In the OT, there's an amazing story about God punishing Israel by sending snakes throughout their camp in the wilderness, killing many. But the strangest part comes toward the end of that story – and how God stopped the death of even more.

There can be no doubt that God had the power to simply take the snakes away – poof - and they'd be gone! But he didn't. Rather than taking away the snakes, God told Moses to create an antidote. The antidote would be "a fiery thing" mounted on a pole, which the CSB renders "a snake image." Simply looking at the image after being bitten would keep one from dying. It may be that at the time Israel was near the copper mines of Timna since Moses makes the image out of copper or bronze. In the 1960s archaeologists found a Midianite tent shrine in Timna, within which was a five-inch copper snake.

God's provision of life in response to Israel's sin involved looking at the image of a cursed, unclean animal, one that also symbolized evil – and still does to this day. But all sacrifices involved touching blood and dead animals, things that in themselves made someone unclean. The nature of God's cure for the ungrateful is similar what the Philistines did after capturing the ark in 1 Samuel 4. Terrified at the damage done to their temple of Dagon and the outbreak of tumors, they returned the ark to the Israelites accompanied by a guilt offering of "five gold tumors and five gold mice," which God accepted (see 1 Sam 6:1–21).

Perhaps God, who had commanded that no idol should be created, used such a repulsive image so that Israel wouldn't be tempted to worship it, although that didn't work as some in Israel eventually began burning incense to it (see 2 Kgs 18:4).

To God, the most important thing seemed to be the "fiery" nature of the image. Made out of copper, it would have even appeared reddish in color, perhaps suggesting sacrifice (compare the red heifer sacrifice, cedar wood, and the scarlet cord in Numbers 19). Perhaps the most striking thing is that although bringing a sacrifice for sin always involved touching the animal, here was deliverance by merely looking at a representation of a sacrifice.

So, why did Jesus use this episode to illustrate salvation and gift of eternal life he would provide by dying on the cross? The principle of "look and live" was certainly in view. John the Baptist called upon people to "look" at Jesus (1:36). Jesus invited the disciples to "come and see," as did Philip (1:39, 46). In 6:40, Jesus said, Everyone who sees the Son and believes in him will have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. In 14:19 Jesus told his disciples, In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me. Because I live, you will live too. At the crucifixion, John quotes Zech 12:10 in John 19:37: They will look at the one they pierced.

Jesus used the verb for "lift up" again in John 12:32–33: As for me, if I am lifted up from the earth I will draw all people to myself. Then John explains, He said this to indicate what kind of death he was about to die.

I think it no coincidence that for the Israelites to be save they had to look upon that which was cursed by God (the serpent), and for us to be saved, we must look upon the one who embraced all the sin of the world into his soul so that by looking upon him, we would be saved. The image of Jesus as the cursed one lifted up on a pole should strike us with the full force of the one who was cursed to hang upon a tree for us.

How long has it been since you've taken a good, long, hard look at Jesus? Maybe it's time to lift up your eyes this week.

PRAYER: God, thank you for providing us deliverance through the one who was cursed to hand on the cross. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Copyright 2022 by Galen C. Dalrymple.