CYOA - Look to the Snake

4 They traveled from Mount Hor along the route to the Red Sea, to go around Edom. But the people grew impatient on the way; 5 they spoke against God and against Moses, and said, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!”

6 Then the LORD sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died. 7 The people came to Moses and said, “We sinned when we spoke against the LORD and against you. Pray that the LORD will take the snakes away from us.” So Moses prayed for the people.

8 The LORD said to Moses, “Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.” 9 So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, they lived.

I was so excited to write on this passage because it is so bizarre! I mean the snakes are obviously no fun but then the bronze snake blows my mind!!!??? I mean why not have Moses' staff turn into a snake again and eat all the other snakes or maybe stick the ten commandments on a pole... or a bronze replica of the ten commandments... or a statue of Moses... But no, a bronze snake. Literally, looking to the snake was to receive God's salvation... Reflect on that statement for a moment. Does it creep anyone else out? That one looked to God by looking at the snake... Ok but maybe it makes sense because they are being attacked by snakes. So by having the symbol of salvation be a snake, no one will get confused and think God is a snake... they will remember Yahweh and the his deliverance from the snakes... Maybe? Nope: by 2 Kings 18:4, Israel is offering incense to the thing.

I did a word search on snake and serpent and it is a surprising common way of talking about something bad, being used mostly in a negative sense. However, the bronze snake is a weird kind of exception/non exception. There is also Gen 49:17 which is a prophecy about Dan in which snake imagery is kind of used as a positive negative and the staff into a snake trick in Exodus. In Matthew 10:16 we have Jesus command to be as shrewd as snakes. And you have Jesus' statement in John 3:14-15 directly referencing Numbers 21:

Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.

And that is it.

Ok, now I want to give you the part that really freaks me out. Perhaps you have heard of Asclepius. The Greek God of medicine and healing.... Symbolized as a snake entwined on a staff... Still the common symbol for medicine/medical stuff...

So the Israelites are dying from snake bites and they need healing and they look to a bronze snake on a pole, i.e. Asclepius and they are healed. Except that Yahweh instructs this action and timeline-wise the connection must be from Israel to Greece and not the other way around if a real connection exists at all. To push this just a bit further, Asclepius is killed by Zeus for... raising people from the dead!!! Early church father Justin Martyr presented Asclepius as explicitly foreshadowing Jesus' ability to heal for the Greeks and is used as an example to show how Jesus' resurrection and ascension was not in any way unbelievable because this is already what Greeks believed about Asclepius!

OK. So we have the bronze serpent, to Asclepius, to Jesus. Furthermore, there is some scholarship and strong archaeological evidence to suggest that the Bathesda healing (John 5:1-15) was a confrontation with the pagan cult of Asclepius. So the question then... is this all part of God's glorious plan to save people in confusing ways that wind up getting people side tracked but eventually somehow lead to Jesus? Is the story of the snake which gives/offers life but ultimately leads people astray merely an extension of Eden? How do we reconcile the snake as both a symbol of judgement/punishment and salvation? Are we doomed to a story of redemptive violence? Are we supposed to not notice the phallic undertone in the descriptions of snakes and poles being lifted into the air?

CYOA - Choosing our Language

CYOA  Numbers 21:4-6

And they journeyed from mount Hor by the way to the Red Sea, to compass the land of Edom: and the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way. 5 And the people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, and there is no water; and our soul loatheth this light bread. 6 And Jehovah sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died. (American Standard Version)

       At first I was not at all sure what to write about when I read this passage. I was not even offended by it. Thinking about my initial reaction I am a put off at how nonchalant I was to the deaths of these people because they were grumbling. I think that reflects more on me and others who read the Bible than on the story. It was as if an inner switch turned on when I went to read the passage, and it went something like this...Well that is terrible, but it is in the Bible, and God can do as God pleases, and God  gives just judgement, so then that is a great story. Realizing this was quite disconcerting, as I realize the extent to which I am still brainwashed by Church culture to not take the Bible seriously enough to read what it actually says.

So here are a few thoughts, after some more reflection. I think Numbers 21:1-3 is also important to read when contemplating 4-6.

1 And the Canaanite, the king of Arad, who dwelt in the South, heard tell that Israel came by the way of Atharim; and he fought against Israel, and took some of them captive. 2 And Israel vowed a vow unto Jehovah, and said, If thou wilt indeed deliver this people into my hand, then I will utterly destroy their cities. 3 And Jehovah hearkened to the voice of Israel, and delivered up the Canaanites; and they utterly destroyed them and their cities: and the name of the place was called Hormah.

       The connection may not be immediately clear. Why would I want to bring in a passage about genocide of one ethic/religious group by another religious/ethnic group. Is it not just Serbia and Kosovo in ancient times? Yes, it is exactly Serbia and Kosovo, and that is the point. In this specific passage the genocide is initiated by the human side of the relationship. The Jews retaliate and destroy the Canaanites, and the Bible records that Yahweh listened and then gave them the Canaanites. I find this incredibly telling. I see God agreeing to communicate with the Israelites in terms they can comprehend, and if those terms are nationhood and genocide, the standard of the time, then God agrees to communicate in these terms even though they are less then the ideal.
       I think this helps me understand God's recoded reaction to their grumbling. The Israelites have communicated that the "language" they understand is that of life and death. In so doing they have stated the terms of communication they expect from God, so the reprimand comes in similar "language".
       I think this "language" changes throughout the narrative of the Bible, as there is a movement away from stories such as this one (although they never completely disappear as there are NT examples). I think biblically one sees this in regard to this specific story by looking to 2 Kings 18:4. Moses makes a bronze snake to remedy the problem of the snakes. This symbol/fetish is a highly "primitive" form of religion. It is thus "out grown" by the progressive revelation of scripture. The fetishism had become fully developed around the bronze snake by the time of Hezekiah came to the throne, it is recorded that he is responsible for its destruction.

4 He removed the high places, and brake the pillars, and cut down the Asherah: and he brake in pieces the brazen serpent that Moses had made; for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it; and he called it Nehushtan. (2 Kings 18:4 ASV)

I think this reflects back on more than just the bronze snake, I would read this passage to reflect as a condemnation of interacting with God like the the Israelites did in Numbers 21.
       That is my main thought about this passage, it is a mediocre answer as all answers are. I am forced to again contemplate my underlying presupposition about inspiration and understanding of the compilation of scripture. As I read this passage and wrote this blog there was always a nagging in the back of my mind, the idea of scripture being the record of a people grappling with the dissonance between their experiences and a belief in the supernatural. Thus when bad happens, they have done wrong and when they are victorious it must have been because God condoned it. I think with a little bit of this understanding underlying one's reading, progressive revelation becomes even more important to struggle with as our consciences are no longer comfortable with genocide.

P.S. We need some more passages you would like us to write about (they don't all need to be difficult, maybe it is your favourite and you would like to see what we have to say, or a passage you have never heard a sermon on). Post any passages you want us to write on in the comments section below and they will go into the pool of passages we draw from each week.