From the very first, Israel was an obstinate and a stubborn and a stiffnecked people. Often they refused to walk in the Lord’s paths which had been shown to them, but chose different ways that led them along the road to sorrow and degradation. This is especially true of the Jews of whose history we have a more or less complete account. (See Commentary on the Book of Mormon,Vol.. I, pp. 470-471)
One may conclude Israel’s moral and mental, yea, its spiritual habits, by reading the words of the prophets describing the workings of the minds of its people. They reveal a gradual and a persistent falling away from the place they occupied as the Lord’s people to the utter despair and anguish of bondage to a Gentile nation.
In referring the reader to the inspired teachings of those servants of God, we do not wish to imply that Israel was always the ungracious recipient of providential care. There were periods of peace and righteous endeavor when they chose to keep God’s commandments, not taking from them or adding thereto, but joyously serving the Lord.
For they were a stiffnecked people.
And the Lord said unto Moses, Depart, and go up hence, thou and the people which thou hast brought up out of the land of Egypt, unto the land which I sware unto Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, Unto thy seed will I give it.
And I will send an angel before thee; ...
Unto a land flowing with milk and honey: for I will not go up in the midst of thee; for thou art a stiffnecked people: lest I consume [destroy] thee in the way. (Ex. 33:1-3)
And be not like your fathers, and like your brethren, which trespassed against the Lord God of their fathers, who therefore gave them up to desolation, as ye see.
Now be ye not stiffnecked, as your fathers were, but yield yourselves unto the Lord, and enter into his sanctuary, which he hath sanctified for ever: and serve the Lord your God, that the fierceness of his wrath may turn away from you. (2 Chr. 30:7-8)
Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised of heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your father did, so do ye. (The Acts 7:51)
The Nephites were also of the House of Israel, and also had frequent periods of apostasy. In the Book of Mormon, we read:
But behold, the Jews were a stiffnecked people; and they despised the words of plainness, and killed the prophets, and sought for things that they could not understand. Wherefore, because of their blindness, which blindness came by looking beyond the mark, they must needs fall; for God hath taken away his plainness from them, and delivered unto them many things which they cannot understand, because they desired it. And because they desired it God hath done it, that they might stumble. (Jacob 4: 14)
And how merciful is our God unto us, for he remembereth the house of Israel, both roots and branches; and he stretches forth his hands unto them all the day long they are a stiffnecked and a gainsaying people; but as many as will not harden their hearts shall be saved in the kingdom of God. (Jacob 6:4)
And there were exceeding many prophets among us. And the people were a stiffnecked people, hard to understand. (Enos 22)
Yet the Lord saw that his people were a stiffnecked people, and he appointed unto them a law, even the law of Moses. (Mosiah 3:14)
O ye wicked and ye perverse generation; ye hardened and ye stiffnecked people, how long will ye suppose that the Lord will suffer you? Yea, how long will ye suffer yourselves to be led by foolish and blind guides? Yea, how long will ye choose darkness rather than light? (Hel. 13:29)
The Savior said to the Nephites,
This much did the Father command me, that I should tell unto them [the Jews at Jerusalem].
That other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also must I bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.
And now, because of stiffneckedness and unbelief they understood not my word; therefore I was commanded to say no more of my Father concerning this thing unto them. (3 Ne. 15:16-18)
There are many more passages in both the Bible and the Book of Mormon which give an understanding of the word stiffnecked, and which show us the mental condition with which it is associated. We herewith note every reference to it made in the Book of Mormon:
Stiff
2 Ne. 28:14 They wear s. necks
Jacob 2:13 And wear s. necks
Stiffen
2 Ne. 10:5 They at Jerusalem will s. their
Stiffened
2 Ne. 6:10 Hardened their hearts and s.
Stiff necked
2 Ne. 25:28 My people, ye are a s. people
Jacob 4:14 The Jews were a s. people
6:4 They were a s. and a gainsaying
Enos 1:22 The people were a s. people
Jarom 1:4 For they are not all s.
4 And as many as are not s.
Omni 1:28 Their leader being a s. man
Mosiah 3:14 Saw that his people were a s.
13:29 For they were a s. people
Alma 9:5 Were a hardhearted and a s.
31 Were a hardhearted and a s.
15:15 Remained a hardhearted and a s.
TB>20:30 More hardhearted and a more s.
26:24 As s. a people as they are
37:10 Many thousands of our s. brethren
Hel. 4:21 Saw that they had been a s. people
5:3 Was not all; they were a s. people
9:21 Yes. people, do ye know how
13:29 Ye hardened and yes. people
Morm. 8:33 O ye wicked...and s. people
Stiffneckedness
1 Ne. 2:11 Because of the s. of L. and L.
2 Ne. 32:7 Ignorance, and the s. of men
Wrds of Mor. 17 Because of the s. of the people
3 Ne. 15:18 And now because of s. and unbelief
Stiffness
2 Ne. 25:12 And the s. of their necks
Jarom 3 And the s. of their necks
From the foregoing passages of Scripture we can form the final judgment that the Children of Israel were often disobedient to God’s commands, that they were obstinate and stubborn, that they were prone to set up other gods and worship them. The Ten Commandments given them disclose not only they were inclined to follow after false gods of whom they made images to worship, but they were also breakers of the Sabbath. They took oaths to the Egyptian gods carelessly, and with little meaning, and thought little or nothing of committing the several vices forbidden in the last of the commandments.
In short, the Book of Mormon, itself, gives in a very few words, the sum and substance of Israel’s faults and its failings, and also that it was because of these transgressions that God gave unto them the Law of Moses to guide them, and to which He demanded obedience. It says of the Children of Israel, “For they were a stiffnecked people, quick to do iniquity, and slow to remember the Lord their God.”