Stephen accuses the Sanhedrin, 'You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit' (Acts 7:51). The adjective σκληροτράχηλος literally means 'hard-necked,' evoking an ox that refuses the yoke. God repeatedly condemned Israel with this epithet for rebellion in the wilderness (Exodus 32:9, 33:3, 5, 34:9, Deuteronomy 9:6, 13). Stephen applies the Exodus-era indictment to his contemporaries, arguing that resistance to God's messengers constitutes the consistent pattern of Jewish history. His inflammatory rhetoric—comparing the council to their wilderness-wandering ancestors—provokes the rage that leads to his stoning.