Deuteronomy 31:27

27 For I know thy provocation, and thy stiff neck; for yet during my life with you at this day, ye have been provoking in your conduct toward God: how shall ye not also be so after my death?

Deuteronomy 31:27 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 31:27

For I know thy rebellion and thy stiff neck
How rebellious they were against the Lord and his laws, and how unwilling they were to admit the yoke of his commandments to be put upon them, and submit to it; this he had an experience of for forty years past:

behold, while I am yet alive with you this day, ye have been
rebellious against the Lord;
murmuring at his providences, ( Exodus 16:8 Exodus 16:12 ) ( 17:3 ) , speaking against his ministers, ( Exodus 16:2 ) ( Numbers 12:1 ) ( Numbers 14:2 ) ( Numbers 16:3 Numbers 16:41 ) ( 20:2 ) ; breaking his laws, particularly being guilty of idolatry, in making and worshipping the golden calf, ( Exodus 32:8 ) ; and even now, as in ( Deuteronomy 31:21 ) , were imagining, forming, and framing in their minds something of the same kind, from the time of their coming out of Egypt unto this time they were now on the borders of Canaan; this had all along been their character; see ( Deuteronomy 9:7 Deuteronomy 9:24 ) ;

and how much more after my death?
When he would be no more with them to instruct and advise them, to caution and reprove them, and to keep them in awe by his authority.

Deuteronomy 31:27 In-Context

25 then he charged the Levites who bear the ark of the covenant of the Lord, saying,

26 Take the book of this law, and ye shall put it in the side of the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God; and it shall be there among you for a testimony.

27 For I know thy provocation, and thy stiff neck; for yet during my life with you at this day, ye have been provoking in your conduct toward God: how shall ye not also be so after my death?

28 Gather together to me the heads of your tribes, and your elders, and your judges, and your officers, that I may speak in their ears all these words; and I call both heaven and earth to witness against them.

29 For I know that after my death ye will utterly transgress, and turn aside out of the way which I have commanded you; and evils shall come upon you in the latter days, because ye will do evil before the Lord, to provoke him to anger by the works of your hands. And Moses spoke all the words of this song even to the end, in the ears of the whole assembly.