Moses & The Bronze Serpent on a Pole Painting by Peter Paul Rubens The Courtauld, London Image may be copyright
Rebellion Against God In The Desert
The journey from Egypt to the Promised Land was fraught with difficulties that God used to test the Israelites to see if they would trust him. It was one thing to get the Israelites out of Egypt, but another to get Egypt out of the Israelites. Every time they were faced with an obstacle, like lack of water or food, they complained to Moses and said they wished they had never left Egypt.
Numbers 21:4-7 They travelled from Mount Hor along the route to the Red Sea, to go around Edom. But the people grew impatient on the way; they spoke against God and against Moses, and said, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!”
Then the Lord sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died. The people came to Moses and said, “We sinned when we spoke against the Lord and against you. Pray that the Lord will take the snakes away from us.”
A Bronze Snake Brings Healing & Life
The Saharan Sand Viper is able to hide itself and lie in wait for unsuspecting prey
Numbers 21:8-9 So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, they lived.
In John 3:14 Jesus tells Nicodemus a riddle when he says:" Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.” He meant that just as it took faith on the part of the Israelites for them to look to the bronze snake on a pole and believe God would heal them of the venom and save their lives, so it takes faith on the part of sinners like us to admit that Jesus' death on the cross was to save us from dying and going to a Christless eternity in hell.
NOTE: When Jesus died on the Cross, Satan thought he had just killed God. But the Resurrection three days later showed that Jesus is very much alive and it was the Snake that sealed its death warrant that Friday. It really was Good Friday!
Jesus is still healing and saving from death all who look to him and believe in him.
When A Blessing Becomes An Idol
Replica of Nehushtan, the bronze snake that became an idol on Mount Nebo Photo: Wikipedia
In 2 Kings 18:3-6 we read that when Hezekiah became king, he instigated radical religious reforms, tearing down the altars to Baal and the sacred Asherah poles the Israelites had been worshipping. He also smashed the bronze serpent which Moses had made when the Israelites were crossing the desert, because it had become an idol the people had worshipped called Nehushtan (meaning either serpent or brazen).
It was a warning that something God had given them as a blessing for faith had become an idol, which the children of Israel worshipped in place of the God who had delivered them from death and slavery.