You should know that not because of your righteousness does Hashem your G-d give this good Land to possess it, for you are a stiff-necked people.[2]
We’ve heard that criticism before. When Hashem had to inform Moshe atop Har Sinai about the tragic events below at the Eigel, He included it. “I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people.”[3] It seems that stubbornness is the fatal flaw of our nation.
How, then, does Moshe try to turn vice into virtue? In the aftermath of the Eigel, Moshe pleads for Hashem to continue leading the people from within the camp. “Let my Lord go among us, for it is a stiff-necked people, and You shall forgive our iniquity.”[4] How can Moshe use our major fault as an argument for forgiveness?
A solution to this puzzle can be found in the observations of the Maasei Hashem.[5] Stubbornness can be a good thing, or a bad thing. It depends when. He differentiates between “initial” and “subsequent” forms of kashyus oref.
Some people will believe most anything they are told. Today, you can convince them that there is a One Creator of the universe, and they will believe you. Tomorrow, you can extoll the virtues of worshipping some competing deity – and they will believe that as well. Only fools uncritically accept all that they are told. “A fool will believe anything.”[6]It is good that people should be slow to accept new ideas.
On the other hand, some are so stubborn that they reject everything that sounds novel to them, even after being given enough evidence to get them over the hurdle of their skepticism. Their rejection is a given, regardless of what they have seen or heard. This is a bad thing.
Best is to apply stubbornness selectively. Resist that which makes no initial sense – at least until you are satisfied with the evidence. Once you have accepted it, however, doggedly persist in that belief.
This is what Moshe argued to HKBH: “You say that You can no longer abide the lack of emunah of the people. True – they have been slow to accept all of Your expectations, even after witnessing all the miracles and signs You provided for them. But the story should not end there. They may be stubborn, but they are not incorrigible. Once they fully come around to emunah, it will be unshakeable. They will stubbornly refuse to give up that emunah, regardless of what happens to them! Therefore, You should davka continue to be among us. First, because without it, they have no chance of becoming the believers that You want. Second, because when they do come around, they will remain steadfast in their belief and loyalty till the end of time.”
We can now understand our pasuk as well. On the face of things, it presents a non sequitur: How does their stiff-neckedness prove their lack of righteousness? What Hashem may mean is: “I will prove to you that it is not any righteousness on your part that endears you to Me! You [or your previous generation] did not become righteous when it was treated to all the evidence of My existence and concern for you. You were slow to arrive at emunah because you are so stubborn, that you did not develop emunah as you should have!”
Rav Acha bar Yaakov[7] famously teaches that Hashem’s holding the mountain over our heads offered the Bnei Yisrael a powerful moda’ah/excuse for non-compliance with the Law. Moda’ah actually means giving notice of intention to invalidate a transaction. The people’s stubbornness itself was the notice given! It meant that, no matter what they said, they had not arrived at a place of lasting conviction. Even after being shown the evidence, they still balked at complete acceptance of the Torah, because of their great stubbornness.
Nonetheless, Rava responds. “Not really. They made up for it through their later acceptance. This moda’ah evaporated in the days of Achashverosh, when the people accepted the Torah anew of their own volition. They had arrived at complete emunah, and would never give it up.
At that point, their stubbornness turned into an asset.
- Adapted from Divrei Shaul, by Rav Yosef Shaul Nathanson zt”l, the Shoel U-Meshiv ↑
- Devarim 9:6 ↑
- Shemos 32:9 ↑
- Shemos 34:9 ↑
- Maasei Hashem, Vayishlach, chap. 12 s.v. v’nashuv ↑
- Mishlei 14:15 ↑
- Shabbos 88a ↑