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NUMBERS 21; PSALMS 45–46

Week 8, Day 7

Grumbling is a deadly sin. We don’t usually recognize that. It is an expression of unhappiness—sometimes with ourselves, sometimes with others, and sometimes with God—and it springs from our unbelief. Its deadly quality shows itself in this dramatic story, where the grumbling of the people brings a plague of deadly serpents.

The particular form of judgment may appropriately remind us of the serpent in Eden, for he did his work by a grumbling against God. The remedy for Israel is a bronze serpent, which is posted in the center of the community; any who look upon it are healed.

This bronze serpent reappears twice in the biblical story. Apparently the people kept it as a religious memento; and as happens with such items, the object itself came to be seen as a source of power. Generations later, when King Hezekiah began his religious reforms, he saw that the people were using this bronze serpent as an object of worship; so he broke it in pieces (2 Kings 18:4).

The Gospel of John uses the bronze serpent as an introduction to the most beloved verse in the Bible, making it a symbol of Jesus’ crucifixion. “And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life” (John 3:14-15). Jesus became the embodiment of sin so that those who look to him might be saved.

PRAYER: Help me, dear Savior, to see that however great my sins may be, you have graciously provided a remedy; in Jesus’ name. Amen.

What connections do you see between the facts that snakes were the source of the plague and that a bronze snake was used as the means of healing?