One of the most graphic pictures of the crucifixion of Yeshua can be seen in the story of the Bronze Serpent found in the Book of Numbers. The story was even referred to by Yeshua himself in John 3.14 where he said, “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up.” The question is, what exactly does that mean? So, we would like to examine this concept a little further to bring out “the rest of the story.”
v 5…And the people spoke against God and Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness (called Wadi Rum today). For there is no food (that could be found or furnished; no grain to make bread out of)! There is no (drinkable) water! And we loathe this miserable food (the manna)!”
v 6…And the Lord sent fiery (seraphim) serpents (because of their inflammatory bite) among the people, and they bit the people, so that many of Israel died.
v 7…So the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, because we have spoken against the Lord and you; intercede with the Lord, that he may remove the serpents from us.” And Moses interceded for the people.
v 8…Then the Lord said, “Make a fiery (“saraph”; burning one, serpent) and set it on a standard (“nes” or “banner” or “signal”, and a term for the Messiah that unites-Isa 11.10, 12; Exo 17.15; Isa 49.22) and it shall come about, that everyone who is bitten when he looks at it, he shall live (this is a type of the crucifixion of Yeshua-John 3.14; their help would come according to their faith in action).”
v 9…And Moses made a bronze (nachoshet) serpent (nachash) and set it on the standard (ha nes), and it came about, that if a serpent (a type of sin-Gen 3) bit any man, when he looked to the bronze serpent, he lived (Now when the people looked, they saw a serpent, or one cursed in Gen 3.14, but when God looked he saw the “saraph”, a burning one, a name for an angel called “seraphim” in Isa 6.2. All of this ties into John 3.14-16; to “live,” we must be born again, and the bronze serpent is a symbol for the crucifixion of Yeshua. He tells Nicodemus to “look to me when I am crucified and live” in John 3.14. When Yeshua was crucified, the people saw one cursed hanging on a tree, like the serpent, and how could that save anyone; but the Lord saw his son, his “saraph”, his sent one, his angel. The people were to look to him by faith, like in the wilderness; if they did, they would live. This remains true today, and one must look to the crucifixion of Yeshua as they would look at the brazen serpent if they want to be born again and “live.” Those who tell the Jewish people that they don’t need to look to Yeshua on a tree are like those who said in the wilderness, “We don’t need to look at that serpent on a pole to be healed from the snake bites! This is ridiculous!” If they didn’t, they died. It’s the same with anyone who does not look to Yeshua. Now, the people sinned by making the Golden Calf, and its remedy was destruction. In Exo 32.20 it says Moses took the calf and burned it, ground it up and scattered it over the water, and made the people drink. Lack of faith in God, in one case, was seen in the image they made. However, in the case of the bronze serpent, it was their faith in God that made the people look at this image.
Here is a scene that probably happened because it happens today. Moses has interceded for the people over the snake bites, and someone is bitten. A relative runs into his tent and says, “Moses says all we need to do is look at the serpent on a pole that the Lord told him to make as it passes by, and you will be healed.” The sick one says, “What? Just look at it to be healed? That’s silly and stupid; that serpent is what bit me! Get me a doctor or someone who can help!” So he struggles with faith, or “emunah,” which is action, in what God said. This is the question today: Will we go with the word of God and what God told Moses in the Torah? It is just that simple, and people don’t do it because they don’t understand this story. If they listened and obeyed, they lived, and if they didn’t, they died.
Eschatologically, the bronze serpent is also a picture of the abomination of desolation, and in 2 Kings 18.1-4 Hezekiah broke this into pieces, called the Nechushtan, because the people were burning incense to it and worshiping it as an idol, and this alludes to the fact that people have turned the crucifix into an idol and burn incense to it in worship, and the crucifix may be the abomination of desolation. If you want more information on this concept, see our commentary on the book of Isaiah, Chapters 40 through 46.
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