A Stiff-Necked People

And the Lord said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people:
Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation.

-- Exodus 32: 9-10 (KJV)

The adjective "stiff-necked" was coined by William Tyndale for his 1526 translation of the Acts of the Apostles (7: 51), but the phrase "stiffnecked people" (sans hyphen) first appears here, and it will be applied again and again to the obstreperous Israelites.

Their necks are called "stiff" because they won't bend to God's will, in this case his commandment against graven images. As he sees the Israelites eat, drink, and make merry in the company of their new golden god, Yahweh cuts short his conference with Moses and vows to wipe out the entire crew.

But Moses defends his people, despite God's offer to make a "great nation" of his progeny. He argues that Israel's destruction will only comfort Yahweh's Egyptian enemies and reminds him of his promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The Lord listens to reason and "repents" of "the evil which he thought to do unto his people" (Exodus 32: 14).

But Moses is almost as angry with his people as Yahweh was. When he witnesses their vile behavior with his own two eyes, he flies into a rage, smashing the two tablets on which God had inscribed the Ten Commandments -- thus symbolically breaking the whole of the covenant his stiff-necked people partly violated in the golden calf incident.

Then, as his anger "waxe[s] hot" (verse 19), Moses seizes the golden bull and tosses it in a fire, which seems to char rather than melt it, since Moses then grinds it into powder. Mixing the powder with water, he forces the sinning Israelites to drink the potion, which I expect made them thoroughly sick.

Even this, however, isn't enough for Moses. Calling out to the camp, he demands to know who is with the Lord and who is against him. Only the priestly tribe of Levi pledges their allegiance, and when they have gathered around, Moses orders them to "slay every man his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbor" (verse 27), which they promptly do. Three thousand Israelites die.

As a reward, Moses confers Yahweh's blessing upon the Levites and then returns to Mount Sinai. There, Yahweh promises to send an "Angel" before the people so that they'll have no further use for idols. But he also vows to be revenged upon any future stiff-necked sinners. He won't have long to wait.

 
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Michael Macrone is Associate Site Producer of GraceCom and the author of nine books on language, literature, and ideas, including the best-selling Brush Up Your Shakespeare!