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Context No. 2164 of 4322 · Numbers

Context · Reflection

Numbers 21:6-15: in context

6The LORD sent venomous snakes among the people, and they bit the people. Many people of Israel died. 7The people came to Moses, and said, “We have sinned, because we have spoken against the LORD and against you. Pray to the LORD, that he take away the serpents from us.” Moses prayed for the people. 8The LORD said to Moses, “Make a venomous snake, and set it on a pole. It shall happen that everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.” 9Moses made a serpent of bronze, and set it on the pole. If a serpent had bitten any man, when he looked at the serpent of bronze, he lived. 10The children of Israel traveled, and encamped in Oboth. 11They traveled from Oboth, and encamped at Iyeabarim, in the wilderness which is before Moab, toward the sunrise. 12From there they traveled, and encamped in the valley of Zered. 13From there they traveled, and encamped on the other side of the Arnon, which is in the wilderness that comes out of the border of the Amorites; for the Arnon is the border of Moab, between Moab and the Amorites. 14Therefore it is said in The Book of the Wars of the LORD, “Vaheb in Suphah, the valleys of the Arnon, 15the slope of the valleys that incline toward the dwelling of Ar, leans on the border of Moab.”

When the people of Israel speak against God and Moses in the wilderness, venomous snakes come among them, and many are bitten and die. The people confess their sin and beg Moses to pray. And God gives a strange remedy: make a bronze serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, will live. Moses does so, and it happens just as God said: those bitten by the snakes had only to look at the bronze serpent on the pole, and they lived. Healing came not by their own effort, but simply by looking, in faith, to what God had provided.

The remedy God gave is striking in its simplicity. The dying did not have to do anything to earn their healing, did not have to work or strive or make themselves worthy; they had only to look at the bronze serpent lifted up on the pole, and they lived. Healing came by looking, by a simple turning of the eyes in faith to what God had provided. It was entirely God's provision; their part was only to look. And the ones who looked, however weak, however far gone, lived. This is a picture that Jesus himself takes up and applies to his own cross. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, he says, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. The bronze serpent lifted on the pole foreshadows Christ lifted up on the cross; and as the dying Israelites looked to the serpent and lived, so those dying in sin are called to look, in faith, to Christ lifted up, and live. Salvation, like that healing, comes not by our own effort or worthiness but by looking in faith to what God has provided, to Christ crucified for us. This is deeply freeing. Like the bitten Israelites, we are dying, unable to save ourselves, with no work we can do to heal ourselves of sin and death. And the remedy God provides is not something we must achieve but something we must simply look to: Christ lifted up, to whom we turn the eyes of faith and live. Look to me, God says through Isaiah, and be saved, all the ends of the earth. Salvation is by looking, by faith, to what God has provided in Christ, not by our own striving. This assures the dying and the helpless. If we feel we are dying in our sin, unable to save ourselves, with nothing we can do, the bronze serpent points us to the remedy: look, in faith, to Christ lifted up, and live. However weak our faith, however far gone we are, the one who looks to Christ lives, as the one who looked to the serpent lived. I, if I am lifted up, Jesus says, will draw all people to myself. The dying Israelites looked to the lifted serpent and lived; and we, dying in sin, are called to look in faith to Christ lifted up on the cross, and receive from him the life we could never achieve ourselves.

When I feel I am dying in my sin, unable to save myself with no work I can do to heal myself, can the bronze serpent lifted on the pole, to which the dying had only to look and live, point me to Christ lifted up on the cross, as Jesus himself taught, so that I look in faith not to my own effort or worthiness but to what God has provided, receiving from the crucified Christ the life I could never achieve myself?

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