<p>9:4 <em>Who are Israelites, whose is the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God and the promises</em>- We note that Israel were God's &quot;adopted&quot; son; not His only <em>begotten </em>Son. This would have been a sideways swipe at Jewish emphasis upon ethnicity as a basis for being God's children. All the glory, covenants etc. were given initially to Israel; which is why the tragedy of their rejection of the Christ who was the focal point of all these things was the more tragic. Paul is writing here not so much as to glorify Israel as to explain why he felt the deep sense of tragedy for them which he did as expressed in :3.</p>