NUMBERS 21

MOSES LIFTS UP THE BRONZE SNAKE

The Israelites pray to God asking Him to protect them from the Canaanites, and God provides. 

Even after God’s provision, the Israelites become impatient and angry with God and Moses. In response, God sends fiery serpents to bite and kill many of the Israelites. The Israelites realize they have sinned against God and ask Moses for prayer and help. 

God instructs Moses to make a bronze serpent and raise it up on a pole, saying that everyone who has been bitten who sees the serpent will live. Although this sounds like an idol, the Israelites are not to worship the serpent, but instead see it as a gift of protection from God. 

In John 3:14-15, Jesus references this event by saying “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.” This serpent on the stick points to both the sin caused by the serpent in the garden and the cross that Jesus will die on to pay for our sins. Moses is standing in the middle of two world-altering events: the entrance of sin and the final defeat of sin.