Commentary
GOD spoke to Moses, informing him of the sin of the Israelites, His people had strayed from the path the prophet had shown them. They soon forgot the works of their GOD who had saved them and delivered them from slavery. No wickedness in the world was hidden from them, and not even the prayer of Moses could save them on this occasion.
So Moses invokes the glory of GOD, because Praising and Glorifying the Name should always be the first thing we say with humility to the Lord, and then give Him thanks and supplication. This is a good way to execute our prayer, and see for ourselves the power of prayer. In answer to Moses’ prayers, GOD showed His purpose to spare the people, whereas before He seemed determined to destroy them. The people once again proved to be stiff-necked, soon forgot the favors they had received, and too quickly remembered how to go astray, deviate from righteousness, and thereby sin.
Meaning of “stiff necked People”
In Hebrew originally qesheh `oreph, literally, of “stiff-necked,” used figuratively, both in the Old Testament and the New Testament. The word therefore means “stubborn,” “intractable,” “not allowing himself to be led.” But this derivation was entirely familiar to the daily life of the Jews, where the ox was considered the most useful of domestic animals, used for agricultural purposes such as plowing (Judges 14:18; 1 Corinthians 9:9). The plow was usually pulled by two oxen, with the plowman needing only one hand to guide the implement, and in the other he carried an object called the “ox pole,” a light wood with an iron nail. With this he would prod the oxen on their hind legs to increase their speed, and on their necks to turn, or to keep a straight course when they deviated. If an ox was hard to control or obstinate, it was “stiff-necked,” and hence in a figurative sense this wording has been used in the Holy Scriptures to express the stubborn and immovable spirit of a people who do not respond to the guidance of their God (Exodus 32:9; 33:3; Deuteronomy 9:6; 2 Chronicles 36:13; Jeremiah 17:23, etc. ) See also the New Testament where sklerotrachelos, is so translated (Acts 7:51), “You hard-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, always resist the Holy Spirit.” Compare Baruch 2:30,33.
Conclusions
GOD claims: “Your people”… “Thine,” no longer “mine,” for it has broken the covenant that united us; but still “thine,” however sinful, the bond of blood (as between father and sons) cannot be undone.
We demonstrate too often that we are like animals (in this case like stubborn oxen), instead of thinking, Spirit-filled human beings, and the Bible and all the Holy Scriptures are full of examples like this one from the Book of Exodus.
Yet we are slowly improving, GOD’s People are growing and studying, understanding and repenting more than in the past, and the proof of this is in our evolution, but we must continue to strive. There is no end to improvement, we are hard-nosed, we must remember this when we make mistakes, understand to continue to ascend. May IDDIO guide everyone to change, improve and remember past mistakes so we don’t make them in the future. Amen.
