Picture Miss Patty in her Sunday school classroom, perfume cloud holding strong, felt board ready, walking your seven-year-old self through Numbers 21 like it was a morality tale with a weird prop.
JUST YESTERDAY I was talking to my husband in the car about this very story. I am thankful that God “sent” you with this message today. It also spoke deeply to me about not complaining, and keeping my eyes SOLELY on Jesus Christ as Savior, Healer, Deliverer - I’ll follow where He leads by His Holy Spirit.
Excellent. I think what is missing here is something the family of God ignores too often. Creativity and life. Creativity is about always doing something new, never do the same thing twice. Make everything unique. And life is constantly growing, never staying the same, but getting better. I can't tell you how many things the Lord has showed me as methods to draw closer to Him, that He later said, "You gotta change. you're relying on the method now." It's a key part of our being made in the image of God. Creativity scares people a lot. But what a wonderful life it is. And the cross is much better than the snake on a pole.
Ok, so years ago when I was caring for my Polish father-in-law, an engineer, we talked over many things. He, mostly science and physics, and me mostly Bible and faith and how to make life interesting. One day, going over his medical bill, he said, "I've never understood this." He pointed at the medical logo of the snake on the pole.
It occurred to me that I also didn't understand it, but that maybe it had something to do with the story of the snakes and viruses in the Hebrew people in the wilderness, and that God told Moses to raise up a snake on a pole so that anyone who obeyed God and looked at it would be healed. I told him that Jesus in the New Testament also said that he would be lifted up like the snake, and that all who looked to him would be saved.
He seemed to accept that and I moved into another room. Suddenly, I noticed his small form standing between two rooms. "But, why, miss, a snake?"
I wasn't wise enough to know why. It was a thrill to me that you tackled this topic and filled in the story of Hezekiah and the people worshipping God's gifts rather than the giver. I also finally realized that a crucified Christ might look all twisted and be despised and rejected as a serpent usually is. That also connects some dots.
Finally, the divination aspect and also worshipping the gift rather than the giver is the exact issue we have today in trusting the medical community and man made medications rather that the giver of this knowledge, of the resources, and the creator and healer of our bodies!
Today, being the national day of prayer, many came to God in faith for healing. Some asked me to pray for them, for disturbed kids for loved ones with tumors, for a broken back, for healing after a surgery and for prodigal wayward children. And for their dogs. LORD God, as they looked to you in their moment of faith today, do it again. Do it again! Bring your covenant promises to restore and cure them! Let them know that their request in faith to You is what healed them and their loved ones, not any other gift or divination. Let this bit of faith in each one be the opening gate into your presence. In Jesus' matchless name.
I wrote about this a couple of years ago when Jordan Peterson had his round table of thinkers. They went through the serpent story and he applied his psychology lens to it and totally missed the point… And nobody corrected him! It was so weird! He was saying that the people were afraid and when you put your fear on a cross and look to it that you overcome it. That may or may not be true, but that is not the point of that story! The people were not afraid of the snakes per se of course they were because they bit them. They were dying from the snakes. Fear is not the main culprit. Dying is! And when the thing that is killing us is crucified on the cross, then we have salvation and freedom. That’s why Christ became the thing that was killing us so that he could triumph over it forever. Anyway, I’m glad you’re sharing this topic, because it seems to get hijacked either by moralists or by psychologist.
A couple months back I did a deep study on idolatry and on that topic the bronze serpent is hard to miss. And it points to the much larger issue of our tendency to turn good things into God things.
But one of the biggest typology details that grabbed my attention when I first noticed it and still hasn't let go is that in the Old Testament bronze is emblematic of sin or judgement and Jesus was literally made sin for us on the cross (2 Corinthians 5:21).
And Jesus even told us Himself, "Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up."
May I ask, how long do you dedicate to your articles? I appreciate the depth you take for each post. Your writing encourages me to share more intentionally with my readers, instead of always leading them back to my book, so I wanted to ask to get a better gauge on how long I should expect to take to share something of this magnitude. I appreciate your work and can’t wait til the Zoom on Sundays!
Hi Liv. This is my full time work so I spend about 48 hours a week writing, studying for articles, recording audio for Vault members, managing my other site, etc. I don't know how much of that I devote specifically for writing because I work in a weird way... I have always been one to write on the fly. I did that even in college LOL I might read something while studying and all of a sudden decide to write about it. Now, that being said, I do 48 hours a week because I can!
Enjoyed this so much. Coincidentally the Hezekiah element of this narrative was on my read list just yesterday.
Question: in Numbers 21:6, why does the scripture version you quote use “Adonai” instead of “Yahweh”? The ESV and most other commonly use translations show LORD as representative of the Hebrew Yahweh. Please help me understand, thanks.
Great question. The version I was quoting from there was the TLV (Tree of Life Version), which often uses “Adonai” where many English translations use “LORD” in all caps.
In most English Bibles, “LORD” in caps is standing in for the divine name יהוה (YHWH), often vocalized as Yahweh. Jewish tradition historically avoided pronouncing the divine name out of reverence, so when reading Scripture aloud, Jews would commonly say “Adonai” (“Lord”) instead. The TLV follows that Jewish reading tradition, which is why you see “Adonai” in the text rather than “Yahweh” or “LORD.”
So they’re pointing to the same Hebrew name in the text, just handling it differently in translation.
JUST YESTERDAY I was talking to my husband in the car about this very story. I am thankful that God “sent” you with this message today. It also spoke deeply to me about not complaining, and keeping my eyes SOLELY on Jesus Christ as Savior, Healer, Deliverer - I’ll follow where He leads by His Holy Spirit.
I love when that happens!!
Excellent. I think what is missing here is something the family of God ignores too often. Creativity and life. Creativity is about always doing something new, never do the same thing twice. Make everything unique. And life is constantly growing, never staying the same, but getting better. I can't tell you how many things the Lord has showed me as methods to draw closer to Him, that He later said, "You gotta change. you're relying on the method now." It's a key part of our being made in the image of God. Creativity scares people a lot. But what a wonderful life it is. And the cross is much better than the snake on a pole.
Amen!!
Ok, so years ago when I was caring for my Polish father-in-law, an engineer, we talked over many things. He, mostly science and physics, and me mostly Bible and faith and how to make life interesting. One day, going over his medical bill, he said, "I've never understood this." He pointed at the medical logo of the snake on the pole.
It occurred to me that I also didn't understand it, but that maybe it had something to do with the story of the snakes and viruses in the Hebrew people in the wilderness, and that God told Moses to raise up a snake on a pole so that anyone who obeyed God and looked at it would be healed. I told him that Jesus in the New Testament also said that he would be lifted up like the snake, and that all who looked to him would be saved.
He seemed to accept that and I moved into another room. Suddenly, I noticed his small form standing between two rooms. "But, why, miss, a snake?"
I wasn't wise enough to know why. It was a thrill to me that you tackled this topic and filled in the story of Hezekiah and the people worshipping God's gifts rather than the giver. I also finally realized that a crucified Christ might look all twisted and be despised and rejected as a serpent usually is. That also connects some dots.
Finally, the divination aspect and also worshipping the gift rather than the giver is the exact issue we have today in trusting the medical community and man made medications rather that the giver of this knowledge, of the resources, and the creator and healer of our bodies!
Today, being the national day of prayer, many came to God in faith for healing. Some asked me to pray for them, for disturbed kids for loved ones with tumors, for a broken back, for healing after a surgery and for prodigal wayward children. And for their dogs. LORD God, as they looked to you in their moment of faith today, do it again. Do it again! Bring your covenant promises to restore and cure them! Let them know that their request in faith to You is what healed them and their loved ones, not any other gift or divination. Let this bit of faith in each one be the opening gate into your presence. In Jesus' matchless name.
Amen!! And thank you for sharing that story!! Amazing.
I'd never thought that something God did in my life, or gave me could become an idol. Thanks for the heads up.
I wrote about this a couple of years ago when Jordan Peterson had his round table of thinkers. They went through the serpent story and he applied his psychology lens to it and totally missed the point… And nobody corrected him! It was so weird! He was saying that the people were afraid and when you put your fear on a cross and look to it that you overcome it. That may or may not be true, but that is not the point of that story! The people were not afraid of the snakes per se of course they were because they bit them. They were dying from the snakes. Fear is not the main culprit. Dying is! And when the thing that is killing us is crucified on the cross, then we have salvation and freedom. That’s why Christ became the thing that was killing us so that he could triumph over it forever. Anyway, I’m glad you’re sharing this topic, because it seems to get hijacked either by moralists or by psychologist.
Wow LOL
Yes to all of this!
A couple months back I did a deep study on idolatry and on that topic the bronze serpent is hard to miss. And it points to the much larger issue of our tendency to turn good things into God things.
But one of the biggest typology details that grabbed my attention when I first noticed it and still hasn't let go is that in the Old Testament bronze is emblematic of sin or judgement and Jesus was literally made sin for us on the cross (2 Corinthians 5:21).
And Jesus even told us Himself, "Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up."
Powerful stuff.
Yes... turning good things into God things is definitely something we can easily struggle with.
May I ask, how long do you dedicate to your articles? I appreciate the depth you take for each post. Your writing encourages me to share more intentionally with my readers, instead of always leading them back to my book, so I wanted to ask to get a better gauge on how long I should expect to take to share something of this magnitude. I appreciate your work and can’t wait til the Zoom on Sundays!
Hi Liv. This is my full time work so I spend about 48 hours a week writing, studying for articles, recording audio for Vault members, managing my other site, etc. I don't know how much of that I devote specifically for writing because I work in a weird way... I have always been one to write on the fly. I did that even in college LOL I might read something while studying and all of a sudden decide to write about it. Now, that being said, I do 48 hours a week because I can!
Thanks so much!
Oh yes indeed!
PS. Not that God doesn't work through medicine, but he also works through homeopathy, direct prayer, and Salvation through Christ Jesus.
You skillfully wove together some very unique passages, all part of that “thin red line” running through the Scriptures.
Thank you!😊
Thank you so much Don!!
Enjoyed this so much. Coincidentally the Hezekiah element of this narrative was on my read list just yesterday.
Question: in Numbers 21:6, why does the scripture version you quote use “Adonai” instead of “Yahweh”? The ESV and most other commonly use translations show LORD as representative of the Hebrew Yahweh. Please help me understand, thanks.
Great question. The version I was quoting from there was the TLV (Tree of Life Version), which often uses “Adonai” where many English translations use “LORD” in all caps.
In most English Bibles, “LORD” in caps is standing in for the divine name יהוה (YHWH), often vocalized as Yahweh. Jewish tradition historically avoided pronouncing the divine name out of reverence, so when reading Scripture aloud, Jews would commonly say “Adonai” (“Lord”) instead. The TLV follows that Jewish reading tradition, which is why you see “Adonai” in the text rather than “Yahweh” or “LORD.”
So they’re pointing to the same Hebrew name in the text, just handling it differently in translation.