![]() God’s approval of Israel’s utter destruction of the Canaanites (Num. The Lord is the holy Judge who can justly impose death on sinners. Whoever looked to the bronze snake would be healed and live (which is why medical doctors often have a snake on a pole). He prayed and God provided this unusual remedy of a bronze snake on a pole. (“Fiery” probably refers to the painful effect of the bite.) The people (for a change!) repented! They confessed their sin to Moses, and asked him to intercede for them. The Lord then sent “fiery” serpents to bite them, causing many to die. And they complained about what they called “the miserable” manna and the lack of water. They grumbled against the Lord and Moses, accusing Moses again of bringing them out of Egypt to die in the wilderness. At this point, the people became impatient because of the journey. God granted them victory, the first in Canaan.īut then, rather than go into the land from the south, the Lord directed Moses to turn around and lead the people to the Red Sea, by the Gulf of Aqaba, to take a circuitous route around the land of Edom. At this point (for a change!) Israel did the right thing: They sought the Lord and vowed that if He delivered these Canaanites into their hands, they would utterly destroy their cities. Then, after the death of Aaron, the Canaanite king of Arad, who lived just north of where Israel was camped, fought against Israel and took some of them captive. But the king of Edom refused and threatened military action against Israel if they tried to go through Edom. They would just pass straight through their territory. He promised that they would not take from their crops or even drink their water. From there, Moses sent to the king of Edom, asking permission for Israel to pass through his land. They had been in the wilderness almost 40 years due to the sin of the previous generation that did not trust God’s promise to give them the land. In Numbers 20, Israel was camped at Kadesh on the southern border of the Promised Land. ![]() But whatever form it takes, it reflects that we’ve all been bitten by the evil serpent.Īlthough the wages of our sin is death, all who look in faith to God’s remedy will be instantly healed. Sometimes you see it in anger-parents yelling at their children or couples arguing with each other. Sometimes you see it in sensuality-women and sometimes men who are advertising their bodies in the vain attempt to deaden their soul-pain through physical pleasure. Sometimes you see it in physical infirmities-people’s bodies are broken and deteriorating toward death. Often when I’m in public, I look at people and grieve over the obvious toll of sin on the human race. 5:12), “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned.” That death penalty involves not only physical death, but even worse, spiritual death, which is separation from God. 2:17), “but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.” Not just Adam and Eve, but the entire human race, was plunged into sin and death because of their sin. But thankfully, those snakes didn’t strike us.īut from a spiritual perspective, we’ve all been bitten by the serpent of old, who deceived Eve and infected the entire human race with the poison of sin. We’ve had a few close calls, where suddenly before you see the snake, you hear the frightening rattle. In fact, you may notice the symbol of a staff with two snakes wrapped around it, known as the Caduceus, in references to medicine.Marla and I have hiked thousands of miles, much of it in rugged terrain where rattlesnakes live, but so far, by God’s grace, we’ve never been bitten. Though snakes represent many things in different cultures and locations, there's no denying their presence in medicine. Snakes are associated with wisdom, and to harm one brings bad luck. In Chinese culture, snakes are not only part of the Chinese calendar, but are a symbol of the goddess Nuwa, who created humanity, and has the head of a human with the body of a snake. In fact, snakes are on par with dragons, who represent wealth. In Japan, snakes represent youth, rivers and seas, and are also protectors snakes are a symbol of eternal life, represented by a snake molting their skin. Snakes also represent a spiritual awakening of kundalini, a form of divine energy, and are symbols of rebirth and fertility. In India, snakes are sometimes worshipped as deities or gods, especially the cobra, who is often depicted around the necks of Vishnu and Shiva, gods in Hinduism.
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