Why were the Israelites so "stiff-necked?"

It strikes me as odd, after all the miracles performed by God and his prophet Moses, the Israelites continue to doubt the power which is in the process of freeing them. Understandably, the Israelites first doubt Moses when he first appeals their release before Pharaoh and are given even more work in response; however, it makes little sense that even after the first plague any of God’s chosen people would doubt his power. Turning all the waters of Egypt into blood should astonish anybody into believing that something was happening. 

The Israelites continue to doubt Moses long after the conclusion of the plagues, although they continue to do as they’re told. When the Israelites, fleeing from the armies of Pharaoh, arrive at the coast of the Red Sea, they begin to fear that Moses has led them to their death or recapture. Even after God’s power rescues them by parting the Red Sea and then drowning Pharaoh’s armies, they grumble about being led into the wilderness with no food or water to obtain from the land itself, but God provides for them clean water; enemies gather to fight, but then God’s influence leads the Israelites to victory. Even after all this, they ask for Aaron to create a god for them when Moses stays too long away from them, which in turn angers God and Moses.

God’s purpose throughout the narrative of Exodus has been to prove to the Israelites that he is their Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel come to uphold his covenant with them, and his major struggle (although initially set against the Pharoah) is in fact set against the Israelites, or rather the struggle is against the doubts that the Israelites have against Moses and God himself. The tendency for humans is to turn from the true God, the protagonist of the Bible, and this constant “grumbling” of the Israelite people is symbolic of this eternal struggle. God always has to prove himself, and humans always need convincing.

This struggle against doubt culminates when God finds that the Israelites have begun worshipping a golden calf, an idol that is expressly against his commandments, and berates the Israelites, threatening to destroy them, to Moses, who can only ask forgiveness for the follies of his people. It is strange to see God’s anger grow so great that he threatens to consume the very people he just saved from enslavement. However, God’s anger subsides as he remembers his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Israel.

From a literary perspective the events of Exodus are symbolic of the struggle between the protagonist God and the doubts of the people he would have worship him. His miracles he works through Moses and Aaron are all representation of his desire to show the world the he is the one true God. Even perhaps Moses himself had doubts in at the start.

 

Dozeman, Thomas B. Exodus. 2009.

John Barton, John Muddiman. The Oxford Bible Commentary. OUP Oxford, 2001.

Ryken, Leland and Philip Graham Ryken. The Literary Study Bible ESV. Wheaton: Good News Publishers, 2007.

Shilds, Brevard S. "The Book of Exodus." 1974.