By associating the wild branches with the adopted Gentiles, the idea that they replaced the top branches that were cut off is perhaps significant. Verse 9 explains that the wild olive branches replaced the cut-off main branches at the top of the tree—Israel’s leaders. Thus, the Gentiles are not only grafted on to the tree but are assigned a position of leadership. This in-grafting thus prophesies the shift from the lineage of Abraham to the Gentiles who have been adopted into Israel. The covenant is now in the care of the adoptees, not the original inheritors.