Numbers 21: Israel fights Amorites; God sends deadly serpents among Israel — and the Cure

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Israel didn’t credit God with the victory over the Amorites and other blessings, namely the coming of manna each morning to feed the people. God sent death amid the people — and the cure in the image of the instrument of that death. There’s an important prophecy about the work of Messiah Yeshua in this account, something Yeshua didn’t want Nicodemus to miss from his studies of the Torah.

Texts: Numbers 21; John 3:14-21; Gen. 3:14-15

Israel fought several wars and took a lot of land before they entered the Holy land. These wars probably occurred towards the end of their travels in the wilderness but we don’t know the time of these wars for certain.

The first war recorded is a war against the Canaanite king of Arad, who had provoked the war by kidnapping a number of Israelites. The Canaanite territory was primarily in the area that we now call the Negev and bordered the lands of Moab and Edom, which were on the west side of the Jordan Valley. 

Despite this great victory, the people of Israel still did not have faith in the success of their journey. They continued to complain against Moses in the same way they have in the past. They complained about the manna, the “miserable food.”

God responded by creating “fiery serpents” (הַנְּחָשִׁים הַשְּׂרָפִים ha-n’khashim ha-s’raphim, Strong’s lexicon Nos. H5172 and H8313) to bite the Israelites and kill them. The people repented and asked for the serpents removed. God did not remove the serpents. Instead, God asked Moses to erect a pole with a bronze serpent on it. Moses told the people that if they looked upon the serpent, they survived the serpent’s bite. 

The messianic references in this text are obvious but also disconcerting. How can Yeshua allow Himself and His mission to be represented as a serpent?

Aaron’s rod was used to kill serpents but God caused it to bloom and come alive as a representation of His right as High Priest over the people. But we can’t forget that its original purpose was to kill snakes and other vermin. 

Yeshua revealed a special part of Himself to Nicodemus, one of the Jewish rulers. It is in the record of this conversation that we discover the connection between Yeshua’s mission and the serpent on the pole in the wilderness. How does this relate to, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son….” (John 3:16)? It was a matter of belief that Yeshua’s sacrifice would bring life and take away condemnation. Looking at a dead brass snake, pierced through, is what kept the people alive in the wilderness. 

Looking upon Yeshua’s sacrifice on the cross is what brings us eternal life today. 

When we look at the prophecy given to Eve (Gen. 3:15), we see that the serpent would bite the Messiah’s heel but the Messiah would crush the serpent’s head. When the serpent figuratively bit Yeshua’s heel, Yeshua died but when Yeshua was resurrected, He crushed the serpent’s rule and authority and killed it. 

Today, there are people who are alive, because they look on Yeshua. There are also people today who are dead, because they refuse to look upon Yeshua as their source of life, even though they seem alive. 

When we look upon the Yeshua, we also must look upon the Light and let it reveal the hidden things in our life so we can repent and be clean before God. God, in His mercy, doesn’t reveal everything all at once. Walking in the light is a lifelong process and part of that process is allowing the Law of God to form and mold us into a righteous person. 

If Yeshua hadn’t explained the purpose of the serpent in the wilderness, we wouldn’t have understood it. Nicodemus, one of the most learned Jewish scholars of his time didn’t understand the point of the serpent. 

When the Serpent bites you, you will die. To get life, you have to look at the death of Yeshua and accept it to live. 

Reader: Dave De Fever. Speaker: Richard Agee. Summary: Tammy.