Numbers 21 - Arad Destroyed, the Bronze Serpent | Bible Podcast, David Alley, Peace Christian Church
The Bible by David Alley · David Alley
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Show Notes
In this video listen to Numbers 21 read by David Alley, followed by comments and prayer.
In Numbers 21 the Israelites come to the south of Canaan and engage in a battle with the King of Arad, who they defeat. They then endeavor to shortcut through Edom to the main part of Canaan, but Edom refuses and they have to go the long way around.
They end up complaining and God sends a plague of venomous snakes. God tells Moses to setup a snake on a pole, and anyone who looks at it will be healed. It is here we get one of the great items famous in the book of Numbers, and which is now used in medicine as the symbol of healing. And this symbol is also a picture of Christ right here in the Torah.
Jesus himself referred to this passage in John 3:14 when Jesus was speaking with Nicodemus. How though is Jesus like a snake? He isn’t, but the snake represents sin which had to be placed on Christ on the cross, for it to be dealt with. Later in 2 Kings 18:4, King Hezekiah had the bronze snake destroyed, which had been preserved somehow until that later time. It had become an object of worship against the Lord. Where was it kept all of that time?
Either way, there was a foreshadowing of the cross physically in their midst for about 700 years from this point until Hezekiah.