CSSA 1-2-04 - NEAR THE END OF THE JOURNEY -FIERY SERPENTS

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29. NEAR THE END OF THE JOURNEY -FIERY SERPENTS

"When he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived"

Aim

To show that we must follow exactly as God commands and always give Him honour for His goodness to us.

Synopsis

The people of Israel had wandered for thirty-eight years in a harsh, dry and uninteresting land because they had been faithless and not believed their God. The dismal journey was nearly over and most of the older people had died, leaving those who were about to enter the Promised Land in the last stage of their desert march. There were still terrible trials to be faced but a new generation travelled north and stood upon the borders of Canaan.

Numbers 20; 21:4-9; Deut. 8:15-16

MOSES SMITES THE ROCK: Numbers 20:1-13

The people of Israel had reached Kadesh again and it was there that Miriam died. So Moses and Aaron buried their sister on the edge of the Land of Promise. She had been a great help to Moses through the long years of trouble and would now sleep in the grave to await the glorious resurrection morning. Those who had died in faith will be raised to life when Jesus Christ returns to set up His kingdom (1 Thess. 4:16).

Over the long years of wandering in the wilderness, the children of Israel had often been short of water and now again they were very thirsty. They grew impatient and began to despair, fearing that they would die in this barren land. Their faith failed and they could only think of Egypt. Moses and Aaron became very angry with them, remembering that their fathers had acted in the same way thirty- eight years earlier.

For all this, God did not forsake them. He knew they must have water and once again He would provide for their need. So God commanded Moses to take Aaron's rod in his hand and said to him: "Speak ye unto the rock before their eyes, and it shall give forth water, and thou shalt bring forth to them water out of the rock" (v8).

But Moses in his anger took the rod, and instead of speaking to the rock as God had commanded, struck the rock twice and said, "Hear now, ye rebels, must we fetch you water out of this rock?" (v10). In his anger, Moses forgot to obey God exactly as commanded. It was wrong for him to smite the rock; he should have spoken to it as commanded. He did not give the glory to God either. It was God who had caused the water to flow, and Moses should have made sure the people understood this, so that they would thank God for His help. Because of this, Moses was not allowed to enter the Promised Land. God told Moses and Aaron, "Ye shall not bring this congregation into the land" (v12).

After all those years of patiently leading God's stubborn and rebellious people, this great man and prophet was not allowed to take them right into the Land. Moses had sinned and he must wait until Christ returns and then he can enter into that land in triumph and glory.

THE DEATH OF AARON: Numbers 20:12-29

The time had come when Aaron, the brother of Moses, was to die. God told Moses to take Aaron and Eleazar his son up to Mt Hor. There, according to God's command, Moses took off Aaron's priestly garments and put them on Eleazar, who would be High Priest after his father's death. Aaron died there, on the top of the mount, on the first day of the fifth month of the fortieth year after leaving Egypt, at the age of 123 years (Num. 33:38-39). The children of Israel mourned for him for thirty days. He still sleeps in the grave awaiting the resurrection and the establishment of God's Kingdom.

DEADLY SERPENTS PLAGUE ISRAEL: Num. 21:4-9; Deut. 8:15-16

Moses had sent messengers from Kadesh to the King of Edom asking for permission to pass through his land on their way to Canaan. He refused, and so Israel had to make a long and tiring journey through desert country to avoid going through Edom. Water was scarce and they were tired of manna. So they became discouraged and their faith failed. They spoke against God and Moses saying, "Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness?" (vv 4,5). There were many times like this when things were difficult that they complained and blamed God for their troubles.

The people were punished by a plague of "fiery serpents", which had a poisonous bite, causing burning fever and death. When the people saw how many died they came to Moses and said, "We have sinned... pray unto Yahweh, that He take away the serpents from us". Moses prayed for them and God told him to make a serpent of brass and put it on a pole, so that "everyone that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live". God was again merciful to His people. All those who looked on the brazen serpent in faith, believing His word, were healed (vv 8,9).

LESSON FOR US

Even such great men as Moses and Aaron sometimes sinned against God. In Psalm 106:22-33 we read that the Israelites provoked Moses and made him angry. As a result, he spoke very foolishly and did not give God the glory. We must always be careful of the way we speak and not give way to anger. It is best to think before we speak and we are reminded of this by the apostle James when we read, "Let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath" (James 1:19).

ADDITIONAL NOTES

THE SPIRITUAL LESSON OF THE SERPENT OF BRASS: John 3:14-15

There was a difference between the serpents on the ground and the brazen one on the pole. The fiery serpents had a poisonous bite and the people died. There was no poison in the serpent on the pole and the people who looked up in faith to the brazen serpent were saved from death. By faith they were saved from the poisonous serpent bite. In John 3:14-15 we read "as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life". The Lord Jesus Christ used this incident to show that faith saved the people in the wilderness from death by serpent bite. Knowing that he would later be crucified, Jesus taught that, like the serpent on the pole, he too would be lifted up. Those who looked to him in faith would see in his life, death and resurrection, a way of salvation through baptism into his name (Rom. 4:25; 6:3,4).

Refer to Sunday School Instructor, Question No. 54.

QUESTIONS

Short Answers

How did God tell Moses to bring forth water from the rock at Kadesh?
What did Moses say before the water came out of the rock?
What did Moses do with his rod?
What did God say to Moses and Aaron after the water came forth?
What happened when Moses took Aaron and Eleazar up to Mt. Hor?
Why did God send fiery serpents among the people?
What did God tell Moses to do to save some of the people?
What did the people have to do to be saved from the serpent bite?

Detailed Answers

1. Moses did not carefully obey all that God commanded him to do when he brought forth water from the rock at Kadesh.

1. Why was God angry with Moses and Aaron?
2. What did God say to them because they had done wrong?

Tell the story of how Moses brought forth water from the rock at Kadesh just before Israel entered the Promised Land.
(a) Why did God send fiery serpents among the children of Israel?

(b) How could the people be saved from death when they were bitten by the serpents?