Intractable according to Dictionary.com: 

Adjective: not easily controlled or directed; not docile or manageable; stubborn; obstinate:

In my use of the word intractable there may be some that are confused by its use in context with the Tabernacle used in the Exodus. I simply meant that the Tabernacle housing the Ark of the Covenant was meant to go with us as we follow God. Given that the tablets of the law were housed in the Ark, it might appear to some that I was calling the law intractable. I have a different word for that; legalistic.

I do not wish to convey to anyone the term legalist. In order to persuade you that it is not my desire to call anyone a legalist, allow me to recount some of the laws that should result in death. These are in order of appearance in the Old Testament.

Exodus 21:29 if an animal is known to be dangerous and the owner does not control the animal and it kills anyone, the animal and the owner shall be put to death.

Exodus 35:2 anyone who works on the Sabbath shall be put to death.

Leviticus 24:16 anyone who blasphemes the name of the Lord shall be put to death.

Leviticus 24:21 anyone who kills shall be put to death

Numbers 1:51 a stranger who comes anywhere near the wilderness tabernacle shall be put to death

Numbers 3:10 a stranger who tries to serve the night priest shall be put to death

Numbers 3:38 a stranger that approaches the sanctuary of the Lord shall be put to death

Numbers 18:7 a stranger that comes to serve as a priest shall be put to death

Deuteronomy 13:5 a false prophet shall be put to death

I think that is enough. You get the idea of intractable. It is not by accident that I end this list with Deuteronomy 13:5 as this very “law” was cited in accusing Jesus and trying to stone Him to death.

Matthew 23:23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.

The “weightier matters of the law” cannot be understood without the help of God who has sent His Spirit to abide in us in Truth to keep us from becoming intractable. We are meant to go with God.

1 Corinthians 10:13 No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

Break this down into its component parts. Temptation first overpowers us, it happens to all of us. Then we see that God has provided a way to escape. Sadly we have to endure that temptation that has a grip on us until we discover His escape plan.

The power of temptation is hidden from us until God shows us we are being held captive. Escape plans only work for prisoners. What? Me? Really, I am a prisoner? In some cases the insidious plans of the enemy are so sly we do not even know we are infected until we start to exhibit symptoms of the disease.

2 Corinthians 2:11 so that we would not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs.

We might know his designs but the cunning devil uses temptations to outwit us and we will begin to act in a manner that is inconsistent with our abiding love.

Psalm 73:22 I was brutish and ignorant; I was like a beast toward you.

We are not animals but when we begin to act like animals, then something is wrong. The power of temptation will lie to us and say “God made you this way, you can’t help yourself.” That is when the Holy Spirit reveals the truth and says, “You are a child of God, act like it.”

Acts 21:28 crying out, “Men of Israel, help! This is the man who is teaching everyone everywhere against the people and the law and this place. Moreover, he even brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place.”

Those priestly men set up a permanent structure to house their most sacred relic, the Ark of the Covenant. They designed its structure after the wilderness tabernacle. What they failed to recognize was that the wilderness tabernacle was a temporary place that was never meant to be unmovable. In creating a building to house the Ark, they made His law intractable.

• Romans 8:3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh,
• Hebrews 7:28 For the law appoints men in their weakness as high priests, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made perfect forever.

The temporary was replaced by the permanent.