After reading Numbers 21:4-9 two verses stand out in my mind and they are eight and nine. Verse eight because it brought to my remembrance 1 COR 10:13- God will provide a way of escape from whatever you are going through. He had done it for the Israelites on many occasions previously but, here, as it pertains to sickness and death, it really struck a chord in my spirit. How many times has God needed to provide a means of escape for us? Innumerable most likely. We go about rebuking the devil when really we, like the Israelites, take our eyes off God and get ourselves into trouble. We miss the mark when it comes to Ra’ah. The Israelites soon forgot how God was a cloud of protection over them by day and a fire by night. They complained that God spared them from one thing only to lead them into something worse. I cannot imagine anything that could be worse than 400 years of Egyptian slavery. Not to mention they did not leave Egypt empty handed but with her wealth.
Praise should have come from their mouths; not murmuring. They were blinded by their fleshly desires and did not set their eyes on God. God made provision for them yet they rejected it. (Come to think of it Jesus was bread from heaven and He was also rejected) Their soul loathed the light bread. I can only imagine how much it grieved God to see and hear His chosen people complain so. It grieved Him so much that He sent fiery serpents to deal with them. Speaking of serpents if you look up the Hebrew meaning of the word, the 5172 meaning according to Strong’s, the last part of it says learn by experience; diligently observe. Essentially He sent serpents to remind them to Ra’ah. Clearly they did not learn from their experiences with God. They failed to diligently observe His ways. How quickly do we forget the faithfulness of God and go through one circumstance after another complaining and asking why me? It is by the grace of God that we are not in areas where fiery serpents in the physical sense are around us but those spiritual ones are more than enough to contend with. We would not have to contend with them if we Ra’ah and learn by the experience of the Israelites and our own experiences that God is faithful and is with us each and every step of the way; His way. Psalm 86:11 says “Teach me thy way, O Lord; I will walk in thy truth…” Jesus said “I am the way, the truth, and the life”. We should be ever mindful to Ra’ah and say teach me Jesus; I will walk in Jesus. Jesus is my life! When the Israelites Ra’ah the serpent on the pole they were healed. When we Ra’ah our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ we can decree and declare by His stripes we are healed. By His resurrection we have life! Let us not forget that Jesus overcame the world. Let us not forget that God is for us.
What I found to be most curious, though, is verse nine. Moses has had quite the experience dealing with serpents, right? Exodus 4:2-3 And the LORD said unto him, What is that in thine hand? And he said a rod. And he said, Cast it on the ground. And he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from before it. In other words Moses got out of dodge! Does God have a sense of humor or what? You would think He knew that Moses had enough of serpents! He certainly could have sent scorpions or something else. At any rate, Moses understood the concept of Ra’ah. He kept his eye on God and not his fear. Moses remained obedient and set about accomplishing the task God had given him. Equally curious to me is why God was not more explicit in His instructions to Moses beyond "make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole". After all He gave Noah explicit instructions on how to make the ark. The tabernacle and the Ark of the Covenant had exact measurements and explicit instructions on how they were to be made but this life saving structure He left totally to Moses' own design. Moses chose to make it out of brass but why? Let’s take a look at brass and its symbolism in a few scriptures.
Jeremiah 6:28 They are all grievous revolters, walking with slanders: they are brass and iron, they are corrupters. Brass symbolizes the corruption that spread through the Israelite camp. If you have one complainer in the camp it won’t be long before you have a multitude of them. That verse perfectly describes the Israelites as they put their eyes off God and on their circumstance. They began to disregard God and Moses by speaking against them. Ezekiel 22:18 also compares the Israelites to brass when they have gone astray: Son of man, the house of Israel is to me dross; all they are brass, and tin, and iron, and lead, in the midst of the furnace; they are even the dross of silver. Dross, according to Merriam Webster, is the scum that forms on the surface of molten metal. It is waste or foreign matter. In Hebrew it is the word, soog and it refers to refuse. Dig a little deeper and you will see it defined as to go back, turn away, and it also says backslider. Israel had turned into a nation of backsliders with their complaints.
As believers we need to go through the wilderness and even the furnace but the point is not for us to be abandoned or consumed. We need to be purified and sanctified all the while keeping our eyes on God as we go through each process. We should not get discouraged when we follow the way the Lord leads us. Pure gold has gone through the fire to be rid of its impurities. We are more precious than gold to our heavenly Father. What does it take to rid us of our impurities?
Let’s take a look at another scripture, Daniel 2:39, Daniel is interpreting King Nebuchadnezzar's dream. He says "And another a third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth". Doesn't that sound like Christ, the very One represented by the serpent on the pole? I see why God didn’t have to give Moses any further instructions on what to do. Moses knew what he was doing! They say curiosity killed the cat but with the Bible curiosity reveals mysteries. Besides I’d rather kill parts of me through learning rather than going through the wilderness and furnace all the time! Amen? I don’t need a fiery serpent to learn by experience. Lord I pray not! i don’t need a fiery serpent to diligently observe God. I will Ra'ah; look to Christ. Jesus the Christ bears rule over all the earth! Jesus the Christ bears authority over sickness, infirmity, and death! Jesus is the resurrection and the life, Ra'ah! Keep your eye on Christ and don't you dare blink! Heavenly Father keep my focus on You! By the stripes of Jesus Christ I am healed and I won’t dare blink. I thank You, Father for Your precious Son who bears rule over all the earth.
This is a homework assignment. We had to write an exegetical treatise based on the word Ra'ah.
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