{"id":5419,"date":"2026-05-07T08:37:37","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T12:37:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/?p=5419"},"modified":"2026-05-07T08:37:37","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T12:37:37","slug":"the-bronze-snake","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/07\/the-bronze-snake\/","title":{"rendered":"The Bronze Snake"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast<\/em>,\u00a0click here<\/a>
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The signature story of Israel\u2019s history is the Exodus.

It\u2019s\u00a0the account of the\u00a0arduous trek of hundreds of thousands of freed Hebrew slaves across the brutal wilderness of the Sinai Peninsula.\u00a0
\u00a0
The Promised Land of Palestine lies ahead.\u00a0Egypt is in the rearview mirror.\u00a0The people are buoyed by overwhelming hope and gratitude.

Right?<\/em>
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In truth, the Hebrews are a classic case study in whining.\u00a0They grumble about the scarcity of water.\u00a0They wail about the \u201cgiants\u201d in Canaan who make them feel like grasshoppers. As we noted earlier this spring, \u201cGod got his people out of Egypt, but then he had to get Egypt out of his people.\u201d\u00a0Their victim mentality proves difficult to uproot.
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We read in Numbers 21:4-5 that \u201cthe people grew impatient on the way;\u00a0they spoke against God\u00a0and against Moses, and said, \u2018Why have you brought us up out of Egypt\u00a0to die in the wilderness?\u00a0There is no bread! There is no water!\u00a0And we detest this miserable food!\u2019\u201d

God, of course, has been feeding them faithfully.
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The \u201cmiserable food\u201d they\u2019re talking about is his daily gift of manna. As author and pastor John Ortberg reminds us, manna hardly seems to qualify as \u201cmiserable.\u201d

\u201cManna was by all accounts an amazing product.\u00a0It tasted like wafers made with honey.\u00a0It was apparently a very versatile food.\u00a0The Israelites were told to bake what they wanted to bake, boil what they wanted to boil, lay aside that which they wanted to eat raw.
\u00a0
\u201cIt sounds a little like Bubba in the movie Forrest Gump <\/em>describing the infinite variety of ways in which you could fix shrimp.\u00a0\u2018Baked manna, boiled or barbecued manna, manna-on-a-stick, manna burgers, manna-salad, manna-cotti, manna-banana cream pie\u2026\u2019\u201d\u00a0

All washed down with a glass of manna-schewitz, no doubt.
\u00a0
God\u2019s ability to endure his people\u2019s deeply ingrained ingratitude finally reaches a breaking point.
\u00a0
Reading on in Numbers 21, \u201cThen the\u00a0Lord\u00a0sent venomous snakes\u00a0among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died.\u00a0The people came to Moses\u00a0and said, \u2018We sinned\u00a0when we spoke against the\u00a0Lord\u00a0and against you. Pray that the\u00a0Lord\u00a0will take the snakes away from us.\u2019 So Moses prayed\u00a0for the people.
\u00a0
\u201cThe\u00a0Lord\u00a0said to Moses, \u2018Make a snake and put it up on a pole;\u00a0anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.\u2019\u00a0So Moses made a bronze snake\u00a0and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, they lived\u201d (Numbers 21:6-9).
\u00a0
This is a strange story. There\u2019s nothing quite like it anywhere else in the Bible.
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There\u2019s no suggestion here that Moses\u2019 \u201cfake snake\u201d has any power in and of itself. What heals the snakebite victims is a simple act of faith \u2013 choosing to cast a glance at the snake-shaped piece of bronze affixed to the top of a pole.
\u00a0
And just like that, the story ends. Snakes never get another mention in the biblical account of the wilderness wanderings.
\u00a0
But the rest of the Bible isn\u2019t finished with the bronze snake just yet.
\u00a0
Immediately before John 3:16, one of Scripture\u2019s most celebrated statements (\u201cFor God so loved the world that he gave his only Son\u2026\u201d), Jesus declares, \u201cJust as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in Him may have eternal life\u201d (John 3:14-15).
\u00a0
Jesus, incredibly, likens himself to Moses\u2019s serpentine bronze-work.
\u00a0
If whining, ungrateful, messed-up people could, in a moment of total panic, look up at something at the end of a pole and receive healing, then whining, ungrateful, messed-up sinners like us can, in a moment of total spiritual desperation, fix our gaze at the cross and receive saving grace from the One who was nailed there for the explicit purpose of forgiving our sins.
\u00a0
That\u2019s a startling and powerful connection.
\u00a0
Interestingly, the bronze snake gets one more mention on the pages of Scripture.
\u00a0
It happens in chapter 18 of the Old Testament book of 2 Kings. King Hezekiah, one of ancient Israel\u2019s few God-honoring royal figures, orders a national spiritual housecleaning. \u201cHe removed\u00a0the high places,\u00a0smashed the sacred stones\u00a0and cut down the Asherah poles\u201d (2 Kings 18:4).
\u00a0
Then comes this amazing statement: \u201cHe broke into pieces the bronze snake\u00a0Moses had made, for up to that time the Israelites had been burning incense to it. It was called Nehushtan.\u201d
\u00a0
The bronze snake has not vanished. It hasn\u2019t been on display in a Museum of Hebrew Antiquities in Jerusalem, nor is it collecting dust somewhere in a storage locker some 500 years after the Exodus.
\u00a0
It has become an idol. A vile thing. A rival to Yahweh himself. It even has a name: Nehushtan. The Hebrew etymology suggests that means \u201cBronze Thing.\u201d Or perhaps \u201cBronzey.\u201d
\u00a0
We may think it incredible that God\u2019s people could be so thick-headed as to transform one of God\u2019s own graciously provided means of help and healing into an idol.
\u00a0
But we do the same sort of thing all the time. \u00a0
\u00a0
The Spirit inspires a great idea. Our church or small group or Christian gathering creates something special with music or a meal or a mission trip. Hearts are lifted up. Lives are changed. \u201cLet\u2019s do this again next year!\u201d
\u00a0
And so it goes. Year after year after year. Until it becomes unthinkable \u2013 even against the will of God, we suspect \u2013 that we would ever dare to skip the musical production or rummage sale or overseas trip that God has used to make such a difference in the world.
\u00a0
But what once seemed like a great idea has now become empty and lifeless.
\u00a0
Our hearts are no longer in it for the simple reason that the Spirit is no longer in it.
\u00a0
Old methods, old songs, and old perspectives (not always, but all too often) become objects of worship. What God once used to bring hope and redemption is now our very own Nehushtan \u2013 a favorite program before which we feel obligated to bow down.
\u00a0
The same thing can happen with certain family rituals. The best way to open Christmas presents, for instance, or the one true way to load the dishwasher can sometimes be granted an untouchable sacredness.
\u00a0
Many traditions are sweet.
\u00a0
But as the old saying puts it, \u201cWhen you visit the altars of the past, bring back the fire and not the ashes.\u201d
\u00a0
Our call is to dare to imagine that God\u2019s Spirit has something new to teach us, and that the challenges and opportunities of the present moment require new ways to receive God\u2019s blessings.
\u00a0
We can do it. We can embrace things that are new.
\u00a0
Otherwise, we just might end up snakebit.
\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast,\u00a0click here\u00a0The signature story of Israel\u2019s history is the Exodus. It\u2019s\u00a0the account of the\u00a0arduous trek of hundreds of thousands of freed Hebrew slaves across the brutal wilderness of the Sinai Peninsula.\u00a0\u00a0The Promised Land of Palestine lies ahead.\u00a0Egypt is in the rearview mirror.\u00a0The people are buoyed by overwhelming hope and gratitude. Right?\u00a0In truth, the… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5420,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1111,732,1013],"class_list":["post-5419","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-exodus","tag-moses","tag-tradition"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5419","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5419"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5419\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5421,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5419\/revisions\/5421"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5420"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}