You are almost right, with the exception of the word "punishment." It does not reflect the essence of the matter, and indeed the Lord, through the prophets, rejects such a way of reasoning...
You are almost right, with the exception of the word "punishment." It does not reflect the essence of the matter, and indeed the Lord, through the prophets, rejects such a way of reasoning. The Gospels quite definitively link the destruction of Jerusalem and the subsequent wave of the dispersion with the rejection of Christ. However, this was not a purposeful retribution for what the Jews had done; rather, I would call it the result of rejecting the Lord Jesus. It is highly significant that the Lord Himself speaks of this with tears, thereby setting an example for all His disciples for all time. The Jews themselves (non-Christians) of the second half of the 1st century AD associated the destruction of Jerusalem with the murder of James the Just, the brother of the Lord, the first bishop of Jerusalem.
The entire history of biblical faith (both Old Testament and New Testament) testifies that the betrayal of Christ's love and the substitution of faith with lesser things always leads people to disaster. So it was in the days of the fall of Samaria and the first destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar; so it was in the 1st century AD; and so it has been in the history of the Church. The issue, in fact, is not about punishment... Simply put, if we are not with God, we are defenseless against the evil that reigns in this world, and we ourselves only multiply it. However, two important points must be noted. On the one hand, the Bible tells us that the Lord judges each person individually, and not entire groups and nations. On the other hand, His relationship with the chosen people, judging by the words of the Apostle Paul, remains special, comparable (though not identical) only to the relationship between God and the Church. As far as the Apostle Paul can be understood, in his view the conversion of Israel will be the final, culminating moment of Salvation History, and through this the chosen people continue to serve God and other people.
Finally, the traditional notion that the Jews did not accept Christ is highly biased. After all, the Most Holy Virgin and Joseph the Betrothed, John the Baptist and all the apostles, and the majority of the early Christians were Jews. A portion of the Jews accepted Christ, and a portion did not; but was this not the case with everyone else as well? And to accept the New Covenant "collectively," as a nation, is fundamentally impossible; the Lord establishes it with each person individually.
11
11:13 I magnify my office - Far from being ashamed of ministering to the gentiles, I glory therein; the rather, as it may be a means of provoking my brethren to jealousy.
11:14 My flesh - My kinsmen.
11:15 Life from the dead - Overflowing life to the world, which was dead.
11:16 And this will surely come to pass. For if the first fruits be holy, so is the lump - The consecration of them was esteemed the consecration of all and so the conversion of a few Jews is an earnest of the conversion of all the rest. And if the root be holy - The patriarchs from whom they spring, surely God will at length make their descendants also holy.
11:17 Thou - O gentile. Being a wild olive tree - Had the graft been nobler than the stock, yet its dependance on it for life and nourishment would leave it no room to boast against it. How much less, when, contrary to what is practised among men, the wild olive tree is engrafted on the good!
11:18 Boast not against the branches - Do not they do this who despise the Jews? or deny their future conversion?
11:20 They were broken off for unbelief, and thou standest by faith - Both conditionally, not absolutely: if absolutely, there might have been room to boast. By faith - The free gift of God, which therefore ought to humble thee.
11:21 Be not highminded, but fear - We may observe, this fear is not opposed to trust, but to pride and security.
11:22 Else shalt thou - Also, who now "standest by faith," be both totally and finally cut off.
11:24 Contrary to nature - For according to nature, we graft the fruitful branch into the wild stock; but here the wild branch is grafted into the fruitful stock.