Audio commentary on this verse

Note 3 at Rom. 11:22: Even in the midst of God's judgment there is mercy. The people who suffered destruction during Noah's flood and the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah experienced the severity of God. But these judgments were actually an act of mercy upon the world as a whole. During those times, sin was so rampant in the earth that it was like a cancer. God did radical surgery on mankind by removing these vile sinners and therefore allowed the human race as a whole to survive.

Likewise, God's turning from the Jewish nation to the Gentiles had both severity and goodness in it. It had severe consequences for the Jews, but it blessed the rest of the world.