God warned the Israelites not to be taken in by the traditions of peoples who surrounded them. But they were a stiff-necked people and did not obey the LORD.
Instead, many voraciously adopted the evil customs of the cultures in which they resided.
And the LORD said to Moses, "I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people."
Thus says the Lord: "Learn not the way of the nations, nor be dismayed at the signs of the heavens because the nations are dismayed at them, for the customs of the peoples are vanity."
They will leave me and begin worshiping other gods—the false gods of the land where they are going.
Yet they did not listen to their judges, for they whored after other gods and bowed down to them.
And the Lord said to Moses, "…Then this people will rise and whore after the foreign gods among them in the land that they are entering, and they will forsake me and break my covenant that I have made with them. Then my anger will be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them and hide my face from them, and they will be devoured. And many evils and troubles will come upon them, so that they will say in that day, 'Have not these evils come upon us because our God is not among us?' And I will surely hide my face in that day because of all the evil that they have done, because they have turned to other gods.