The Way
The Bronze Snake on a Pole
Look and live
Story
Leaving Mount Hor, Israel turned onto the Red Sea road to go around the land of Edom. With the promised land right before them, they were heading south again. The detour stretched on endlessly along the dry valleys. Hot winds whipped up the sand, and the longer the road, the more the people's hearts ran dry.
At last they poured it all out against God and against Moses. Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in this wilderness? There is no food and no water, and we are sick of this miserable food. Then the Lord sent fiery serpents among them. The snakes came into the camp and bit the people, and many fell and died. The people crowded to Moses and pleaded. We have sinned, for we spoke against the Lord and against you. Take these snakes away from us.
Moses prayed for the people, and the Lord said, Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole. Anyone who is bitten and looks at it will live. Moses made a snake out of bronze and hung it high at the top of a pole, where it could be seen from anywhere in the camp. Even someone bitten and fallen, if he lifted his head and looked at the bronze snake, lived.
Walk this scene on the map →God's Words
Make the shape of a venomous snake and fix it on a pole. Anyone who has been bitten by a snake will live if they look at it.
We sinned when we spoke against the Lord and against you. Pray to the Lord to take these snakes away from us.
The sayings are fresh renderings of the original meaning in today's language. Text: Num 21:4–9
Background
The text does not say where the bronze snake was set up, but following the list of stages in Numbers 33 it is placed at Punon in the Arabah. Punon is thought to be Feinan in present-day Jordan, the site of ancient copper mines. Centuries later King Hezekiah broke the bronze snake in pieces because people were burning incense to it.
Pause and Reflect
Am I so focused on my own problems that I miss the Lord on the cross?