“The people came to Moshe and said, ‘We sinned by speaking against Adonai and against you. Pray to Adonai that he rid us of these snakes.’ Moshe prayed for the people,and Adonai answered Moshe: ‘Make a poisonous snake and put it on a pole. When anyone who has been bitten sees it, he will live.’ Moshe made a bronze snake and put it on the pole; if a snake had bitten someone, then, when he looked toward the bronze snake, he stayed alive.”-Numbers 21:7-9
Okay, now we encounter one of the most perplexing stories in all of the Bible.
The people are dying because of the poisonous snakes the Lord sent into their midst due to their rebellion.
Realizing this is divine judgement, the people quickly confess their sins to God’s Chosen Mediator (in this case Moses) and Moses prays for them.
God responds by telling Moses to make a brazen serpent and hang it up on a pole.
We’re then told that whoever looked upon the hanging brazen serpent was healed of their snakebites.
What makes this incident all the more fascinating is that Yeshua compared his coming death on the cross to this very incident.
“Just as Moshe lifted up
the serpent in the desert,
so must the Son of Man be lifted up“
-John 3:14
What are we to make of Yeshua comparing his coming crucifixion to this event?
In order to come up with a solid answer, let’s break down God’s instructions to Moses into their key component parts.
First, God told Moses to make a fiery serpent and mount it to a pole and He made it clear to Moses that whoever was poisoned and looked up at the serpent would be healed.
Second, Moses obeyed God and made a serpent out of copper and bronze.
Third, we’re told that anyone who had been bitten who looked up at the mounted serpent was healed, period.
And folks, that’s all we’re told, no more and no less, and we shouldn’t let our imaginations get hog wild out of control as we try to read things into the text that aren’t there.
If we’re going to get any deeper, we have to examine the original Hebrew which is what we’re going to do right now.
The first thing you should know is that when God told Moses to make a serpent, the original Hebrew is SARAPH.
Now here’s the problem, SARAPH is not the typical word for “serpent“.
SARAPH (SERAPHIM in the plural) is a word usually used to refer to angelic beings in Scripture.
For example like in following following verse.
“SERAPHIM stood over him,
each with six wings
— two for covering his face,
two for covering his feet
and two for flying.”
-Isaiah 6:2
The heavenly SERAPHIM in this verse from Isaiah is the EXACT SAME WORD that God used when he told Moses to make a “serpent“.
In other words, is it possible that God told Moses to make something else that was NOT a “snake” or a “serpent“?
So you’re probably wondering, what is the usual Hebrew word for “snake” or “serpent“?
That word is NACHASH.
And yup, that is the same word to refer to that sly “serpent” that appeared in the Garden of Eden.
And wouldn’t you know it, this word is NOT USED in either Numbers 21:8 or Isaiah 2:18.
Only the word SARAPH is used which again usually only applies to “angels” or some type of angelic being.
So you probably think I’m going to bring this post to a nice clean conclusion by saying that God actually commanded Moses to hoist up a representation of an angelic being on to the pole and not a snake.
Honestly, I’d love to be able to do that.
But I can’t and Scripture is just not that black and white.
The reason I can’t make such a nice and clearcut conclusion is because of the following verses from 2 Kings.
“He removed the high places,
smashed the standing-stones,
cut down the asherah and
broke in pieces the bronze serpent
that Moshe had made;
because in those days the people of Israel
were making offerings to it,
calling it N’chushtan.”
-2 Kings 18:4
The Hebrew words being used here for “bronze serpent” is NECHOSHETH NACHASH.
NECHOSHETH means bronze and as I just said NACHASH means “serpent” or “snake“.
The word SARAPH which is the word God used when commanding Moses to make a “serpent” is NOT used in this independent account we find in the Book of 2 Kings.
Are you confused yet?
That’s right.
The words “SARAPH” and “NACHASH” in the example I just provided are used interchangeably in Scripture.
This entire incident raises a whole truckload of confusing questions.
Like why in the world is a “serpent“, the primary symbol for satanic rebellion being used as a positive symbol hung on a pole to heal people?
And even Yeshua likens his sacrificial death to this event?
Yet, when we come to the account in the Book of 2 Kings, we’re told that Hezekiah was praised for destroying the pole and the serpent as if it was an evil thing?
What the heck is going on?!
Well stay tuned because we’ll be continuing this discussion the next time we meet.
So Richoka why does scripture do that ? And I can’t wait for you to continue on this subject!! It’s like a three part tv show .. right when it gets so interesting BOOM!! Please stay tune for the next episode!!!! I can’t get enough of the immutable word of God! Please hurry..
Glad you’re enjoying this study Rinny. All in good time!
Moshe disobeyed HaShem He was only suppose to put up a banner representing the 4 tribes The Saraph has the head of the Eagle the Human The Ox and the Lion Head.
on separate angels (Malakhim). It was suppose to be a heavenly joiner of these 4 tribes.
But instead of doing that Moshe put a Serpent (Nachash) on a pole. And then for 700 yrs the israelites carried it with them and burned incense to it and bowed to it. Then when King Hezekiah (Hizkiyah) saw this he smashed it into a pieces. For it was idolatry the israelites were committing!!
So when the Roman new testament says in the J name. Just as Moses put up the serpent upon the pole. So must the Son of man be lifted up.
This is IDOLATRY ! to worship the Flesh is idolatry! To worship a man is idolatry !
HaShem YAHU is NOT A MAN !
HaShem covers himself in light and wears it as a garment and he put HIS archers bow (rainbow) down next to HIMSELF in HIS PRESENCE with the arrow of judgement facing away from the earth.
Richoka when you validated the true evidence from the Tanakh / Torah you placed yourself into the emet (truth).
Ask yourself what came 1st the Torah or the roman/ greek new testament. For I tell you it is very easy to write down deception from something that already existed the Tanakh the Torah.
if one believes in the virgin birth of J. Then one must believe in what the romans and the greeks believed in. For every Roman Emperor was said to be born of a virgin and son of a god. Romulus born of a virgin son of the god mars. And the greeks believed that Alexander the Great was born of a virgin the son of the god apollo.
Tertullian invented the trinity lie. Then the Catholic Church embellished on this false doctrine!
No disrespect I just hope that you keep learning. I’m always up for a good discussion. If you are ever interested Shalom Aleichem to you Richoka
Thanks for sharing.
Serpent or Seed Sprout? The Answer is Rooted in genesis 3:15. Angel like Messenger (“SARAPH” and “NACHASH”) is Mashyiach in Numbers 21. He is the Rear&Front Guard… He is the Burning Brass (burning light, legs of brass) Rev 1:14-21.
Scriptures are more like a photo album than a systematic study. people are seen as trees in ancient Hebrew… the pole is tree and the snake like object is a fertile Seed, meaning power, house continues, heir, fruit. Mashyiach is a one-of-a-kind Seed of the Author/Authority of the Chai Tree of Life john 3:16. the Fruit of His bearing is from good branches John 15. we must pick up our tree and follow His Tree… cross-over from death and be Emerged in the Water (the washings of towrah) and the Ruach Kadosh Spirit unto full Chai Life, Ephesians 5:26, Titus 3:5 ” through the washing of rebirth, and renewal by the Set-apart Spirit. ” HaMashyiach is the One mono-gene Seed… we are the fruit of His…. Tap Root. we are now grafted into the Seed Tree Mashyiach, who is The True Israel Root. As our ancient elder father Tree, Moses, who upon the ROCK haMashyiach lifted the Tree Rod of Yahuwah over Joshua (Yahusha) the Obedient One, who killed the flesh. there’s the Victory, the Seed must die and rise unto Life. death unto the Amalek flesh… exodus 17. Remember Moses with arms spread out looked like a Great Tree. Aaron and Hur are guarding and obeying branch fruits. Joyfully, we are eating/wearing the healing leaves and fruits thereof…Revelation 22:2 Look up to Him, Mashyiach and live. The Talking book is a collection of towrah leaves. We eat them.
& 2Co 6:16-18 TS2009 16 And what union has the Dwelling Place of Elohim with idols? For you are a Dwelling Place of the living Elohim, as Elohim has said, “I shall dwell in them and walk among them, and I shall be their Elohim, and they shall be My people.” Lev. 26:12 17 Therefore, “Come out from among them and be separate, says יהוה, and do not touch what is unclean, and I shall receive you. Isa. 52:11. 18 “And I shall be a Father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to Me, says יהוה the Almighty.” Isa. 43:6; Hosh. 1:10.
Rom 11:16-17 TS2009 16 Now if the first-fruit is set-apart, the lump *(masses of people fruit) is also. And if the root is set-apart, so are the branches. 17 And if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, have been grafted in among them, and came to share the root and fatness of the olive tree,
Anxiously awaiting more.
Request a discussion on Malachi 4:2, (so perplexing)
Malachi 4:2? That doesn’t seem to be in the Scriptures.
You are very much mistaken. The word SERAPH has to do with FIRE. A snake that had venom that burned so bad when you got bit that it felt like your foot was on fire was called a Fiery, or a SERAPH serpent. There are different kinds of angels. A fiery angel, that is, an angel seen surrounded by flames, is a Seraph Angel, or together they are called the SERAPHIM. You miss the entire point here. If you make a statue of a snake out of bronze, and you mount it to the pole, what does it look like? Vertical pole, horizontal snake…you HAVE A CROSS. Those who look at the CROSS with FAITH are healed. That is the point. Not looking at a snake or an angel. looking at the cross. that is the true meaning of this passage
Where can I find part 2, please?
Hi Vicki, The next post is the continuation. You can read it by clicking HERE. Shalom.
Num 21:6 does use both nachash and seraph. Now here is the thing, the nachash in the garden we know it to be satan but we also know he can appear as an angel of light, a shiny one or nachash. The nachash or shiny one on the pole could well be a seraph but a defeated one, not a living nachash as often represented. A dead snake represents a defeated snake. Yeshua laid his life on a pole not as a nachash or seraph but as man defeating the shiny seraph that bit Adam on the heel.
The pagan representation of the healing god Asclepius.is made of a living snake, really two facing each other.
The Word saraph does mean the angelic creature in Isaiah 6:2, but if you check the gesenius you will find that the form of the word in numbers 21:6 specifically notes it as a class of venomous serpent. The strongs concordance does not provide this information, and then we get the wrong translation of the word.