What does the Bible say about being stubborn / stubbornness?

Response

“Stubborn as a mule” is a well-known saying. The Bible mentions mules and their stubbornness in Psalm 32:9: “Do not be like the horse or the mule, which have no understanding but must be controlled by bit and bridle.” When it comes to obeying God’s commands, we should not be stubborn, obstinate, or intractable. We must not turn away or “stiffen our necks.” Instead, we should learn to yield and be pliable in His hands. It is not our desire for God to use the bit and bridle on us.

The Bible recounts instances of stubborn, mule-like behavior in humans. In the Old Testament, Pharaoh was famously stubborn (Exodus 7:13-14), but his stubbornness did not benefit himself or his nation. However, stubbornness was also evident later in the nation of Israel, God’s chosen people, who repeatedly rebelled against God, turning away from His love and protection. In fact, the Hebrew word translated as “stubborn” means “turned away, morally obstinate, rebellious, and backsliding.”

The Old Testament tells the tragic story of the Jews who stubbornly turned away from God, forgot His deeds, disobeyed His laws, and worshiped foreign gods. In Deuteronomy 9, Moses recalls Israel’s stubbornness regarding the golden calf they crafted at Mount Sinai. At that time, God had said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, they are a stubborn people” «Furthermore the LORD spake unto me, saying, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people: », (Deuteronomy 9:13, ESV). God’s anger was so intense that He had contemplated annihilating the people entirely due to their stubborn, stiff-necked behavior (verse 14).

God views stubbornness as a significant sin, to the extent that He included what may seem today as an excessively harsh punishment for it.

For a stubborn and rebellious son. If a son refused to obey his parents, would not respond to discipline, and led a dissolute life, the parents were to bring him to the elders of his city and “all the men of his town are to stone him to death. You must purge the evil from among you. All Israel will hear of it and be afraid” «And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die: so shalt thou put evil away from among you; and all Israel shall hear, and fear. », (Deuteronomy 21:21). Stubbornness and defiance of God and His ordained authority is a serious offense, one that can spread like poison throughout a community. The Mosaic Law against stubbornness was designed to stop that spread.

In the New Testament, we see more examples of stubbornness. When Jesus healed a man with a withered hand on the Sabbath, the Pharisees’ hardness of heart grieved and angered Jesus. Instead of praising the Lord for His healing power and acknowledging their Messiah, the Pharisees’ rebellious hearts caused them to try to kill Him (Mark 3:1-6). As Stephen was closing his speech before the Sanhedrin, he upbraided them for their foolhardy stubbornness: “You stiff-necked people! Your hearts and ears are still uncircumcised. You are just like your ancestors: You always resist the Holy Spirit!” «Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye. », (Acts 7:51).

When Paul preached to the Jews in Corinth, they continued to reject the message of salvation through Jesus Christ. For three months Paul reasoned with them in their synagogue, but “some of them became obstinate; they refused to believe and publicly maligned the Way” «But when divers were hardened, and believed not, but spake evil of tThat way before the multitude, he departed from them, and separated the disciples, disputing daily in the school of one Tyrannus.” (Acts 19:9). As a result, Paul took the disciples and left the rejecters of the good news in their stubbornness and unbelief.

Unfortunately, this is the fate that awaits all those who persist in rejecting Christ. God will eventually turn them over to the hardness of their hearts and no longer plead with them. The sad result of such mulish obstinacy is made clear in Romans 2:5: “Because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed.”