(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
Numbers 21:4–9, “And they journeyed from mount Hor by the way of the Red sea, to compass the land of Edom: and the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way. And the people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul loatheth this light bread. And the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died. Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD, and against thee; pray unto the LORD, that he take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people. And the LORD said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live. And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.”
Israel chose not to fight against Edom but were forced to travel around through a long desert excursion. As they went out into the hot place again they began to complain. They seemed to follow a constant refrain, accusing Moses of bringing them out of Egypt to kill them in the wilderness. Not only that, the complained about the manna that the Lord gave them to eat ever day. This wasn’t the first time they complained about the manna or the fact that they didn’t think the Lord would give them any water. They were getting close to the end of their forty years of wandering and the Lord sent snakes among them. These snakes killed people with a very painful bite. After they were bitten the people died in agony. The Lord brought Israel to their knees again in repentance and they confessed to Moses that they had sinned against the Lord. The Lord offered them a solution by telling Moses to cast a bronze snake, just like the snakes that were biting them and to set the bronze snake on a large pole so that anyone, anywhere in the camp, could see the snake. If a person looked at the snake then they would be healed of their snake bite and saved from the painful death they were experiencing. This wasn’t just a matter of a quick glance at the bronze snake, they had to make and effort to look at it and see it properly. This snake, later became a snare to Israel and they worshipped the bronze snake (2 Kings 18:4, “He removed the high places, and brake the images, and cut down the groves, and brake in pieces the brasen serpent that Moses had made: for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it: and he called it Nehushtan.”) If we are not careful even things that are good can lead us astray. The important issue is for us to focus on our God and not the things that He does from day to day or on how good we think our life might be.
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