From: Numbers 21:4b-9
The Bronze Serpent
[4b] And the people became impatient on the way. [5] And the people
spoke against God and against Moses, "Why have you brought us up out of
Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we
loathe this worthless food." [6] Then the Lord sent fiery serpents among the
people and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. [7] And
the people came to Moses, and said, "We have sinned, for we have spoken
against the Lord and against you; pray to the Lord, that he take away the
serpents from us." So Moses prayed for the people. [8] And the Lord said to
Moses, "Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and every one who is
bitten, when he sees it, shall live." [9] So Moses made a bronze serpent,
and set it on a pole; and if a serpent bit any man, he would look at the
bronze serpent and live.
Commentary:
21:4-9. The people continue to complain against Moses, this time because
they have to go right around Edom. But their protest is also directed
against God. When they are punished, Moses once again intercedes on their
behalf. The events covered in this account may have taken place in the
region of Araba, where copper mines existed from the 13th century BC
onwards. In the town now called Timna, an Egyptian shrine has been unearthed
which contained a copper serpent, indicating that some sort of magical power
was attributed to these serpents.
This passage in Numbers is interpreted in Wisdom 16:5-12, where the point is
emphasized that it was not the bronze serpent that cured them but the mercy
of God; the serpent was a sign of the salvation which God offers all men.
The bronze serpent is mentioned later, in the Gospel, as typifying Christ
raised up on the cross, the cause of salvation for those who look at him
with faith: "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the
Son of man be lifted up; that whosoever believes in him may have eternal
life" (Jn 3:14-15) When Christ is raised above all human things, he draws
them towards himself; so his glorification is the means whereby all mankind
obtain healing for ever more.
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text
taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries
made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of
Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock,
Co. Dublin, Ireland.
