"Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life." (John 3:14, 15, NIV)
Huh? Which snake? The snake that turned into a staff and vice versa? The bronze snake? A snake I don't remember?
I went scurrying back through my Bible to the reference cited by the verse that had me scratching my head. I decided I better read it in context,
" When the Canaanite king of Arad, who lived in the Negev, heard that Israel was coming along the road to Atharim, he attacked the Israelites and captured some of them. Then Israel made this vow to the Lord: “If you will deliver these people into our hands, we will totally destroy their cities." The Lord listened to Israel's plea and gave the Canaanites over to them. They completely destroyed them and their towns; so the place was named Hormah.
They traveled from Mount Hor along the route to the Red Sea, to go around Edom. But the people grew impatient on the way; they spoke against God and against Moses, and said, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the desert? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!”
Then the Lord sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died. The people came to Moses and said, “We sinned when we spoke against the Lord and against you. Pray that the Lord will take the snakes away from us.” So Moses prayed for the people.
The Lord said to Moses, “Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.” So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, he lived." (Numbers 21:1-9, NIV)
Ohhhhh.
The Israelites; a forgetful, ungrateful, complaining, ornery bunch (they sound familiar), wanted to be free of a deadly pest. Moses prayed for God to take the pest away. Instead, God told Moses to perch a bronze snake on a pole. If a snake bitten Israelite wanted to live, all he had to do was look at the pole. By turning and looking, he took action, he displayed his faith (even though it may have been riddled with doubt) that God would save him from death by snake bite. And God did.
"Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life." (John 3:14, 15, NIV)
Turn and look... I never really got that verse before.
Grateful to know,
k8t
k8t(at)faceofagirl(dot)com
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