“Prayer Against Fiery Serpents” Num. 21:4-9

“And the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, and many people of Israel died.” Num. 21:6

They just saw God do a wonderful miracle for them and destroy king Arad and his people and Hormah and now they are discouraged because the road is a little rough, it wasn’t paved! How is the road God has given you to travel, a little rough today, some pot holes in the way, maybe a few ruts, maybe some roadblocks or construction or even a detour. Why do we feel that when God sends us on a journey it has to be a smooth ride? I am reading a book by Nik Ripkin entitled, “The Insanity of Obedience” it’s a follow-up to his book “The Insanity of God.” Those two books will change your life or your outlook on life, I guarantee it! God tells us to ‘GO!’ He doesn’t necessarily tell us to come back. The Jewish people were tired of the ‘Manna’ they said, “Our soul loathes (kuts – abhors, a sickening dread, to the point of vomiting and gaging) this light (kel-o-kal, contemptible, worthless, despicable) bread (lech-em) bread, food, grain.” I can’t even imagine uttering those words to a spiritual leader, let alone to God for His provision!

Now look at Num. 21:5, “And the people spoke against (Elohim, the God of creation) and against Moses (their prophet, lawgiver, and leader) (God first, then Moses) Why have you brought us up out of Egypt (Mits-rah-im)to die (muth – to be executed) in this wilderness (mid-bar, uninhabited land) for there is no bread, nor water and our soul (neh-fesh, life, the inner-man, life’s blood) loathes this light bread (manna).” Talk about being ungrateful, and how did the LORD respond? Did He tell Moses, “You better talk with your people!” NO! The LORD sent fiery serpents, v.6 and they bit the people and many died. How many, (rav – much, many, numerous) exceedingly abundant, a great many. So, how many serpents did God send to the 2.5 to 3 million Jewish people, 100, 200 or 500,000? We don’t know, but we do know that a great many people died and many more were bitten.

“Therefore,” v.7 – “The people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD and against thee! Pray unto the LORD, that He take away the serpents from us, and Moses prayed for the people.” Why couldn’t they pray for themselves, maybe that’s why the LORD didn’t take away the serpents. In fact there are many poisonous vipers in Israel and the Sinai desert today. The ‘Burrowing Asp‘ whose venom ranks as the 3rd most toxic in the world and has a side stabbing fang to hit you, so it doesn’t even have to open its mouth; The ‘Palestinian Viper‘ is nocturnal and rather placid during the daytime and strikes very quickly; The ‘Horned Desert Viper‘ is nocturnal and burrows in the dirt and usually strikes when it is stepped on; The ‘Puff Adder‘ is nocturnal, hiding from the sun and heat, is not shy when approached and will strike quickly; The ‘Saw-Caled Viper‘ is small but extremely dangerous and attacks any intruders, many deaths are attributed to this viper; The ‘Desert Cobra‘ is entirely black, and very aggressive, its venom is highly toxic, it will raise its head to strike but has no hood; The ‘Field Horned Viper‘ its venom is more like a cobra than a viper, and no anti- venom exists, so if you get bit you will die and it’s not pleasant. That’s seven the number of perfection, want to go for a hike in the Sinai peninsula next time we go to Israel? I don’t think this is all of them either, then you have the scorpions, spiders and lizards and most of them are nocturnal, meaning they come out at night while you are sleeping.

So, the LORD tells Moses to make a fiery serpent (sa-raf) poisonous serpent, fiery from the burning effects of the venom, and set it or mount it on a pole (nas) an ensign, standard, signal pole, something lifted up, a rallying point, or token to be seen far off. Then when someone is bitten, when they look at it or behold it with faith believing, they will be healed. There is the key, with faith believing or saving faith! You could look at that serpent all day but if you didn’t believe, the venom would kill you. It is the same with Jesus on the cross, you can look all you want, but unless you look with faith believing, the venom of sin will kill you. It’s one thing to look at a bridge, it’s quite another thing to believe the bridge will hold you up, so you must step on it to prove it! You see without faith it is impossible to please God, but without risk, faith is impossible, so you have to step out!

The serpent here is a symbol of sin judged, bronze speaks of the divine manifestation in judgement as in the brazen altar. Now it must be noted that brass is an alloy of ‘copper and zinc’ and was not introduced until the 13th century. So what is referred to in the KJV Bible is bronze an alloy of ‘copper and tin’ but don’t get hung up on semantics. It’s still a sign of God’s divine judgement whether it is bronze or brass. So, let the knit pickers pick nits and let’s pick some fruit, O.K.? It also speaks of self-judgement as in the laver or basin of bronze or brass. The bronze serpent is a type of Christ, “Made sin for us” in bearing our judgement on Calvary; John 3:14-15, “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up; That whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” The key is found in II Cor. 5:17-21 and the word ‘Reconciliation’ (ka-tal-la-gay) the exchanged life, translated ‘atonement’ in Rom. 5:11. “He took our hell so that we might have His heaven!” “He took our sin and gave us His righteous standing before His Father.” “He took our rags, our (shamatahs), and gave us His robes of righteousness.” Can you fathom all of this? I can’t! Historically, this moment of time is recorded in His cry, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani – My God, My God, why have you forsaken (abandoned) Me?” Matt. 27:46. Because at that moment the ‘Son of Man’ became the ‘Sin of man’ and God had to look away because, “He is of purer eyes than to behold evil and cannot look at sin.” Hab. 1:13.

The serpent, Satan’s tool in Gen. 3 is cursed in v.14 and becomes God’s graphic warning in nature of the effects of sin, from the most beautiful and subtle creature to a loathsome reptile striking at your heels. The deepest mysteries of the cross of Christ are strikingly pictured by the serpent of bronze ‘Nehushtan‘ a type of Christ, “Made sin for us” in bearing the judgement we deserved. God never took away the serpents in Num. 21, He gave them a cure. Interesting, today doctors use the same symbol to identify their profession, a serpent on a pole, and sometimes two on one pole. The ‘W.H.O.’ and the ‘A.M.A.’ logos and even the ‘Star of Life’ on the ambulances have one snake wrapped around a pole. The pole is an (asklepian) or the rod of Asclepius, the son of Apollo, the god of medicine. The snake symbolizes rejuvenation, getting a new skin, or healing from snake bites, a very common ailment, or anti-venom, or the medicinal properties of snake venom. The ‘Caduceus’ with two snakes and wings is often used in the USA since 1900. However, the oldest symbol we have is Num. 21:8 with Moses and the nation of Israel.

Over 700 years later under the reign of King Hezekiah who reigned over Judah, a revival broke out and he destroyed the ‘Brazen Serpent’ Moses made which the children of Israel worshipped and burned incense to. He called it “Nehushtan – A thing of brass or bronze.” II Kings 18:4. By then they actually had a serpent cult in Israel and Hezekiah had to destroy it. So, we have to be careful with tradition, symbols and order that they are not worshipped as ritual. We need to search our lives and churches to see if there are any bronze things,  ‘Nehushtans’ that need to be broken in pieces. Till next time, I’ll see you, “…Between The Lines…”

“Prayer Against Fiery Serpents” Num. 21:4-9