The Bronze Serpent
Posted By Joe on January 30, 2009
We've talked previously about seemingly strange passages in the Old Testament and wonder why that story, etc., was in there. The Cities of Refuge was one of those.
Another strange passage is in Numbers 21. It starts off by describing how the people of Israel were complaining about the journey out of Egypt to the Promised Land. There was a lot of complaining during that trip!
Then they set out from Mount Hor by the way of the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; and the people became impatient because of the journey." --Numbers 21:4.
Scripture always has practical lessons for us if we just look hard enough. How often do we complain about our life's journey? "God, you're taking too long to get me out of this financial mess I'm in." "God, why am I in this crummy job? Can't you get me out of here?" You get the picture. Yes, God wants to hear about problems we're having. He tells us to cast our burdens upon Him because He cares for us (1 Peter 5:7). But it's the lack of faith that I believe makes God angry with us.
The people spoke against God and Moses, "Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this miserable food." --Numbers 21:5.
Wow. Did you get that? Not only were they complaining to Moses, but they were speaking against God! Remember, these are the people who witnessed God's divine intervention in getting them out of the miserable conditions they were in for years. They saw the parting of the Red Sea! They saw the Egyptians get swallowed up by the Red Sea after they passed through safely! And they think that God did all that to bring them out into the desert and abandon them?
What is also key here is that they were tired of the "miserable food." The miserable food here is the manna that God sustained them with. The manna is symbolic of Christ, the Bread of Life. If you understand this, then God's reaction makes sense.
The Lord sent fiery serpents among the people and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. So the people came to Moses and said, "We have sinned, because we have spoken against the Lord and you; intercede with the Lord, that He may remove the serpents from us." And Moses interceded for the people. --Numbers 21:6-7.
The word serpent is defined as "to creep." It can also mean "a noxious creature that creeps...or stings." Or "a treacherous person." In some cases, this is how sin works in our lives: it creeps in. Just like in the Garden of Eden, Eve was there, minding her own business, and before she knew it, sin--through the serpent--just crept in and brought her and Adam down (and all of humanity). I believe that the serpents in this passage are symbolic of sin. Indeed, the "wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23). The people sinned, they were bitten by serpents, and they died.
African Asp
Israel reacted like anyone would who suffers the consequences of sin: you ask for forgiveness. God hears the intercessional prayer of Moses and,
Then the Lord said to Moses, "Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a standard; and it shall come about, that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, he shall live." And Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on the standard; and it came about, then if a serpent bit any man, when he looked to the bronze serpent, he lived. --Numbers 21:8-9.
Strange solution don't you think? Let's dig into it a little deeper. First for the material: bronze. Bronze is a metal alloy made primarily of copper but also has other elements. It is not a "pure" metal. God doesn't have a high regard for the metal bronze.
All of them are stubbornly rebellious, going about as a talebearer. They are bronze and iron; they, all of them, are corrupt. --Jeremiah 6:28.
In other words, the people are not like pure gold, they are defiled, ignoble and impure. This is what is going on in Numbers.
As for the standard, this is something lifted up like a signal, signal pole, ensign, banner, sign, rallying point, or a warning.
Lastly, the text implies that one must have faith to be healed. It says in verse 9 that when anyone "looked to the bronze serpent, he lived." The word "looked" is the Hebrew word "nabat," which means to look or to regard, to pay attention to. This isn't a quick glance, it's a meaningful consideration of the object.
So this is an interesting story in the Old Testament. But it's strange. Ah! But let's put Christ in the midst of it. Jesus Himself referred to this passage!
"As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life." --John 3:14-15.
So, as we suggested, the serpents were symbolic of sin. Moses symbolically puts "sin" on the standard so that whomever looks upon it, they lived. Jesus, in this passage of John, is telling Nicodemus that He will be lifted up on the cross soon, and that who ever believes in His sacrifice, will have eternal life, i.e., he lives!
He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. --2 Corinthians 5:21
Christ took our sins (our serpents) upon Himself so that we may live.
A word of caution that is sometimes overlooked when talking about Moses and the serpent. There is a epilogue to this found in 2 Kings, talking about King Hezekiah.
He removed the high places and broke down the sacred pillars and cut down the Asherah. He also broke in pieces, the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the sons of Israel burned incense to it; and it was called Nehushtan. --2 Kings 18:4.
"Nehushtan" means "a mere piece of bronze." 700 years after the people were saved by looking at the bronze serpent, it had become an idol. Instead of the people realizing that it was God who healed them through their obedience, they fell into idol worship. Anything that takes worship away from God can be considered an idol. Even good things--the bronze serpent was a good thing--can become idols.
May He Increase!
About the author
Joe,
Great post!
Indeed, "anything can become an idol...even good things."
I have been guilty of fashioning idols out of many things...some good, some not. My own children for example. Sometimes things in our lives just take over...often before we even realize it.
It gives one pause. As it ought!
Nice job, Joe!
Thank you, Steve.
I agree, especially with our children. My wife and I welcomed our first son on Christmas Day 2007. Truly a gift from God in so many ways. Only now can I appreciate what Abraham must have gone through when, as far as he could see, Isaac was the only way that God would make him "a great nation." So when God asks him to sacrifice his son, "your only son whom you love ..." man, the heartache he must have felt. It's a daily (hourly and minute-by-minute) struggle sometimes to remember that it all belongs to God. It's so difficult sometimes, but you know, I think it also can be really comforting to know that He has it all in His hands.