Fulness of the Gentiles?

If you are like me, I used to think  the “fullness of the Gentiles” was the time when all the Gentiles that were going to be saved would end, the last Gentile to be saved would be saved and that chapter of God’s plan would be over. It would be Israel’s turn again. The Temple would be rebuilt, they would start up the sacrificial system again, etc.

I was wrong. My mistake was in interpreting the passage according to a preconceived doctrinal position, namely, dispensationalism. What I should have done was look at it through Hebrew eyes and a Hebrew mindset as revealed in the Torah!

Please consider the following:

“For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery,  lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.”
Romans 11:25

What is the "fulness of the Gentiles"?

In Parsahas Va’eira (Genesis 6:2) we read in the Chumash that after Moses had come to Pharaoh with his initial request for the release of the Children of Israel, Pharaoh increases the workload upon them. So Moses cries out to God. About this the rabbis say:

The reason Moses’ arrival in Egypt was followed by an immediate intensification of the slavery was that the Egyptians could not be punished until their “measure of sin” was full, for God was patient even with the wicked. By his cruel decree to deny straw to the hapless slaves (5:7), Pharaoh had reached his nadir and so the process of the Exodus could now begin.

Thus, God’s response to Moses was that, far from coming to Egypt in vain, his arrival expedited the process of the Exodus. (Mizrachi) p. 318 Artscroll Chumash

Another passage in Genesis 15:16 teaches the same principle: “And the fourth generation shall return here, for the iniquity of the Amorite shall not yet be full until then”.

The Chumash commentary again sheds light:

“It would be four generations after the beginning of the Egyptian exile, and the Amorites— representing all of the Canaanite nations—will have accumulated enough sin to deserve expulsion.

The latter condition was necessary because God does not punish a nation until its “measure of sin is full”. (Rashi) P. 69 Artscroll Chumash

So, in conclusion, I now believe it is not the fullness of Gentile salvation we are waiting for, but a fullness of Gentile iniquity! (which seems closer anyway!)