reject, push away

Definition

To "push away" or "reject" someone means to refuse to accept that person. To reject God means to refuse to obey him.

The term "reject" can also mean to "refuse to believe in" something.
When the Israelites rejected Moses' leadership, they were actually rejecting God; they showed this through their idol worship and other sins.
The term "push away" is the literal meaning of this Greek word. Other languages may have a similar idiom that means to reject or refuse to believe someone or something.