Christian Century: Snake on a stick - Living by the Word - Numbers 21:4-9; John 3:13-21 - Column

Christian Century: Snake on a stick - Living by the Word - Numbers 21:4-9; John 3:13-21 - Column: "In order to teach the people, God did not cancel the plague of snakes but commanded Moses to craft a bronze (or copper) snake. Forget for the time being that divine injunction against making idols 'in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath' (Exod. 20:4). Sure, an image of a snake will inevitably pose all manner of difficulties in years to come. We will no doubt regret our theological laxity, but let King Hezekiah contend with the problem later (2 Kings 18:4). When you're up to your ankles in adders, it is not a time for qualms about theological niceties and deliberations on religious aesthetics. If the problem is a plague of snakes, then the cure is another snake, a snake hoisted on a standard for all to see. The equation is simple: when someone is bitten by a snake, he is to lift his eyes to the elevated bronze snake so as not to die from the bite. We cannot help worrying, however, about this solution. At best it seems like cheap grace: one glance at a snake on a stick and all is restored. At worst it reminds us of magic or of those healing idols of winged serpents that were left behind in Egypt.
The rabbis shared our uneasiness. It is not the snake, they declared, but rather what looking at the raised snake causes us to do. The Mishnah Rosh Hashanah explains: 'Does the serpent either kill or sustain life? Rather whenever Israel looked upward and submitted their heart to their Father in heaven, they were healed.' The Wisdom of Solomon chants its agreement, praising God and clarifying that 'the one who turned toward [the snake] was saved, not by the thing that was beheld, but by you, the Savior of all.'"