They were to be the preeminent nation of the earth

“Yahweh will make you the head, and not the tail; and you shall be above only, and you shall not be beneath; if you shall listen to the commandments of Yahweh your God, which I command you this day, to observe and to do them,”
Deut 28:13

It is a great tragedy. The Jews have been unwilling as a group, to listen to their own Lord and God, the One whose name in the Old Testament was Yahweh. When the Lord built them up in Egypt, and delivered them from slavery by many mighty acts, as is recorded in the book of Exodus, even then they were unwilling to give up their own will for God’s will.

Moses spoke of the Jews of his generation

This is from the Song of Moses which he spoke to the entire assembly.

“5 They have dealt corruptly with him, they are not his children, it is their blemish;
They are a perverse and crooked generation.
6 Do you thus requite Yahweh,
Foolish people and unwise?
Isn’t he your father who has bought you?
He has made you, and established you.”
Deut 32:5-6

Again Moses spoke of these things.

“He said, I will hide my face from them,
I will see what their end shall be:
For they are a very perverse generation,
Children in whom is no faithfulness.”
Deut 32:20

Moses had already made it clear that the worse was yet to come for the Jews.

“For I know your rebellion, and your stiff neck: behold, while I am yet alive with you this day, you have been rebellious against Yahweh; and how much more after my death?”
Deut 31:27

Then began a descent into seeking other gods and other spirits. This is a side of Judaism which has never entirely gone away, and influences much of their behavior, even to this day.

God says He has tried to change them

Seven centuries later, Isaiah comments on their sidetracks into the occult.

“2 I have spread out my hands all the day to a rebellious people, who walk in a way that is not good, after their own thoughts; 3 a people who provoke me to my face continually, sacrificing in gardens, and burning incense on bricks; 4 who sit among the graves, and lodge in the secret places; who eat pig’s flesh, and broth of abominable things is in their vessels; 5 who say, Stand by yourself, don’t come near to me, for I am holier than you. These are a smoke in my nose, a fire that burns all the day.”
Isa 65:2-5

Then they tried to turn their obedience into
human tradition rule keeping

And they put their human rules above God’s rules.

Then when their Lord and Messiah came,
they murdered Him.

He wept for them.

“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, that kills the prophets, and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, like a hen gathers her own brood under her wings, and you refused!”
Lk 13:34

This situation will last indefinitely. However,

Only the truth will make the Jews free, Jn 8:32

Scriptures are from the World English Bible (WEB), a copyright free revision
of the original ASV American Standard Version 1901