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have been made byanimals which could not have been less than two inches in
diameter. My guide told me that snakeswere very common in these regions." Another
traveler on exactly the route of the children of Israelstates: "In the afternoon a large
and very mottled snake was brought to us, marked with fiery spotsand spiral lines,
which evidently belonged, from the formation of its teeth, to one of the mostpoisonous
species... The Bedouins say that these snakes, of which they have great dread, are
verynumerous in this locality." From the fact that the brazen serpent is also called
"fiery" (a Saraph),we infer that the expression describes rather the appearance of these
"fire-snakes" than the effect oftheir bite.
Two things are most marked in this history, the speedy repentance of Israel, couched
in unwontedlanguage of humility, (Numbers 21:7) and the marvelous teaching of the
symbol, through which thosewho had been mortally bitten were granted restoration to
life and health. Moses was directed tomake a fiery serpent of brass, and to set it upon a
pole, and whosoever looked upon it wasimmediately healed. From the teaching of our
Lord (John 3:14, 15) we know that this was a directtype of the lifting up of the Son of
Man, "that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but haveeternal life." The
simplicity of the remedy - only to look up in faith, its immediateness and
itscompleteness as well as the fact that this was the only but also the all-sufficient
remedy for the deadlywound of the serpent - all find their counterpart in the Gospel.
But for the proper understanding bothof the type and of the words of our Lord, we
must inquire in what manner Israel would view andunderstand the lifting up of the
brazen serpent and the healing that flowed from it. Undoubtedly,Israel would at once
connect this death through the fiery serpents with the introduction of death
intoParadise through the serpent.
And now a brazen serpent was lifted up, made in the likeness of the fiery serpent, yet
without itspoisonous bite. And this was for the healing of Israel. Clearly then, the
deadly poison of the fieryserpent was removed in the uplifted brazen serpent! All this
would carry back the mind to thepromise given when first the poisonous sting of the
serpent was felt, that the Seed of the Womanshould bruise the head of the serpent, and
that in so doing His own heel should be bruised. In thissense even the apocryphal
Book of Wisdom (16:6) designates the brazen serpent "a symbol ofsalvation." And so
we are clearly taught that "God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful
flesh,and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh;" (Romans 8:3) that
"He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; (2 Corinthians
5:21)
and that
"His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree." (1 Peter 2:24)
(^)