What the Bible Says About Rejection: Understanding Its Definition and Impact

Scripture

³ In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground.
⁴ and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering,
⁵ but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell.
⁶ The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen?
⁷ If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.”

Genesis 4:3-7

Genesis 37:18-28: ¹⁸ They saw him from afar, and before he came near to them, they conspired against him to kill him.
¹⁹ They said to one another, “Here comes this dreamer.
²⁰ Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits. Then we will say that a fierce animal has devoured him, and we will see what will become of his dreams.”
²¹ But when Reuben heard it, he rescued him out of their hands, saying, “Let us not take his life.”
²² And Reuben said to them, “Shed no blood; throw him into this pit here in the wilderness, but do not lay a hand on him”—that he might rescue him out of their hand to restore him to his father.
²³ So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe, the robe of many colors that he wore.
²⁴ Then they took him and threw him into a pit. The pit was empty; there was no water in it.
²⁵ Then they sat down to eat. And looking up they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead, with their camels bearing gum, balm, and myrrh, on their way to carry it down to Egypt.
²⁶ Then Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is it if we kill our brother and conceal his blood?
²⁷ Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hand be upon him, for he is our brother, our own flesh. And his brothers listened to him.
²⁸ Then Midianite traders passed by. And they drew Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver. They took Joseph to Egypt.

Exodus 2:11-15: ¹¹ One day, when Moses had grown up, he went out to his people and looked on their burdens, and he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his people.
¹² He looked this way and that, and seeing no one, he struck down the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.
¹³ When he went out the next day, behold, two Hebrews were struggling together. And he said to the man in the wrong, “Why do you strike your companion?”
¹⁴ He answered, “Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you mean to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid, and thought, “Surely the thing is known.”
¹⁵ When Pharaoh heard of it, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from Pharaoh and stayed in the land of Midian. And he sat down by a well.

1 Samuel 8:4-9: ⁴ Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah
⁵ and said to him, “Behold, you are old and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint for us a king to judge us like all the nations.”
⁶ But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” And Samuel prayed to the Lord.
⁷ And the Lord said to Samuel, “Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them.
⁸ According to all the deeds that they have done, from the day I brought them up out of Egypt even to this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are also doing to you.
⁹ Now then, obey their voice; only you shall solemnly warn them and show them the ways of the king who shall reign over them.”

1 Samuel 16:1-13: ¹⁶ The Lord said to Samuel, “How long will you grieve over Saul, since I have rejected him from being king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go. I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons.”
² And Samuel said, “How can I go? If Saul hears it, he will kill me.” And the Lord said, “Take a heifer with you and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.’
³ Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do. And you shall anoint for me him whom I declare to you.”
⁴ Samuel did what the Lord commanded and came to Bethlehem.
⁵ And he said, “Peaceably; I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Consecrate yourselves, and come with me to the sacrifice.” And he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.
⁶ When they came, he looked on Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed is before him.”
⁷ But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”
⁸ Then Jesse called Abinadab and made him pass before Samuel. And he said, “Neither has the Lord chosen this one.”
⁹ Then Jesse made Shammah pass by. And he said, “Neither has the Lord chosen this one.”
¹⁰ Thus Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel. And Samuel said to Jesse, “The Lord has not chosen these.”
¹¹ Then Samuel said to Jesse, “Are all your sons here?” And he said, “There remains yet the youngest, but behold, he is keeping the sheep.” And Samuel said to Jesse, “Send and get him, for we will not sit down till he comes here.”
¹² And he sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy and had beautiful eyes and was handsome. And the Lord said, “Arise, anoint him, for this is he.”
¹³ Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers. And the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon David from that day forward. And Samuel rose up and went to Ramah.

1 Samuel 18:6-16: ⁶ As they were coming home, when David returned from striking down the Philistine, the women came out of all the cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet King Saul, with tambourines, with songs of joy, and with musical instruments.
⁷ And the women sang to one another as they celebrated, “Saul has struck down his thousands, and David his ten thousands.”
⁸ And Saul was very angry, and this saying displeased him. He said, “They have ascribed to David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed thousands, and what more can he have but the kingdom?”
⁹ And Saul eyed David from that day on.
¹⁰ The next day a harmful spirit from God rushed upon Saul, and he raved within his house while David was playing the lyre, as he did day by day. Saul had his spear in his hand.
¹¹ And Saul hurled the spear, for he thought, “I will pin David to the wall.” But David evaded him twice.
¹² Saul was afraid of David because the Lord was with him but had departed from Saul.
¹³ So Saul removed him from his presence and made him a commander of a thousand. And he went out and came in before the people.
¹⁴ And David had success in all his undertakings, for the Lord was with him.
¹⁵ And when Saul saw that he had great success, he stood in fearful awe of him.
¹⁶ But all Israel and Judah loved David, for he went out and came in before them.

1 Kings 19:1-18: ¹ Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword.
² Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “So may the gods do to me and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by this time tomorrow.”
³ Then he was afraid, and he arose and ran for his life and came to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there.
⁴ But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he asked that he might die, saying, “It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my fathers.”
⁵ Then he lay down under the broom tree and fell asleep.
⁶ And he looked, and behold, there at his head was a cake baked on hot stones and a jar of water. And he ate and drank and lay down again.
⁷ And the angel of the Lord came again a second time and touched him and said, “Arise and eat, for the journey is too great for you.”
⁸ And he arose and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mount of God.
⁹ There he came to a cave and lodged in it. And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and he said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
¹⁰ He said, “I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away.”
¹¹ And he said, “Go out and stand on the mount before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake.
¹² And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire the sound of a low whisper.
¹³ And when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave.
¹⁴ He said, “I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away.”
¹⁵ And the Lord said to him, “Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus. And when you arrive, you shall anoint Hazael to be king over Syria.
¹⁶ And Jehu the son of Nimshi you shall anoint to be king over Israel, and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah you shall anoint to be prophet in your place.
¹⁷ And the one who escapes from the sword of Hazael shall Jehu put to death, and the one who escapes from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha put to death.
¹⁸ Yet I will leave seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.”

Psalm 27:7-10: ⁷ Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud; be gracious to me and answer me!
⁸ You have said, “Seek my face.” My heart says to you, “Your face, Lord, do I seek.”
⁹ Hide not your face from me. Turn not your servant away in anger, O you who have been my help. Cast me not off; forsake me not, O God of my salvation!
¹⁰ For my father and my mother have forsaken me, but the Lord will take me in.

Psalm 118:22-24: ²² The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.
²³ This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.
²⁴ This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.

Isaiah 53:1-3: ¹ Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
² For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him.
³ He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Jeremiah 7:27-29: ²⁷ “So you shall speak all these words to them, but they will not listen to you. You shall call to them, but they will not answer you.
²⁸ And you shall say to them, ‘This is the nation that did not obey the voice of the Lord their God, and did not accept discipline; truth has perished; it is cut off from their lips.
²⁹ Cut off your hair and cast it away;
raise a lamentation on the bare heights,
for the Lord has rejected and forsaken
the generation of his wrath.

Jeremiah 15:15-21: ¹⁵ O Lord, you know; remember me and visit me, and take vengeance for me on my persecutors. In your forbearance take me not away; know that for your sake I bear reproach.
¹⁶ Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart, for I am called by your name, O Lord, God of hosts.
¹⁷ I did not sit in the company of revelers,
nor did I rejoice;
I sat alone, because your hand was upon me,
for you had filled me with indignation.
¹⁸ Why is my pain unceasing,
my wound incurable,
refusing to be healed?
Will you be to me like a deceitful brook,
like waters that fail?
¹⁹ Therefore thus says the Lord: “If you return, I will restore you, and you shall stand before me. If you utter what is precious, and not what is worthless, you shall be as my mouth. They shall turn to you, but you shall not turn to them.
²⁰ And I will make you to this people a fortified wall of bronze; they will fight against you, but they shall not prevail over you, for I am with you to save you and deliver you, declares the Lord.
²¹ I will deliver you out of the hand of the wicked, and redeem you from the grasp of the ruthless.

Matthew 21:33-46: ³³ “Hear another parable. There was a master of a house who planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a winepress in it and built a tower and leased it to tenants, and went into another country.
³⁴ When the season for fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to get his fruit.
³⁵ And the tenants took his servants and beat one, killed another, and stoned another.
³⁶ Again he sent other servants, more than the first. And they did the same to them.
³⁷ Finally he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’
³⁸ But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and have his inheritance.’
³⁹ And they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.
⁴⁰ Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?”
⁴¹ They said to him, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons.”
⁴² Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: “‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?
⁴³ Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits.
⁴⁴ And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.”
⁴⁵ When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he was speaking about them.
⁴⁶ And although they were seeking to arrest him, they feared the crowds, because they held him to be a prophet.

Mark 6:1-6: ¹ He went away from there and came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him.
² And on the Sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astonished, saying, “Where did this man get these things? What is the wisdom given to him? How are such mighty works done by his hands?
³ Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him.
⁴ And Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor, except in his hometown and among his relatives and in his own household.”
⁵ And he could do no mighty work there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them.
⁶ And he marveled because of their unbelief. And he went about among the villages teaching.

Luke 4:16-30: ¹⁶ And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read.
¹⁷ And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written:
¹⁸ “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
¹⁹ to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.
²⁰ And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him.
²¹ And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
²² And all spoke well of him and marveled at the gracious words that were coming from his mouth. And they said, “Is not this Joseph’s son?”
²³ And he said to them, “Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, ‘Physician, heal yourself.’ What we have heard you did at Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well.”
²⁴ And he said, “Truly, I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his hometown.
²⁵ But in truth, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens were shut up three years and six months, and a great famine came over all the land,
²⁶ And Elijah was sent to none of them but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow.
²⁷ And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.”
²⁸ When they heard these things, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath.
²⁹ And they rose up and drove him out of the town and brought him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they could throw him down the cliff.
³⁰ But passing through their midst, he went away.

Luke 10:10-12: ¹⁰ But whenever you enter a town and they do not receive you, go into its streets and say,
¹¹ ‘Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet we wipe off against you. Nevertheless know this, that the kingdom of God has come near.’
¹² I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town.

John 1:10-13: ¹⁰ He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him.
¹¹ He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.
¹² But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,
¹³ who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

John 6:60-66: ⁶⁰ When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?”
⁶¹ But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, “Do you take offense at this?
⁶² Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?
⁶³ It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.
⁶⁴ But there are some of you who do not believe.” (For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.)
⁶⁵ And he said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.”
⁶⁶ After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him.

John 15:18-25: ¹⁸ “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.”
¹⁹ If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.
²⁰ Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.
²¹ But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me.
²² If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin.
²³ Whoever hates me hates my Father also.
²⁴ If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin, but now they have seen and hated both me and my Father.
²⁵ But the word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled: ‘They hated me without a cause.’

Acts 7:51-60: ⁵¹ “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you.”
Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered,
You who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it.
⁵⁴ Now when they heard these things they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at him.
⁵⁵ But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.
⁵⁶ And he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”
⁵⁷ But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together at him.
⁵⁸ Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul.
⁵⁹ And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”
⁶⁰ Then falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep.

Romans 11:1-10: ¹ I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! For I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin.
God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew.
³ “Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life.”
⁴ But what is God’s reply to him? “I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.”
⁵ So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace.
⁶ But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.
⁷ What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened,
⁸ as it is written, “God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that would not see and ears that would not hear, down to this very day.”
¹⁰ Let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see,
and bend their backs forever.”
¹⁰ Let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see,
and bend their backs forever.”

2 Corinthians 12:7-10: ⁷ So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited.
⁸ Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me.
⁹ But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
¹⁰ For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

1 Peter 2:4-8: ⁴ As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious,
⁵ you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
⁶ For it stands in Scripture: “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”
⁷ So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,”
⁸ and “A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense.” They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.