After the first "water from the rock" episode in Exodus 17, the Israelites were attacked by Amalek and achieved a military victory. Similarly, after the second "water from the rock" episode in Numbers 20, the Israelites were attacked by Arad the Canaanite and defeated him in battle as well (Num 21:1-3)..
The younger generation of Israelites was showing some courage, but they also shared some of the problems of their ancestors. As the journey dragged on, they began to speak against God and against Moses (Num 21:4-5), turning up their noses at God's provision for them.
God sent correction in the form of poisonous snakes (v 6), a punishment with symbolic significance. Kevin Chen describes this incident as a kind of "fall" for the younger generation of Israelites. By slandering God and his provision for them, they were succumbing to the temptations of the Serpent. Chen sees significance in the fact that the Hebrew word for "serpent" in verse 7 is singular rather than plural. The Israelites ask for relief from the poisonous snakes, but their real problem is with the same Serpent who tempted Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden (Gen 3). It's really that Serpent which needs to be taken away. The word for serpent appears five times in both Gen 3 and Numbers 21:4-9, linking the two chapters.
God provides relief by having Moses make a bronze snake and hold it up on a pole. An Israelite who looked at the bronze snake on the pole would be healed of a snakebite (vv 8-9).
This remedy has symbolic significance, as is pointed out in John 3:14-15. The bronze snake is a type of Jesus, who was raised up on the cross to defeat the Serpent. When the Son of Man is lifted up, the ruler of this world is cast out (Jn 12:31-34). All who look to Jesus in faith are saved.
In the imagery of the bronze snake Chen also sees a hint of the hiddenness of the Messiah's identity. Some wrongly accused Jesus of being a servant of the Serpent (Mt 10:24-26; 12:24-29) and did not recognize a crucified man as the Messiah.
The Son of Man is lifted up on the cross, and we also should lift him up continually in our lives. Kyle Kettering made this point in a sermon on John 3 at Church of the Messiah on September 24, 2022.
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