adopted but those that feel like God is their heritage have a different perspective. Strangers and foreigners may feel like the enemy to them. The word usurper comes to mind. Being unfairly replaced is something I do not relate to in the spirit.
Romans 11:11 English Standard Version (ESV)
Gentiles Grafted In
11 So I ask, did they stumble in order that they might fall? By no means! Rather, through their trespass salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to make Israel jealous.
Paul was a Jew’s Jew, of the tribe of Benjamin, trained by the best in his time in the scriptures. We might take these passages lightly because we have received the blessing associated with their heritage. Paul is trying to show us how it felt to be a Jew during those times.
Don’t expect scripture to mean the same thing to others as it does to you. People of a different heritage will see things from their prospective, via genetics and training.