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SERIES E --- YHVH’S LAWS --- LESSON 22

TAUGHT TO TRUST

THE BRONZE SERPENT

From Numbers 21

The king of Arad, a Canaanite who ruled in the Negeb, soon heard that the people of Israel were approaching by way of Atharim. He sent men to attack Israel and took some of the Israelite men prisoner. Then Israel made a vow to Adonai. If You will let us conquer these people, we will utterly destroy their cities. Adonai granted Israel’s request and let them conquer the Canaanites of that region. They completely destroyed their cities. The place was called Hormah, which meant {Completely Destroyed.} But since the people had to go around Edom, they found it necessary to take a long, difficult route toward the Red Sea. Before long the people became impatient and began to speak against Adonai and Moses. Why have you brought us from Egypt to die in this wilderness? They complained. There is no good food or water here and we despise this tasteless manna. Because of their complaining, Adonai sent poisonous snakes among them. Many of the people died from snakebites. Those who survived rushed to Moses and cried out to him. We have sinned by speaking against Adonai and you, they said. Pray to Adonai to take the snakes from among us. Moses prayed for his people and Adonai gave him these Instructions. Make a bronze snake and place it upon a pole, He said. Whoever has been bitten by a poisonous snake will still live if he looks at this bronze snake. Moses made the bronze snake and placed it upon the pole. Whoever had been bitten by a poisonous snake was spared if he looked at the bronze snake. From there Israel moved on to Oboth and set up camp. Then they moved to Iye-abarim in the wilderness east of Moab. After that, they moved on to the valley of the Brook Zared, where they camped. Their next campsite was on the far side of the Arnon River, near the borders of the Amorites. At that time the Arnon River was the border between the Amorites and Moabites, as is described in the book called {The Wars of YAHVEH} where it tells us that the city of Waheb and the Arnon River are on the border between the Amorites and the Moabites. The next campsite was at Beer, which meant {A Well.} Here Adonai told Moses, Summon the people and I will give them water. From that miracle came this song:

Spring up, O well!
Sing you to it!
This is the well
Which the princes dug,
Which the nobles of the people
Hollowed with the sceptre
And with their staves.

At that point the people left the wilderness, proceeding to Mattanah and then to Nahaliel and finally to Bamoth. From Bamoth they went to the valley that could be seen from the top of Mount Pisgah. There Israel camped and sent messengers to King Sihon of the Amorites. Let us pass through your land, they asked. We will not turn from the road into any of your fields or vineyards. We will not drink water from your wells, but we will stay on the king’s highway until we have passed through your land. King Sihon however, refused to let Israel pass through his land. Instead, he assembled his army and went out against them at Jahaz. But Israel defeated Sihon’s forces and occupied the land from the Arnon River to the Jabbok River, as far as the Ammonite border. Israel captured the Amorite cities, in which they later settled, Heshbon and all the smaller towns. Heshbon was the capital of King Sihon, the Amorite king who had taken all the land as far as the Arnon River from a former king of Moab. Some of the ballad singers used to sing about King Sihon with a song like this:

Come to Heshbon
Let the city of Sihon
Be rebuilt,
And let it be restored.
For a fire went forth
From Heshbon,
A flame
From the city of Sihon.
It consumed Ar of Moab,
Rulers of the heights of the Arnon.
Woe to you, O Moab!
You are defeated
O people of Chemosh!
His sons are fugitives,
His daughters are captives,
To King Sihon of the Amorites.
He has destroyed all posterity
From Heshbon, as far as Dibon,
And laid waste
As far as Nophah,
Which reaches to Medeba.

While Israel was living in the Amorite lands, Moses sent spies to Jazer. Then Israel captured the area and drove out the Amorites who lived there. Israel next moved northward toward Bashan, but King Og of Bashan came to Edrei with his army to fight with Israel. Do not fear him, Adonai told Moses. I have already given you victory over him, his people and his land. The same thing will happen to him that happened to King Sihon at Heshbon. Israel killed Og, his sons and all his people. They did not leave a single survivor. Then Israel occupied his land also.

COMMENTARY

SERPENTS

At home or on the move, every child and adult in Bible times constantly faced the danger of poisonous snakes. They seemed to be everywhere. Serpents loitered around dusty roads, suddenly striking out at people’s feet and horses’ hooves. They lurked in old ruins. In buildings and homes, they lived in the walls, ready to strike. Because they were afraid, people believed that snakes ate dust, sharpened their tongues to use as fangs and stung with their tails. The Israelites saw them as creatures of YHVH, intelligent and subtle, although some thought of them as a sign of the devil. The Egyptians had a different attitude toward them. They considered one of their poisonous snakes, the cobra, to be sacred. They honoured it as their national symbol. Musicians {charmed} this snake with flutes and oboes. The snake was deaf; its {dance} was an imitation of the musicians’ swaying movements. The Egyptian cobra-goddess, named Wadjet or Udjet, symbolized immortality. She was believed to protect the pharaoh. A snake-like figure, called a {uraeus,} was attached to the pharaoh’s headdress and worn on his forehead. But snakes were no protection for the Israelites during the Exodus. The snakes that lived in the desert were particularly dangerous, like the sand viper. It buries itself in the sand up to its eyes and nostrils, invisible except for the moment it strikes. The most dangerous snake of all was the carpet viper. It grows to be two feet long and multiplies fast and in great numbers. It is very aggressive and attacks without provocation. The poison is more powerful than that of any other viper. A carpet viper’s bite might not cause much pain at all; in fact, victims usually feel better in a day or two. But the untreated bite and its venom cause massive internal bleeding and the person soon dies. In Psalm 58:4, the damage caused by evil gossip is compared to the slow workings of the carpet viper’s poison. YHVH sent a plague of serpents, possibly these carpet vipers, to punish the Israelites complaining in the desert. To cure the victims, Moses made a serpent of bronze and set it on top of a pole. When the victims gazed at this in obedience to YHVH, their bites were healed. The bronze snake was kept as a memorial in the temple at Jerusalem. But years later, the Israelites began to worship the object itself; they burned incense and made other sacrifices to it. King Hezekiah eventually broke it to pieces and recalled the Hebrews to the worship of YHVH.

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