בג'ון 3:14, ישוע אמר, and as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so, must the Son of man be lifted up: שכל המאמין בו לא יאבד, אבל יש חיי נצח. Why was the serpent of brass on the pole a foreshadowing of Jesus’ death on the cross?
Why were the people of God attacked by fiery serpents?
The people of God were attacked by fiery serpents because they sinned: by speaking against God: And they journeyed from mount Hor by the way of the Red sea, to compass the land of Edom: and the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way. 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, neither is there any water; and our soul loatheth this light bread. And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died.
Therefore the people came to Moses, ואמר, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against thee; pray unto the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people. And the Lord said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: וַיְהִי, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived (מספרים 21:4-9)
God led His people in a way they didn’t want to go, ובגלל זה, they became discouraged. They were not satisfied; לָכֵן, they murmured and complained against Moses and God and came with the familiar ‘why’.
The Israelites were not satisfied and were not excited about God’s plan and all the things that were coming.
They didn’t trust the Lord and relied on His words, but they were dissatisfied with God’s plan, God’s leading, and God’s provision.
They complained about not having bread and water and they loathed the light bread, which God provided for every day.
Due to all their complaining and murmuring and speaking against God and Moses, they brought mischief (רשע) על עצמם.
Because of the fact that God’s people turned against God, God turned against His people and took away His protection and gave them up to their ruler; הנחש, יריב אלוהים, to whom the people listened and were led.
When God sent fiery serpents among the people and the people were bitten by the serpents and many died, the spiritual was revealed in the natural.
The wicked have sharpened their tongues like a serpent
Do ye indeed speak righteousness, O congregation? o ye judge uprightly, O ye sons of men? כן, in heart ye work wickedness; ye weigh the violence of your hands in the earth. The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies. Their poison is like the poison of a serpent: they are like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear; Which will not hearken to the voice of charmers, charming never so wisely (תהילים 58:1-5)
Deliver me, הו אדון, from the evil man: preserve me from the violent man; Which imagine mischiefs in their heart; continually are they gathered together for war. They have sharpened their tongues like a serpent; adders’ poison is under their lips. Sela (תהילים 140:1-3)
God’s people were not transformed and had not renewed their minds with the words and commandments of God and had not delighted themselves in the law and made the law of God their own
Instead of submitting to God and being led by His words and by His will, the people were led by the will and the nature of the devil aka the serpent, and turned against God and sinned against God through their words.
The serpent of brass was lifted by Moses in the wilderness
But the Israelites repented of their sins, that they had spoken against the Lord and against Moses, and they asked Moses to pray unto God that He would remove the serpents from them.
Moses prayed to God for the people, and God heard Moses’ prayer and answered his prayer, and brought deliverance for the people.
God commanded Moses to make a fiery serpent and put it on a stake. Moses obeyed the words of God and made a serpent of brass and put the brass serpent on a pole, so that the serpent of brass was lifted in the wilderness.
Everyone that was bitten and looked upon the serpent of brass would live
Everyone that was bitten by a serpent and looked upon the serpent of brass on the pole, didn’t die, but lived.
And so God brought salvation (מַרפֵּא) through the serpent of brass and those, who believed and obeyed the words of God and looked upon the serpent of brass, stayed alive.
Why did God command Moses to make a serpent of brass? The serpent is the father of (נָפוּל) אָדָם. The generation of fallen man has the evil nature of the devil (serpent).
The serpent of brass on the pole, would remember the people of their rebellious behavior and their sin, how they spoke against God and Moses, and the fiery serpents and how God brought salvation (מַרפֵּא) לאלה, who obeyed His words and looked upon the serpent of brass on the pole.
The moment, when the serpent became the father of fallen man
Although Adam walked with God in the garden of Eden, there came a moment when Adam became disobedient to God and believed the words of the devil, which had come to him through the serpent and through Eve, above the words of God and obeyed the words of the devil by eating from the forbidden fruit.
Through his obedience to the devil (serpent), he yielded to the devil and death entered and his spirit died (and came under the authority of death) and lived in the power of the devil.
Through his deed of disobedience to God, Adam had fallen from his position and was (מבחינה רוחנית) separated from God and had become an adversary of God.
The serpent, השטן, had become the father of fallen man and everyone, מי שיוולד מזרע האדם, would be born as a sinner and live in the power of the devil and darkness.
From that moment sin and death reigned as king in the lives of fallen mankind (חוטאים).
But God had already a plan of redemption for fallen mankind, to deliver mankind from the power of the devil, וחטא ומוות. God promised that the seed of the woman would bruise the head of the serpent and the serpent would bruise his heel (בראשית 3).
עם זאת, this didn’t happen immediately, but it took a long time, before God sent His Son Jesus Christ out of love to the earth to deliver fallen mankind from the power of the devil and reconcile man back to Himself (קרא גם: What does it mean the head of the devil was bruised because the heel of Jesus was bruised?)
Jesus came to the earth to redeem the sinners from the power of the serpent
לְהַבִּיט, עבדי ינהג בתבונה, הוא יתעלה ויתעלה, and be very high. As many were astonied at thee; הוויזה שלו הייתה כל כך פגומה יותר מכל אדם, וצורתו יותר מבני אדם: כך יפזר גוים רבים; יסגרו מלכים את פיהם עליו: כי מה שלא נאמר להם יראו; ואת אשר לא שמעו יחשבו (ישעיהו 52:13-15)
מי האמין לדיווח שלנו? ולמי מתגלה זרוע ה'? כי הוא יגדל לפניו כצמח רך, וכשורש מתוך אדמה יבשה: אין לו צורה ואין לו יופי; ומתי נראה אותו, אין שום יופי שאנו צריכים לרצות בו. הוא מתעב ונדחה מבני אדם; איש של צער, ומכיר את האבל: והסתרנו כאילו פנינו מפניו; הוא היה בזוי, ולא הערכנו אותו. בוודאי הוא נשא את יגוננו, ונשא את צערינו: ובכל זאת הערכנו אותו מוכה, מוכה אלוהים, ונפגע. אבל הוא נפצע בגלל העבירות שלנו, הוא נחבל על עוונותינו: ייסור שלום שלנו היה עליו; ובפסיו נרפא.
כל מה שאנחנו אוהבים כבשים הלכו שולל; פנינו כל אחד לדרכו; וְהֵשִׁיב יְהוָה עָלָיו אֶת-עָוֶן כֻּלָּנוּ. הוא היה מדוכא, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not His mouth: מביאים אותו ככבש לשחיטה, וכצאן לפני גוזזו אילם, so he openeth not His mouth.
הוא נלקח מהכלא ומשיפוט: ומי יגיד את דורו? כי הוא נכרת מארץ החיים: על פשע עמי הוכה.
And He made his grave with the wicked, ועם העשיר במותו; כי הוא לא עשה אלימות, neither was any deceit in his mouth.
ובכל זאת מצא חן בעיני ה' לחבור אותו; הוא הכניס אותו לצער: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, הוא יראה את זרעו, הוא יאריך את ימיו, וַעֲנַג יְהוָה יִצְלַח בְּיָדוֹ. הוא יראה על עמל נפשו, ויהיה מרוצה: by His knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; כי הוא ישא את עוונותיהם.
לכן אחלק לו חלק עם הגדולים, ויחלק את השלל עם החזק; כי הוא שפך את נפשו למוות: וְהוּא נִפְנָה בַּמַּעֲבָרִים; והוא נשא חטאת של רבים, ועשה השתדלות לעוברים (ישעיהו 53)
And so Jesus came in the likeness of man to earth to redeem man from the power of the serpent (השטן).
Jesus became equal to mankind and was tempted in all things, אך ללא חטא, so that Jesus could become the Substitute for fallen mankind. Because if Jesus would not become equal to mankind, and had to be tempted in all things, Jesus couldn’t take the place of mankind and couldn’t become the Substitute for mankind and bear the sins and iniquities of mankind (ישעיהו 53, עברים 2:14-18 (קרא גם: The peace restored between fallen man and God ו האם ישוע היה אנושי לחלוטין?)).
יֵשׁוּעַ, the Son of Man, was lifted on the cross
Jesus was scourged in such a horrible way, that his face was so marred and His appearance was no longer human. ולאחר מכן Jesus was lifted on the wooden cross and carried all the sins and iniquities of humanity, which the Lord laid upon Him. Jesus was made sin and became a curse on the cross.
Although Jesus did the will of God and pleased the Father, and this was all part of God’s redemptive work for fallen man, the people esteemed Jesus stricken, מוכה אלוהים, וסובלים (אה. ישעיהו 53:4)
Jesus finished His work on the cross, entered Hades to take the power of death and Hell (שְׁאוֹל) and redeem the prisoners of death, and rose from the dead with the keys of Hell and death (הִתגַלוּת 1:18).
Jesus was highly exalted by the Father
הניחו לתודעה הזו להיות בתוככם, שהיה גם במשיח ישוע: מי, להיות בדמות אלוהים, חשבתי שזה לא גזל להיות שווה עם אלוהים: אבל עשה לעצמו שום מוניטין, ולבש עליו צורה של עבד, ונברא בצלם אדם: ולהימצא באופנה כגבר, הוא הצניע את עצמו, ונעשה צייתן עד מוות, אפילו מות הצלב. עַל כֵּן גַּם אֱלֹהִים רִמָּה אוֹתוֹ מְאֹד, and given him a name which is above every name: שבשם ישוע כל ברך צריכה להתכופף, של דברים בגן עדן, ודברים באדמה, ודברים מתחת לאדמה; ושכל לשון צריכה להתוודות שישוע המשיח הוא האדון, לכבוד אלוהים האב (פיליפים 2:5-11)
אחרי 40 ימים, ישוע עלה לגן עדן, where Jesus was highly exalted by the Father and took place on the throne at the right hand of the Father, מעל לכל נסיכות, כּוֹחַ, אולי, ושליטה (אפסים 1:19-21).
כל אחד, who believes in Jesus Christ and His redemptive work and repent and become born of water and Spirit, shall no longer live in the power of the devil (serpent) and the power of sin and death, באי ציות לאלוהים, but shall be transferred from the power of the devil to the Kingdom of God, שבו ישוע המשיח הוא מלך וממלכה, and shall be reconciled with God and be made righteous and inherit eternal life.
Through the disobedience of man to God, the serpent became the father of fallen man, but through the obedience of Jesus Christ to the Father, and Jesus being lifted on the cross, man would be reconciled with God and God would become the Father of the new man (הרומאים 5 ו 6).
The serpent of brass points to Jesus Christ, Who brings salvation and eternal life
וכמו שהרים משה את הנחש במדבר, גם כן חייב להתרומם בן האדם: שכל המאמין בו לא יאבד, אבל יש חיי נצח. כי אלוהים כל כך אהב את העולם, שהוא נתן את בנו יחידו, שכל המאמין בו לא יאבד, אבל יש חיי נצח. כי אלוהים לא שלח את בנו לעולם להרשיע את העולם; אלא כדי שהעולם ייוושע דרכו. מי שמאמין בו אינו נידון: אבל מי שלא מאמין כבר נידון, כי הוא לא האמין בשם הבן היחיד של אלוהים (ג'ון 3:14-18)
Jesus didn’t come to the earth to condemn man, but to save man Because every man is fallen. Every person is a sinner and is affected by evil (טבע חוטא), במילים אחרות,, is bitten by the serpent, and therefore every man needs salvation. God has provided for the salvation of mankind through His Son Jesus Christ. Jesus came and gave (ועדיין נותן) man a choice for life or death.
Because as the serpent of brass was lifted in the wilderness by Moses, brought deliverance from death, and gave life to those, who believed in the words of God and looked upon the serpent, even so, does Jesus Christ, who was lifted on the cross on Calvary, brings deliverance from the power of the serpent (השטן), מוות, and darkness and gave eternal life to those, שמאמינים בו ונולדים בו מחדש.
And so Jesus became the Substitute, מספק, Saviour, מְרַפֵּא, מְחַבֵּר, and Lord of the new man, who submits to the Word and listens to Jesus and obeys and does His words and lives in the will of the Father.
'היה מלח הארץ’
