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Jesus is the last Adam (1 Cor. 15:45), the Serpent-Crusher (Gen. 3:15), the prophet like Moses (John 6:14), the New David (Matt. 22:42\u201345), the long-awaited Shepherd (Ezek. 34:23; John 10:11).[1]<\/a><\/sup> To this list, should we add the greater, true, or last serpent<\/em>!? If you recoiled with blood boiling horror at this reptilian image, then you have good biblical instincts\u2014but you also have a problem. Jesus compared himself to a snake in John\u2019s gospel. In John 3:14\u201315, Jesus says, \u201cAnd as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n What does Jesus mean by comparing himself to this serpent in Numbers 21, and how does it relate to his death on the cross? In order to read John 3 correctly, we will travel back into the wilderness to examine Numbers 21. After seeing what the serpent on the pole means in context, we\u2019ll come back to John\u2019s gospel to see how Christ on the cross fulfills that serpentine scene.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Let\u2019s rehearse what happened in Numbers 21:4\u20139 as we seek to understand the significance of the serpent:<\/p>\n\n\n\n 4<\/sup> From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom. And the people became impatient on the way. 5<\/sup> And the people spoke against God and against Moses, \u201cWhy have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food.\u201d 6<\/sup> Then the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. 7<\/sup> And the people came to Moses and said, \u201cWe have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD and against you. Pray to the LORD, that he take away the serpents from us.\u201d So Moses prayed for the people. 8<\/sup> And the LORD said to Moses, \u201cMake a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.\u201d 9<\/sup> 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. (Numbers 21:4\u20139)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n When God\u2019s people continually rebel in the wilderness, they show a sinful preference for Egypt that manifests in a lack of faith in Yahweh (Num. 11:5, 18; 14:2\u20133; 16:13; 20:5; 21:5). Every time they are grumbling, the green grass on the other side is Egyptian<\/em> bluegrass.[2]<\/a><\/sup> This leads us to expect that God\u2019s response in Numbers 21 might have something to do with Egypt.[3]<\/a><\/sup> The people\u2019s reason for preferring Egypt and questioning Yahweh\u2019s plan (Num. 21:5) is that they reject the very manna that God has provided to sustain them.[4]<\/a><\/sup> Their cynical response to God evidences a distrust<\/em> and dissatisfaction with God\u2019s plan and provision. God responds immediately by sending seraph<\/em> (ESV\u2019s \u201cfiery\u201d) serpents in Numbers 21:6.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Why seraph<\/em> serpents? Currid rightly suggests that the serpents point to \u201cEgyptian symbolism,\u201d particularly the upright cobra that was worn on Pharaoh\u2019s headdress (see a picture and discussion here<\/a>).[5]<\/a><\/sup> Naselli correctly infers, \u201cIt\u2019s as if God said to the complaining Israelites: \u2018So you miss Egypt? Here you go. Have some snakes\u2014the signature animal that Egypt idolatrously venerates.\u2019\u201d[6]<\/a><\/sup> When the Lord\u2019s serpent swallows Pharaoh\u2019s in Exodus 7, Garrett helpfully comments, \u201cYHWH has co-opted a major symbol of the power of Egypt and of the pharaoh personally. The spiritual guardians that Pharaoh thinks he can depend upon are actually under the direct control of YHWH<\/em>.\u201d[7]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n How does the Egyptian symbolism function for the serpent upon the pole? Fretheim gets it right when he says, \u201cDeliverance comes, not in being removed from the wilderness [or even in the removal of the snakes!], but in the very presence of the enemy . . . The death-dealing forces of chaos are nailed to the pole.\u201d[8]<\/a><\/sup> The serpent has multiple dimensions which all contribute to the life-giving event: (1) pole<\/em>mical, (2) visual, and (3) vertical.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A polemical argument is one directed against a particular opposing viewpoint. In this case, there\u2019s a major pole<\/em>mical dimension (literally[!]) against Egyptian symbolism. The \u201cpole\u201d in Numbers 21:9 is the same Hebrew word that is used to describe a military standard\u2014the insignia of an army that is visible from far away due to it towering above the troops (see, for example, Isa. 5:26; 11:10, 12; 13:2). Currid rightly suggests, based upon an analysis of standards in ancient Egypt, that \u201cthe raising up of the bronze serpent on a standard may also be a symbol of Yahweh\u2019s vanquishing Egypt.\u201d[9]<\/a><\/sup> By fixing the serpent on a standard, Moses proclaims that Yahweh\u2014and not Egypt\u2014has the power to save (Num. 11:23 cf. Isa. 59:1);[10]<\/a><\/sup> for, Yahweh is a victorious warrior (cf. Exod. 15:1\u201318) displaying a token of his defeated enemy. Thus, the polemical dimension highlights Yahweh as the exclusive savior, the victorious warrior. To ignore or distrust Yahweh\u2019s offer of salvation is to set oneself against<\/em> the victorious warrior (Num. 21:5), the only means of salvation. It is to side with the creature rather than the Creator. Thus, the serpent \u201cimage also symbolized the destruction of Egypt (which had occurred during the Exodus plagues) and of those who wished to return to Egypt and her ways.\u201d[11]<\/a><\/sup> In other words, the judgment remains for those who continue in unseeing unbelief.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Looking<\/em> (Num. 21:8\u20139) is the means by which one receives Yahweh\u2019s salvation. This Hebrew term sometimes communicates the idea of \u201ctrusting\u201d when people are the subject (Gen. 15:5; 19:17; 1 Sam. 16:7; Ps. 34:5; 119:18).[12]<\/a><\/sup> Milgrom rightly points out the need for obedience in looking: \u201cOnly those who heeded<\/em> [God\u2019s] command to look at the snake would recover.\u201d[13]<\/a><\/sup> The latent concept of trust is also suggested by people\u2019s confession of sin and request for the intercession of Moses as their mediator (Num. 21:7): they are turning from their sinful preference for Egypt and turning to (i.e., trusting) Yahweh for deliverance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Finally, the vertical dimension of the serpent\u2019s placement upon a standard is easily overlooked. Gray helpfully observes that the Hebrew word translated in Numbers 21:8 as pole (ne\u0304<\/em>s) \u201cis generally used of a conspicuous object round which people, especially troops, mustered . . . here it seems to mean . . . a pole sufficiently high to be conspicuous<\/em>.\u201d[14]<\/a><\/sup> Simply put, there is symbolic significance that the serpent\u2014by being placed sufficiently high\u2014is removed and distanced from the people (vertically). God symbolically answers their request in Numbers 21:7 to \u201ctake away\u201d the serpents\u2014not by removing the physical serpents but by removing from the people<\/em> their preference for Egypt and the judgment he set upon them. Naselli helpfully comments on this dimension: \u201cLifting the snake on a pole symbolized that God would draw the curse away from his snakebitten and faith-filled people.\u201d[15]<\/a><\/sup> In other words, the salvation Yahweh offers symbolically depicts the removal of the judgment he sent upon them in the form of serpents. <\/p>\n\n\n\n To recap, the salvation provided by Yahweh in Numbers 21 is pole<\/em>mical, visual, and vertical. Polemically, the uplifted serpent indicates Yahweh is the victorious warrior who delivered them from Egypt, making himself the exclusive savior. Visually, the call to look and live must be obeyed; ignoring and disbelieving the salvific gift of Yahweh will result in death because the people were bitten already (John would say \u201ccondemned already\u201d; John 3:18). Vertically, the uplifted serpent symbolizes Yahweh\u2019s removal of his judgment for all who obediently look. Therefore, this episode in Numbers 21 shows the people\u2019s sinful preference of something other than God (Egypt), their unbelief, and God\u2019s provision of salvation from divine judgment. These are some of the very same themes we\u2019ll see as we turn to Jesus\u2019s allusion to Numbers 21 in John 3.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n The apostle John presents Jesus\u2019s being lifted up in death as the necessary and exclusive means by which God saves sinners from sin, unbelief, and the judgment thereof<\/em>.[16]<\/a><\/sup> The allusion to Numbers 21:4\u20139 in John 3 draws upon peoples\u2019 sinful preference for something other than God, unbelief, and salvation from divine judgment. Let\u2019s consider the passage:<\/p>\n\n\n\n 13<\/sup> No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. 14<\/sup> And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15<\/sup> that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. 16 <\/sup>For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.17<\/sup> For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18<\/sup> Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 19<\/sup> And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. 20<\/sup> For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. 21<\/sup> But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God. (John 3:13\u201321)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n In John 3, Jesus\u2019s being lifted up and being given to save (John 3:13\u201317) shines forth upon the backdrop of condemnation (John 3:18), humanity\u2019s preference for darkness (John 3:19), and ultimately, the backdrop of wrath upon unbelieving disobedience (John 3:36).<\/p>\n\n\n\n The comparison between the serpent episode of Numbers 21 and Jesus\u2019s being lifted up<\/em> in John 3 is typological[17]<\/a><\/sup> in many respects. That is, Numbers 21:4\u20139 foreshadows or previews the way God saves sinners from his wrath through Jesus being lifted up on the cross. As with all typology, there is an escalation from the type (in this case, the raising up, the looking, the healing, etc.) to the antitype (looking to the raised up Jesus on the cross, etc.). I compiled ten correspondences in the table below to help us see the connection and escalation for John.<\/p>\n\n\n\n1. This article is adapted from chapter five of David Vincent Christensen, \u201cThe Lamblike Servant: Exodus Typology and the Death of Jesus in the Gospel of John<\/a>\u201d (PhD diss, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2021).<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
Look and Live (Numbers 21:4\u20139)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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2. Whether or not grass grows in Egypt is immaterial to this metaphor.<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
3. John D. Currid, Ancient Egypt and the Old Testament<\/em> (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1997), 145.<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
4. Robert Alter, The Hebrew Bible: A Translation with Commentary<\/em>, 3 vols. (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2018), 1:551n5. Alter suggests it is possible \u201cthe people are saying that they retch when they try to eat the bread\u201d (1:551n5).<\/h6>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
5. Currid, Ancient Egypt<\/em>, 147.<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
6. Andrew David Naselli, The Serpent and the Serpent Slayer<\/em>, SSBT (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2020), 75.<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
7. Duane A Garrett, A Commentary on Exodus<\/em>, KEL (Grand Rapids: Kregel Academic, 2014), 275, emphasis added; Currid\u2019s thorough analysis substantiates Garrett\u2019s conclusions: John D. Currid, \u201cThe Egyptian Setting of the \u2018Serpent\u2019: Confrontation in Exodus 7,8\u201313,\u201d BZ<\/em> 39, no. 2 (1995): 203\u201324; republished in Ancient Egypt<\/em>, 83\u2013103.<\/h6>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
Polemical<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
8. Terence E. Fretheim, \u201cLife in the Wilderness,\u201d Dialog<\/em> 17, no. 4 (1978): 270.<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
9. Currid, Ancient Egypt<\/em>, 149; Naselli, Serpent<\/em>, 76\u201377.<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
10. Currid, Ancient Egypt<\/em>, 149\u201355.<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
11. Currid, Ancient Egypt<\/em>, 149.<\/h6>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
Visual<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
12. In Genesis 15:5, it is used of Abram looking to the sky, numbering the stars in faith<\/em> that Yahweh will keep his promise that his offspring would number similarly. In Genesis 19:17 (cf. 19:26), the verb is used to describe a longing glance back from where the Lord brought Lot and his family out and symbolizes distrust<\/em> in the severity of the Lord\u2019s judgment. In 1 Samuel 16:7, Samuel is not supposed to trust in<\/em> (look upon) the appearance of Jesse\u2019s son as a sign of Yahweh\u2019s favor. Psalm 34:6 (34:5, ET) indicates that \u201cthose who trust in (look to) Yahweh . . . shall never be ashamed.\u201d Psalm 119:18 pleads, \u201cOpen my eyes that I might behold (and believe!) wondrous things from your law.\u201d These sufficiently demonstrate that seeing can imply a component of trust depending on the context.<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
13. Jacob Milgrom, Numbers \u05d1\u05de\u05d3\u05d1\u05e8: The Traditional Hebrew Text with the New JPS Translation<\/em>, The JPS Torah Commentary (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1990), 174.<\/h6>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
Vertical<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
14. George Buchanan Gray, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on Numbers<\/em>, The International Critical Commentary on the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments (Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1903), 278, emphasis added.<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
15. Naselli, Serpent<\/em>, 76.<\/h6>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
As Moses Lifted Up the Serpent (John 3:13\u201321)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
16. In saying that it is necessary<\/em>, I mean that John makes clear that it must<\/em> happen this way (3:14). By saying that it is exclusive<\/em>, I mean that John describes Jesus\u2019 being lifted up as the only way<\/em> to be saved (8:24\u201328).<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
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17. E.g., Henry Alford, The Greek Testament: An Exegetical and Critical Commentary<\/em> (Grand Rapids: Guardian Press, 1976), 1:717\u201318; J\u00f6rg Frey, \u201c\u2018Wie Mose die Schlange in der W\u00fcste erh\u00f6ht hat . . .\u2019: Zur fr\u00fchj\u00fcdischen Deutung der \u2018ehernen Schlange\u2019 und ihrer christologischen Rezeption in Johannes 3,14f,\u201d in Schriftauslegung im antiken Judentum und im Urchristentum<\/em>, ed. Martin Hengel and Hermut L\u00f6hr, Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 73 (T\u00fcbingen: Mohr, 1994), 185\u2013205; Fletcher, Signs<\/em>, 168\u201371; Naselli, Serpent<\/em>, 77\u201378.<\/h6>\n\n\n\n