[OneVike]

I offer this as a message for FreeRepublic readers. You will not find this on the web site I write for, because it's not posted there. For those who may wonder why I posted, "The Relevant Christian Magazine" as the source, it's only because I still wish to promote the site. Thus the reason for no URL link.

[MeshugeMikey]

I for one had never seen the connection prior to reading your piece!

Thank you.

[RoosterRedux]

I had always seen the connection but also always wonder, "why a snake?"

What's the significance of that?

[OneVike]

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[UCANSEE2]

Makes me wonder about those Israelites.

Golden Calf, Snake on a stick, dead guy on a cross...

(Thanks for posting the article. Good information)

[Salvation]

This has always been part of my belief.

John 3

13 No one has ascended into heaven but he who descended from heaven, the Son of man.

14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of man be lifted up,

15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life."

[353FMG]

“At that time, to look upon such an image erected on a pole would have been considered repulsive, and many would instinctively look away.”

.
Is that also perhaps the reason that people (except for Catholics and Orthodox Christians) are embarrassed or repulsed to see a cross with a corpus on it?

Before the Reformation every crucifix had a corpus.

[DeoVindiceSicSemperTyrannis]

The bronze serpent just happens to be from this week’s Torah portion. Nice relevant topic for discussion this weekend.

[Jack Hydrazine]

"At that time, to look upon such an image erected on a pole would have been considered repulsive, and many would instinctively look away. However, if they wanted to live, those who had been bitten were required to look upon the image of the serpent, or they would die."

I'm not so sure about it being repulsive to look upon. The cobra was worshiped as a goddess, known as Wadjet, in the ancient Egypt from which they had just departed.

Snake symbolism

In Ancient Egypt, where the earliest written cultural records exist, the serpent appears from the beginning to the end of their mythology. Ra and Atum ("he who completes or perfects") became the same god, Atum, the "counter-Ra," was associated with earth animals, including the serpent: Nehebkau ("he who harnesses the souls") was the two headed serpent deity who guarded the entrance to the underworld. He is often seen as the son of the snake goddess Renenutet.

She often was confused with (and later was absorbed by) their primal snake goddess Wadjet, the Egyptian cobra, who from the earliest of records was the patron and protector of the country, all other deities, and the pharaohs. Hers is the first known oracle. She was depicted as the crown of Egypt, entwined around the staff of papyrus and the pole that indicated the status of all other deities,, as well as having the all-seeing eye of wisdom and vengeance. She never lost her position in the Egyptian pantheon. ----------------- There's an old saying that goes, "It took forty hours to get Israel out of Egypt, but it took 40 years to get Egypt out of Israel" rings true.

[Oratam]

An adumbration or prefigurement.

"But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews indeed a stumblingblock, and unto the Gentiles foolishness."

[Star Traveler]

The situation of this account in Numbers was to set up a “type” for the people, in order to point to the coming death on the cross of the Messiah of Israel and the resulting salvation to all who put their trust in him, from that “finished work” on that cross.

A Study of Types: What is a Type
http://www.churchesofchrist.net/authors/Grady_Scott/types.htm

Here’s a sermon outline explaining this “type”

THE BRAZEN SERPENT, A TYPE OF CHRIST
http://www.oceansidechurchofchrist.net/Sermons/SermonsHTML/2009/2009-08-16_The_Brazen_Serpent_A_Type_of_Christ.html

And here is the actual account in the Bible ...

Numbers 21:1-9

1 The king of Arad, the Canaanite, who dwelt in the South, heard that Israel was coming on the road to Atharim, then he fought against Israel and took some of them prisoners.

2 So Israel made a vow to the Lord, and said, “If You will indeed deliver this people into my hand, then I will utterly destroy their cities.”

3 And the Lord listened to the voice of Israel and delivered up the Canaanites, and they utterly destroyed them and their cities. So the name of that place was called Hormah.

4 Then they journeyed from Mount Hor by the Way of the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; and the soul of the people became very discouraged on the way.

5 And 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 our soul loathes this worthless bread.”

6 So the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and many of the people of Israel died.

7 Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you; pray to the Lord that He take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people.

8 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live.”

9 So Moses made a bronze serpent, and put it on a pole; and so it was, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.

— — —

Note one other thing here, SIN often enter one’s life and causes either some disaster or judgment from God — right after — a wonderful success, oftentimes that success being from God.

A principal of something to WATCH OUT FOR ... is that SIN comes easily in, right after a great success! Be on great guard, after a success!

[CyberAnt]

This is a most awesome revelation.

Thank you so much.

[Star Traveler]

The article said ... “Moses told those who were bitten by the serpents to come to the pole and gaze upon the image of their pain and they would live.”

He said no such thing!

Numbers 21:8-9

8 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live.”

9 So Moses made a bronze serpent, and put it on a pole; and so it was, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.

There was nothing else to do except simply look. There was no gaze, no coming up to it, no “contemplation” — simply a quick look from “wherever you were at”.

It’s the same thing with Salvation ... you don’t have to go somewhere, you don’t have to belong to some group, you don’t have to spend a certain amount of time contemplating, you don’t have to go through a ritual ... none of that.

SALVATION is ...

... that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

(Romans 10:9-10)

[Faith Presses On]

Another part of the Bible that has to do with lifting up the Lord is the commandment of the Ten Commandments that is typically translated “thou shalt take the name of the Lord thy God in vain,” in Exodus 20. You might have heard this and just not included this but I’d like to mention it anyway. I’d never heard this until I was looking in the Bible for more passages on the idea of “not giving even an appearance of evil” (I can’t think where there is in the N.T., but that passage itself can be translated different ways too).

Anyway, that commandment actually means, more literally, “you shall not lift (nasa) up the name of the Lord your God in an unworthy manner,” meaning to bring shame on it by lying in His name, etc. And this commandment is the only to hold a negative consequence, “The Lord shall not hold him guiltless who does so,” so the Jews regarded it as like an unpardonable sin. The church hasn’t done well to teach that this is just about swearing.

[Faith Presses On]

Oops. Should have read “you shalt *not* take the name of the Lord thy God in vain”!

[SouthernClaire]

Thanks, One Vike. As always, your article was interesting and a great read.

Jesus is the Old Testament, from beginning to end. The Aleph and the Tau (which is one interesting treat of a study in itself).

I’m going back to a favorite book for study for the week, the short Book of Ruth. The redemption by our Kinsman Redeemer. I am ever amazed to find things I didn’t see before … and that’s always the case. The Bible never ceases to amaze.

You are blessing, One Vike, and thanks again.

[Kandy Atz]

Bullinger’s explanation of the serpent in the Garden put to rest my uneasiness about the Genesis 3 account. And this same appendix from his excellent Companion Bible briefly touches on the serpent on the pole in the wilderness and the connection to Genesis 3.

http://www.levendwater.org/companion/append19.html

I would also add that it has been suggested that brass is symbolic of judgment of sin. A brass snake can’t do any harm. The death and resurrection of Jesus neutralized Satan for Believers. Observe.

John 12:24 (AMP)
24 I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains [just one grain; it never becomes more but lives] by itself alone. But if it dies, it produces many others and yields a rich harvest.
John 12:31-32 (AMP)
31 Now the judgment (crisis) of this world is coming on [sentence is now being passed on this world]. Now the ruler (evil genius, prince) of this world shall be cast out (expelled).
32 And I, if and when I am lifted up from the earth [on the cross], will draw and attract all men [Gentiles as well as Jews] to Myself.

Colossians 2:14-15 (AMP)
14 Having cancelled and blotted out and wiped away the handwriting of the note (bond) with its legal decrees and demands which was in force and stood against us (hostile to us). This [note with its regulations, decrees, and demands] He set aside and cleared completely out of our way by nailing it to [His] cross.
15 [God] disarmed the principalities and powers that were ranged against us and made a bold display and public example of them, in triumphing over them in Him and in it [the cross].

Hebrews 2:14-15 (AMP)
14 Since, therefore, [these His] children share in flesh and blood [in the physical nature of human beings], He [Himself] in a similar manner partook of the same [nature], that by [going through] death He might bring to nought and make of no effect him who had the power of death—that is, the devil—
15 And also that He might deliver and completely set free all those who through the [haunting] fear of death were held in bondage throughout the whole course of their lives.

See also - Romans 5, 8, Galatians 3:13-14, Titus 2:14, Hebrews 2:9-11, 9 among others.

[Salvation]

Being Catholic: Sacred Things, Crucifixes and Crosses

[Alamo-Girl]

Thank you so much for that beautiful message, dear OneVike!

[Hoodat]

If there is any verse that says it all, it’s John 3:16. . . . It’s Salvation in a nut shell.

Uh, no. Not even close. Salvation cannot be put in a nutshell. It is a living process. Christ came so that we could have life and have it more abundantly.

[Seven_0]

Thank you for the article. Did you notice that when Moses laid down his rod it became a serpent. That serpent deceives the whole world. Since biblical history is prophecy, we look for Christ to pick up that serpent and the rod of power will be restored. Then he will rule with a rod of iron.