Scripture Reading(s)
Numbers 21:4b-9
21:4b but the people became impatient on the way.
21:5 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 detest this miserable food.”
21:6 Then the LORD sent poisonous serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many Israelites died.
21:7 The people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned by speaking against the LORD and against you; pray to the LORD to take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people.
21:8 And the LORD said to Moses, “Make a poisonous serpent, and set it on a pole; and everyone who is bitten shall look at it and live.”
21:9 So Moses made a serpent of bronze, and put it upon a pole; and whenever a serpent bit someone, that person would look at the serpent of bronze and live.
Reflections
As humans, we are never content with what we have. Regardless of what we are given, there seems to always be a reason to complain or what more. Either the job we have isn’t paying enough, the house isn’t big enough, the car we wanted ends up being too much on gas, what we have is never enough for us to be thankful and remain content.
The Israelites had suffered for years at the hands of the Egyptians. They were slaves, trapped to only do the bidding of Pharaoh and his command. They worked hard and got rewarded very little. Finally, after years of enslavement, God rescued them from their bondage and promised to bring them to a land that was just for them.
The journey to get there was not an easy one, but God promised that He would be with them. Yet, they grumbled and complained that what God was providing for them was either not what they wanted, not enough, or they had grown tired of it. As a result of their childish attitude towards God, He punished them, and very severely. Now, this is not to say that God is cruel and harsh. However, because of their faithless attitude that He would keep His promise, He cast His judgment upon them. Through it all, in the end, He still showed His mercy upon them by providing an end to their pain.
We can sometimes be like the Egyptians, when life does not go our way we grumble, complain and cast blame on God for not writing out the story of our lives the way we want Him to. Yet God still remains patient and loving towards His children. This passage is not a depiction that God no longer shows Grace to us when we fall into sin. God sometimes has to inflict this kind of pain in our lives as a means to draw us back to Him. The snakes were a means to show His awesome power in that He is still in control of everything that goes on. He brought the snakes and then took them away.
Let us always remain thankful that God is loving and patient towards us even when we grumble and complain. The antidote to a grumbling heart is to remember all the times that God has remained faithful and provided us with so much. The Israelites had forgotten who had rescued them from Egypt and had provided for them to survive in the wilderness. God is always working behind the scenes of our lives to provide the very best for us. Let us always count our blessings and keep trusting in His faithful and loving guidance.
This is, perhaps, one of the most confusing passages of the exodus period. Why serpents? Why a bronze one on a pole? Scholars have debated for centuries over this passage and the meaning of serpents. We could speculate all day about the symbolism but I thing the clear lesson from this passage is that spiting against the Lord in the midst of being rescued by Him is a terrible mistake.
There is an old saying; don’t bite the hand that feeds you. That is clearly what was going on during the exodus. God was saving His people and performing miracles in the middle of them. Even while the Lord was saving His people they were rising up against Moses and cursing the Lord. This is an insult of insults. It’s a smack in the face. We should take note that God will discipline His children when needed. Recall that the first generation of Israelites wandered 40 years in the desert due to there disobedience.
We are not Israelites in the desert and we are not being provided manna day by day. But we do know the deeds of the Lord and the work of the Spirit. We won’t be attacked by serpents but Jesus warned the Pharisees that those who witness the Spirit of God at work and blasphemes it will not experience God’s forgiveness. Let us never speak against the Lord. God is patient but he will also deal with us on judgement day for our deeds and our behavior.
Remember that all good things come from the Lord. He is the one who sustains us. He is the one that saves us.