Numbers/Bamidbar 21: The Brazen Serpent: " it shall be: whoever has been bitten and then sees it, will live."

[This was first posted October 12, 2013.  —Admin1].

 

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Sinaites’ first exposure to the “bronze serpent” was guess where? The New Testament gospel of John whose opening line echoes Genesis/Bereshith . . . “in the beginning”.

 

The Word Became Flesh/ John 1:1-5 (NIV)

 

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

 2 He was with God in the beginning. 

3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 

4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 

5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

 

With these NT verses  placing the “Word,” the “Logos,” or the Christian Man-God Jesus as Creator God himself,  it was logical to make the next series of connections, in this case, the brazen serpent:

 

 NIV/John 3:14-15: And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.  

 

In this website, in case you haven’t noticed, we print NT verses in RED to alert readers to read with caution for good reason. The New Testament added the Old not only as a prequel suggesting OT prophecy and NT fulfilment, but also to lend validity to its claims about its Son-God who assumes many roles, all metaphorically connected with figures, incidents, events, even the Tabernacle in the wilderness, as well as the very God of the Hebrew Scriptures.  To visualize the connection, Christian  illustrations of this incident shapes the ‘pole’ into a cross with the brazen serpent hanging on it.

 

The above-quoted NT verse is in fact the lead-in to a major memory verse that summarizes Christianity’s “good news of salvation in Jesus Christ”:  

 

v. 16-18 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 

 

As Christians/Messianics, we knew only of this NT re-interpretation and would refer back to the OT book of  Numbers to prove there is indeed that undeniable link between OT and NT.  We made the connection that if the Israelite who was bitten by the snake’s poison (original sin) would simply look at the bronze snake (prefiguring JC), he would not die.  Bronze symbolizes sin, snake on the pole symbolizes the Savior crucified on the cross, when all the sins of the world were poured upon him. Looking means believing in his atoning sacrifice, the only one acceptable that would avert God’s wrath . . . etc. etc.

 

It all seemed very rational and logical to us then, so much so we never questioned it nor anything else about the NT; after all we mistakenly considered the NT, actually the two-part Christian Bible as “the very words of God.”  Connecting what we thought were progressive and logical dots, sin-snake-cross-Jesus-OT-NT, how could it not be Gospel truth?

 

Well, “Gospel truth” indeed it was since “gospel” is associated with Christianity.   But  TRUTH as in ‘Revelation on Sinai’ enshrined in the Torah, it is NOT.

 

Furthermore, if the OT is the prequel to the NT, it should be the NT conforming to OT and not the other way around . . . unless of course you believe in the Christian/Messianic perspective on “progressive revelation.”

 

To us, what is progressive is man’s understanding of the one-time-historic-complete revelation on Sinai, as recorded in Torah.  Everything that YHWH the Eternal wanted humankind to know about how to relate to HIm and to one another is in His Sinai revelation.  The last book of the Torah, Davarim/Deuteronomy warns against adding or diminishing: 4:2, 12:32, 13:1-10, 28:1-68.

 

You will notice that the Neviim (the Prophets) and the Ketuviim (the Writings) in the acronymTNK (Hebrew Scriptures) merely record Israel’s continuing history in relation to the “T” in “TNK,” the TORAH of YHWH.  Israel was careful not to add nor diminish the five books attributed to Moses; unfortunately, the major world religion that claims to be rooted in the Scriptures of Israel did, in the name of “progressive revelation.” And the rest is Christian history.

 

 NSB@S6K

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[Commentary is from The Pentateuch & Haftarahs, ed. Dr. J.H.Hertz; translation is from EF/Everett Fox, The Five Books of Moses. —Admin1.]

 

Numbers/Bamidbar 21

 

[1-3. BATTLE WITH CANAANITES]

 

1 Now the Canaanite, the king of Arad, who sat-as-ruler in the Negev, heard that Israel was coming by the Atarim Road, 
so they waged war against Israel and captured from them war-captives.

 

Arad.  A royal city of the Canaanites (Josh. XII,14), situated on a hill now known as Tel Arad, 17bmiles south of Hebron and 50 miles north-east of Kadesh.

 

the South.  Or, ‘the Negeb’; lit. ‘the dryness,’ was the southern district of Canaan that bordered on the desert and was itself largely desert.

 

of Atharim. Or ‘of the spies’ (Targum).  As the territory of the king of Arad extended to the desert of Zin, he must have anticipated an invitation and sought to forestall it.  Most commentators, however, regard the word as the name of a place.

 

2 Then Israel vowed a vow to YHVH 
and said:
 If you will give, yes, give this people into my hand, 
I will devote their towns (to destruction). 

 

utterly destroy. i.e. ‘devote,’ or place under a ban, dedicate wholly to the Deity.

 

3 Now YHVH hearkened to the voice of Israel, he gave (them) the Canaanites, 
and they devoted-them-to-destruction along with their cities; 
so they called the name of the place Horma/Destruction.

 

Hormah. Heb. from the same root as a ban, a devoted thing, i.e. a thing ‘doomed’ to destruction.  The collectivge name of all the destroyed cities was Hormah, which was thus a district and not a single town.

 

This incident cannot be assigned to the period when the Israelites had begun to compass the land of Edom, for they where nowhere in the neighborhood of Arad.  It therefore must precede that event.  ‘After leaving Sinai, the Israelites proceeded to Kadesh barnea.  From this base, they could march due north and invade Southern Palestine (the Negeb).  This they did, and the result is given in the above three verses. It ended  in the annihilation of the Canaanite ruler, and his chief city was henceforth called Hormah.  Spies were thereupon sent to explore Canaan proper, as related in Chapter XIII.  But their report was unfavourable.  On hearing it, the people lost heart, and it became clear that success could not be expected until a new generation had grown p.  The order was therefore given to evacuate Kadesh, and proceed towards Edom.  But the people suddenly veered round and refused to obey.  In defiance of the Divine command, they embarked on a campaign of conquest. The result was disastrous.  They were utterly routed and chased to Hormah (XIV,45), the scene of their former triumph’ (Wiener).

 

4-9. THE BRAZEN SERPENT

 

4 They marched from Hill’s Hill by the Reed Sea Road, 
to go-around the land of Edom, 
and the people (became) short-tempered on the way. 

 

by the way to the Red Sea.  Forbidden to cut through Edom, they had to pass around it, by journeying in a southern direction until they reached Ezion-Geber, on the eastern gulf of the Red Sea, the Gulf of Akaba.  They then turned eastwards to Mt. Seir; and thereafter northwards towards the steppes of Moab.

 

to compass. To go round; see on XX,14-21.

impatient. Their endurance gave out because of the unspeakable hardships.

 

because of the way. The rugged, sandy, and exceptionally dreary plain through which they were passing; and the fact that they were marching, for the time being, away from Canaan and knew not how they were ever to reach it.

 

5 The people spoke against God and against Moshe:
Why did you bring us up from Egypt to die in the wilderness?
 For there is no food and no water, and our throats loathe the despicable food!

 

light bread. Or, ‘miserable bread,’ the manna when compared with the appetizing diet of Egypt.

 

6 So YHVH sent upon the people vipers, burning-snakes; 
they bit the people, 
and there died many people of Israel.

 

fiery serpents. lit. ‘the serpents, the fiery ones,’ whose sting caused violent inflammation.

 

7 The people came to Moshe and said: 
We have sinned! 
For we have spoken against YHVH and against you.
 Intercede to God, so that he may remove from us the vipers! 
So Moshe interceded on behalf of the people. 

 

Moses prayed for the people. ‘Hence we learn,’ says the Midrash, ‘that when a man is asked to forgive, he must not cruelly refuse to do so.  The people had spoken against Moses, but yet in the hour of their extremity Moses readily forgave, and prayed for their deliverance.

 

8 And YHVH said to Moshe: 
Make yourself a burning-snake and put it on a banner-pole;
 it shall be: whoever has been bitten and then sees it, will live. 

 

make thee a fiery serpent. An image of a fiery serpent made out of brass (Ibn Ezra).

 

9 So Moshe made a viper of copper, and he put it on a banner-pole,
 and it was: 
f a viper bit a man
and he looked upon the viper of copper, he would live. 

 

he looked.  ‘Did then the brazen serpent possess the power of slaying or of bringing to life?  No, but so long as the Israelites looked upwards and subjected their hearts to their Father in Heaven, were they healed. But when they reused, then were they destroyed’ (Mishnah).  The brazen serpent was ‘a token of salvation to put them in remembrance of the commandments of Thy Law, for he that turned toward it was not saved because of that which was beheld but because of Thee, the Saviour of all’ (Wisdom of Solomon).

 

The brazen serpent made by Moses was naturally preserved as an object of veneration by the Israelites.  But when in the course of centuries it tended to become, and eventually became, an object of idolatrous worship, it was destroyed by King Hezekiah (II Kings XVIII,4).  He is highly praised by the Rabbis for this act.

 

10-20. HALTING PLACES

 

10 The Children of Israel marched on and encamped at Ovot.

 

pitched in Oboth.  ‘Somewhere in the flinty plateau to the East of Edom’ (G.A. Smith).

 

11 They marched on from Ovot and encamped at Iyyei Ha-Avarim, 
in the wilderness that faces Moav;
 toward the rising of the sun.

 

toward the sunrising. i.e. on the wady of Zered, which flows into the Dead Sea at its southern extremity.

 

12 From there they marched on and encamped at Wadi Zered. 

 

valley of Zered. i.e. on the wady of Zered, which flows into the Dead Sea at its southern extremity.

 

13 From there they marched on and encamped across the Arnon that is in the wilderness,
 that goes out of the Amorite territory; for the Arnon is the border of Moav between Moav and the Amorites.

 

on the other side of the Arnon.  i.e. north of it.

which is in the wilderness. i.e. that part of it which is in the wilderness.

 

‘The Arnon is an enormous trench across the plateau of Moab.  It is about 1,700 feet deep and two miles broad from edge to edge of the cliffs which bound it, but the floor of the Valley over which the stream winds is only forty yards wide.  About nineteen miles from the Dead Sea, the trench divides into two branches, each of them again dividing into two. The whole plateau up to the desert is thus not only cut across, but up and down, by deep ravines, an a very difficult frontier is formed.  All the branches probably carried the name Arnon’ (G.A. Smith).

 

14 Therefore it is said in the Book of the Wars of YHVH: 
. . . Vahev in Sufa, the wadis, Arnon, 

 

the book of the Wars of the LORD.  The lines from that book quoted here support the statement that Arnon was the border of Moab.  There is no further mention of this book in the whole of Scripture.  Ibn Ezra says, ‘It was an independent book, in which were written the records of the wars waged by God on behalf of those that fear Him.  Many books have been lost and are no longer extant among us; e.g. the Words of Nathan and Iddo, and the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.’  Evidently it was a collection of ballads and songs.  ‘The Book of the Wars of the LORD, like the Sefer Hayashar (Josh. X,13 and II Sam. I,18) is a proof that there was no absence of literary activity in the days of Moses.  It furthermore proves that the Torah is not the result of such literary activity, otherwise the alleged compiler could have indicated his sources as he has done in this instance’ (S.R. Hirsch).

 

Vaheb.  This name of an unidentified town is in the accusative, and requires some verb like ‘we captured’ to be understood before it.

 

in Suphah. Or, ‘in storm.’ Perhaps it is the same place as Suph, mentioned in Deut. I,1.

 

15 along with its canyon wadis, 
that stretch along the settled-country of Ar, 
leaning on the territory of Moav.

 

of the valleys.  Not valley, for the name Arnon covers a complex of wadies uniting in the long deep trench that carried their waters to the Dead Sea.

 

Ar.  Ar of Moab, in v. 28, which according to Deut. II,18, lay on the Moabite frontier.

 

Zunz and Leeser translate v. 14 and 15 as follows:  ‘Therefore mention is made in the Book of the Wars of the LORD of Vaheb in Suphah, and of the brooks of Arnon, and the descent of the brooks, that turneth toward Sebeth-Ar and leaneth upon the border of Moab.’  All these names occur in the Book of Wars of the LORD, and are unknown to us now (Leeser).

 

16 From there to Be’er/The Well; 
that is the well of which YHVH said to Moshe:
 Gather the people, and I will give them water.

 

Beer. i.e. ‘Well-town’.

 

17 Then Israel sang this song:
 Spring up, O well, sing-in-chorus to it;

 

then sang Israel this song. The mention of this town and its well gave occasion for the citation of another short poem, celebrating the way in which the well was opened by the princes and nobles of the people.

 

sing ye unto it.  lit. ‘respond unto it’, answer as a chorus; cf. Exod. XV,21.  From this arose the legend that it is the well that sang, and that the words of the princes and people were but the chorus to that song by the well.

 

18 -the well that was dug out by princes! 
-that was excavated by people’s nobles! 
-with scepter!
 -with their rods! Now from the wilderness
-to Mattana;

 

which the princes digged.  The princes took a part in the effort to obtain water for the people.

 

with the sceptre.  Or, ‘by order of the lawgiver’ (RV Margin).

and from the wilderness . . . Mattanah.  Or, ‘from the wilderness a gift’ — as the lat line of the Song of the Well (Budde).  The next . would then read: ‘And from the gift (i.e. the Well) to Nahaliel . . . .’

 

19 and from Mattana-to Nahliel;
 and from Nahliel-to Bamot/The Heights;

 

Nahaliel . . . Bamoth. These places have not been identified.

 

20 and from Bamot-to the valley that is at the Open-country of Moav, 
the top of Pisga/the Summit, overlooking the face of the wasteland.

 

Pisgah.  The general name for a series of mountain ranges (called ‘mountain of Abarim’ in Deut. XXXII,49) in the plateau of Moab.  The highest point was Mount Nebo, on which Moses died: Deut. XXXIV,1.

 

the desert.  Or, ‘Jeshimon’; the waste desolation north-west of the Dead Sea.

 

21-32.  CONQUERING THE AMORITE KINGDOMS

In contrast to former pictures of murmuring and mutiny, we now get events which bring out the glad surprise of the new people as their strength is tried against the gigantic Sihon and Og, and the foes are utterly exterminated (Moulton).

 

21 Now Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, 
saying:

 

Amorites.  Denotes the inhabitants of Syria and Palestine before the time of the Exodus.  But from v. 26 it would appear that Sihon and his people had but recently wrested from Moab the territory north of the river Arnon.

 

22 Let me cross your land!
 We will not spread out into the fields,
 in the vineyards we will not drink well water; 
on the King’s Road we will march, 
until we have crossed your territory.

 

pass through thy land. Their objective being the fords of Jordan opposite Jericho.

 

23 But Sihon would not give Israel (leave) to cross through his territory. 
Sihon gathered all his fighting-people 
and went out to meet Israel in the wilderness, 
he came to Yahatz and waged-war against Israel.

 

Jahaz.  On the eastern border of Sihon’s land.

 

24 But Israel struck him with the edge of the sword 
and took-possession of his land, from the Arnon as far as the Yabbok,
 as far as the Children of Ammon; 
for strong is the territory of the Children of Ammon.

 

the border of the children of Ammon was strong. Arnon was the southern limit of Sihons’ kingdom, and Jabbok was the northern.  The Ammonites lay to the east; but as their border fortresses were strong and impregnable, the Amorites had been unable to penetrate into their territory.  The reason why the Israelites did not enter the land of the Ammonites is given in Deut. II,19.

 

25 Israel took all these towns and Israel settled in all the Amorite towns- 
in Heshbon and in all her daughter-villages;

 

Hesbon. The modern Hesban, 2940 feet above the sea, 18 miles of Jordan, opposite of Jericho.

 

‘The victory over Sihon was of incalculable importance to the Israelites; it strengthened their position and inspired them with self-reliance.  they at once took possession of the conquered district and abandoned their nomadic life  The Israelites could now move about freely, being no longer incommoded by the narrow belt of the desert nor by the suspicions of unfriendly tribes (Graetz).

 

the towns.  lit. ‘the daughters’l the villages near and dependent upon the capital, Heshbon.  By a similar figure, we speak of ‘a mother city.’

 

26-30. A HISTORICAL NOTE, WITH SONG OF VICTORY

 

26 for Heshbon-it was the town of Sihon king of the Amorites.
 He had made-war on a former king of Moav
 and had taken all his land from his hand, as far as the Arnon.
27 Therefore the parable-makers say: 
Come to Heshbon! be built up, 
be established, Sihon’s town!

 

wherefore.  Explains that this song is quoted because of its association with the remark in v. 26 concerning the conquest of Moab by Sihon.

 

they that speak in parables say.  Or, ‘they that recite ballads say’; Heb. moshelim, ‘they that speak the mashal,which word might mean either proverb, parable, riddle, song, ode, or ballad.  The moshelim were bards who expressed in pithy poetic snatches what was uppermost in the popular mind at important occasions in the national life.  In the present instance we have a quotation from a popular ballad, referring to the jubilation of the Amorites over their conquest of Moab; and another, to the exultation of Israel over the defeat of the Amorites.

 

come ye to Heshbon. This and the next two verses are the victory song of the Amorites when they in their day had wrested that land from the rulers of Moab.  The poet invites the victorious Amorites to lose no time in entering upon and enjoying the greatest trophy in their victory, namely, the captured capital, Heshbon.

 

the city of Sihon. Let the capital which has fallen into your hands be built up in great splendour, making it worthy to be called City of Sihon (Rashi).

 

28 For fire went forth from Heshbon,

 Flame from the city of Sihon; devouring Ar of Moav,
 the inhabitants of the heights of Arnon.

 

 

for a fire is gone out of Heshbon. A figurative way of saying that no sooner had Sihon gained possession of Heshbon than he was able to send forth destruction upon the other towns of Moab.

 

29 Woe to you, Moav! 
You have perished, people of Kemosh!
His sons (become) fugitives, 
is daughters, captives of the king of the Amorites, Sihon.

 

Chemosh. The national god of the Moabites.

 

he hath given . . . into captivity. An expression of half-ironical compassion for the Moabites, whom their idol Chemosh was unable to save.  The ‘sons’ and ‘daughters’ of Chemosh are his votaries who looked to him as to a human father to save them in a time of trouble.

 

30 We shot them, 
Heshbon perished as far as Divon, 
we desolated (them) as far as Nofah,
 fire as far as Medeva!

 

we have shot at them. This is the second part of the song; viz. the exultation of Israel over the defeat of the Amorites.

 

even unto Dibon. i.e. the inhabitants of all the places between Heshbon and Dibon have perished.  Dibon was afterwards called ‘Dibon-Gad’ and was situated four miles north of the Arnon.  It was at Dibon that the so-called Moabite Stone was discovered in 1868–the most famous of all inscriptions bearing on Bible history.  It is a contemporary document of the highest importance, giving the Moabite side of the conflict between Israel and Moab in the ninth pre-Christian century, the days of the Prophet Elijah and King Ahab.

 

Nophah. Unidentified.

 

Medeba.  The modern Medeba, about four miles S.E. of Heshbon.

 

31 Now Israel settled in the land of the Amorites.
32 And Moshe sent (men) to scout Ya’zer,
they conquered its daughter-villages,
 dispossessing the Amorites who were there.

 

Jazer.  In Isaiah XVI,8.9 it is mentioned together with Heshbon.  Acording to I Maccabees, v. 8, it was near the Ammonite border.

 

33-35. DEFEAT OF OG THE KING OF BASHAN

 

33 Then they faced-about and went up the Bashan Road. 
Og king of Bashan went out to meet them, 
he and all his fighting-people in war, at Edre’i.

 

went up. Towards the north.

 

Beshan. Celebrated for its rich patures, its healthy herds of cattle, and its oak forests.  It extended from the border of Gilead on the south to Mount Hermon on the north.

Og the king of Bashan.  In Hebrew folklore, Og is the last of the giants, an antediluvian of superhuman strength, who had survived the Flood many centuries before.

 

Edrei. The modern Edra’ah, situated on the southern border of Bashan, about 30 miles east of the Sea of Tiberias.

 

34 YHVH said to Moshe: 
Do not be afraid of him,
 for into your hand I give him and all his people, and his land; 
you will do to him as you did to Sihon king of the Amorites who sat-as-ruler in Heshbon.

 

fear him not. Og was formidable, not only on account of his giant stature (Deut. III,11) but also on account of the walled cities in the dominions.

 

 

35 So they struck him and his sons and all his people until not a survivor was left to him,
 and they took-possession of his land.