Numbers 21:8-9
What is written? (ESV)
And the Lord said to Moses, Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live. So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.
What does it say?
God told Moses to make a serpent of bronze and set it on a pole so that anyone that is bitten might look upon it to be saved. So Moses did it and if a snake bit anyone, if he looked at the serpent on the pole he would live.
What is its immediate context?
The twelve tribes are wandering in the wilderness after having doubted their ability to take the land. The context for this episode with the brazen serpent is vss 4-9. The people have become “impatient” (vs 4) and speak out “against God” and Moses (vs 5). As punishment, God sends serpents that bite and kill (vs 6). The people repent and ask Moses to intercede, asking God to remove the serpents (vs 7). Paul will later equate the people’s sin as putting “Christ to the test” (1 Cor 10:9) and Jesus would correlate the people and the bronze serpent to His own lifting up and one believing in Him (John 3:14:15).
How Numbers 21:8-9 is applied across Bible answers
What is God’s pattern of salvation?
God offered His grace in the form of a remedy that the people must look upon (faith and obedience) to be saved.
After repenting, the people asked for the snakes to be taken away. God's answer did not involve that, but rather that they respond after they were bitten. The implication is that some did not look after being bitten, as Jesus relates this to His own "lifting up" and one's belief and eternal life (John 3:14-15).
