READ -- Numbers 21:4-9

"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.'"

I recently ran across the tongue twister, "One slick snake slid up the stake and the other slick snake slid down." If you are anything like me, you will have difficulty reciting that phrase twice let alone ten times. In Ecclesiastics 10:11 we read, "If a snake bites before it is charmed, there is no profit for the charmer." This indeed is good advice, yet I am reminded of the story in Numbers 21:4-9 where the children of Israel were not trying to charm snakes, but were grumbling and complaining. They thought the world revolved only around them and were having themselves a little piety party.

In Numbers 21:5 we read, "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!'" Their gloom and doom words were somewhat prophetic for in verse 6 we read, "Then the LORD sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died."

God used the snakes to get their attention and in verse 7 we read, "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." Moses prayed for the people and God heard his prayer. However, I find it disheartening that Moses is the only one who is characterized as having a personal relationship with God. Many today also display lack of faith by failing to intercede and commune with God on behalf of themselves. Calling upon God should not be a foreign or uncommon task for us.

Moses did as God had instructed and in Numbers 21:8 we read, "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.'" God had provided a way for those who had been bitten, by the deadly snakes, to live. Moses was told to create a snake out of bronze and attach it to a pole. Yet, only those who chose to obey the words of God and look upon the bronze snake were spared death.

In Numbers 21:7 the people had confessed that they had sinned against God, yet in 2 Kings 18:4 we read, "He [King Hezekiah] removed the high places, smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles. He broke into pieces the bronze snake Moses had made, for up to that time the Israelites had been burning incense to it. (It was called Nehushtan.)" Many of the people had failed to realize that it was God who had spared them from death. Instead of worshipping the true and living God of Israel, they created their own god. They gave the bronze snake a name, Nehushtan, and burned incense and worshipped the idol up until when King Hezekiah ultimately destroyed it.

Just as God had provided a way of salvation for those who had been bitten, He also has provided a way for us to be saved from this world's sinful poisons and death. We are to look to Jesus who was crucified and raised up upon Calvary's pole for the whole world to see. Jesus died for our sins and God has provided a way for our salvation, yet many still refuse to look to Him.

The Apostle Paul warned those at Corinth not to follow in the footsteps and mistakes of the children of Israel. May we also heed the words of warning found in 1 Corinthians 10:9, "We should not test the Lord, as some of them did--and were killed by snakes."

May we find comfort in the words of John 12:32-33, "'But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself.' He said this to show the kind of death He was going to die." And in John 8:28-30 we read, "So Jesus said, 'When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am the one I claim to be and that I do nothing on My own but speak just what the Father has taught Me. The one who sent Me is with Me; He has not left Me alone, for I always do what pleases Him.' Even as He spoke, many put their faith in Him."

May we too look upon Jesus and put our faith in Him alone. For as He told Nicodemus in John 3:14-15, "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." Amen.

LIFT UP THE NAME OF JESUS

Return to Home Page Devotions For Development

Send comments/feedback to author.