057 Brazen Serpent
The Bible Says
Brazen, bronze and brass all refer to the same metal. Why would God have Moses create a “graven image” of a serpent which seems to be a violation of the Ten Commandments? The Bible does not explain this anywhere in the Old Testament.
1 Then God spoke all these words:
2 “I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 3 You are to have no other gods besides me.
4 “You are not to make for yourselves an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above, or on earth below, or in the water under the earth. 5 You are not to bow down to them in worship or serve them; because I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the iniquity of the parents, to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me, 6 but showing gracious love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments.
Exodus 20:1-6 ISV
What does the Bible say about the events that lead up to the Brazen (Bronze, Brass) Serpent?
4 After this, they traveled from Mount Hor along the caravan route by way of the Sea of Reeds and went around the land of Edom. But when the people got impatient because it was a long route, 5 the people complained against the Lord and Moses.
“Why did you bring us out of Egypt to die in the wilderness?” they asked. “There’s no food and water, and we’re tired of this worthless bread.”
6 In response, the Lord sent poisonous serpents among the people to bite them. As a result, many people of Israel died.
7 Then the people approached Moses and admitted, “We’ve sinned by speaking against the Lord and you. Pray to the Lord, that he’ll remove the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed in behalf of the people.
8 Then the Lord instructed Moses, “Make a poisonous serpent out of brass and fasten it to a pole. Anyone who has been bitten and who looks at it will live.” 9 So Moses made a bronze serpent and fastened it to a pole. If a person who had been bitten by a poisonous serpent looked to the serpent, he lived.
Numbers 21:5-9 ISV
Let us make an imaginary visit to the to the camp of Israel during this time?
Let us imagine the we are in the camp of Israel during the plague of fiery serpents that were bitting people in the camp such that many of the Israelites were dying. It was a great time of suffering that had been caused by their complaining against God and Moses. At God’s instruction Moses erected the Bronze Serpent on a pole. Messengers were running through the camp proclaiming to the people, “God is merciful and has provided a way of salvation and healing. Look upon the bronze serpent that Moses lifted up on a pole and you will live and not die.”
Many in the camp of Israel who had been bitten looked upon the bronze serpent and were healed and did not die.
However, many refused and eventually died despite God’s salvation. Listen to their excuses as their friends and families pleaded with them.
“I am in so much pain and all of Israel are suffering. I refuse to serve a God that causes so much death, pain and suffering”
“I studied under the greatest physicians of Egypt and if Moses thinks that just looking at a bronze statue of a serpent on a pole will heal this plague, the he is obviously uneducated and ignorant of the facts of science.”
“The religious leaders are corrupt. Was it not Aaron the High Priest that created the golden calf when Moses was on the mountain. They are hypocrites and I refuse to have any thing to do with their religion.”
“I have sinned against God so many times and was grumbling against God when this plague stuck the people. I am too great a sinner and do not deserve to be healed.”
“Yes, I know you are right and that looking at the bronze serpent will heal me but I am not ready to do that just now. I will go and look at the bronze serpent tomorrow.”
Do we not hear the same excuses today?
Where else in the Bible to we hear about this Brazen Serpent? The brazen serpent apparently survived from the time of Moses until it was destroyed during the reign of Hezekiah. Some Israelis were apparently worshiping it and using it for divination.
Hezekiah’s Reforms
4 He removed the high places, demolished the sacred pillars, and tore down the Asherah poles. He also demolished the bronze serpent that Moses had crafted, because the Israelis had been burning incense to it right up until that time. Hezekiah called it a piece of brass (Nehushtan).
2 Kings 18:4 ISV
From the Lexham Bible Dictionary we get the following information.
NEHUSHTAN (נְחֻשְׁתָּן, nechushtan). A name given to the bronze serpent in 2 Kgs 18:4. Refers to the same bronze serpent that Moses fashioned in the wilderness in order to cure the Israelites from a plague of poisonous snakes.
Etymology
The title “Nehushtan” is a direct transliteration of the Hebrew נְחֻשְׁתָּן (nechushtan), which comes from נחשׁ (nchsh) (“divination”; the verb nihesh means “to practice divination”; see Gen 30:27; 44:5, 15; 1 Kgs 20:33; 2 Kgs 17:17). From this word also come the words for “serpent” (nahash, נָחָשׁ, nachash) and “copper” or “bronze” (nehoshet, נְחֹשֶׁת, nechosheth). The title “Nehushtan” is a construct of nehoshet and the suffix an, which basically means “a thing of bronze” but is also a play on the word for “serpent,” intentionally invoking the ideas of both bronze and serpents (Hendel, “Nehushtan”).
There was no explanation for the Brazen Serpent given in the Old Testament. The reason for the creation of the Brazen Serpent was finally explained in the New Testament. None other than Messiah Jesus gave us the explanation.
14 Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.
16 “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his unique Son so that everyone who believes in him might not be lost but have eternal life. 17 Because God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of God’s unique Son.
John 3:14-18 ISV
