Key Verses: Numbers 21:5, 21:8, 21:9
As Israel journeys around Edom, the people again grow impatient and speak against God and Moses, loathing the manna. God sends “fiery serpents” whose bites bring death, and when the people confess their sin and beg for relief, God provides a strange remedy: Moses makes a bronze serpent and sets it on a pole, “and if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.” The chapter then recounts a well-song and Israel’s victories over Sihon king of the Amorites and Og king of Bashan, whose lands east of the Jordan Israel now possesses.
The bronze serpent is one of the most striking gospel pictures in the Old Testament. The dying are not healed by effort, ritual, or strength, but simply by looking in faith to the lifted-up symbol of the very judgment that was killing them. Jesus makes it the pattern of His own cross: “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life” (John 3:14-15). On the cross Christ, made sin for us, is lifted up, and all who look to Him in faith are saved from death. The victories over Sihon and Og that follow give Israel its first foothold in the promised territory and become a lasting testimony, sung for generations, that the LORD gives His people the land.
Key Terms & Words:
- נְחַשׁ נְחֹשֶׁת (nechash nechoshet) - Numbers 21:9 - “Bronze serpent”; the lifted-up image by which the dying lived
- וָחָי (vachai) - Numbers 21:8 - “And shall live”; the promise to all who look
- וַיִּקֹּצוּ (vayyiqqotsu) - Numbers 21:5 - “They loathed”; the people’s contempt for the manna
Cross-References:
- John 3:14-15 - The Son of Man lifted up as Moses lifted the serpent
- 2 Kings 18:4 - Hezekiah destroys the bronze serpent when it becomes an idol
- 1 Corinthians 10:9 - A warning not to test Christ as they did and were destroyed by serpents
- Numbers 21:14 - “The Book of the Wars of the LORD,” recording His victories
Discussion Questions:
- Why does God heal by having the people simply look at the bronze serpent?
- How does Jesus use this event to explain His own crucifixion?
- What do the victories over Sihon and Og confirm about God’s promise of the land?