May 8: Bitten (part 1)

And the people spoke against God and against Moses: “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and our soul loathes this worthless bread.” Numbers 21:5

God had rescued the children of Israel from cruel oppression and slavery in Egypt. They had shown their trust in Him when they obeyed the Passover instructions, covering with the blood of the slain lamb their names which were carved into the stone lintels over their doors. The enormous display of God’s power during their rescue preceded an even larger supernatural miracle planned in the heart of God: that of total character transformation for each individual on the way to the Land of Promise.

But here, their question beginning with “Why” was actually a statement of accusation. They were accusing their Rescuer of rescuing them in order to kill them. Their statement, there is no food and no water, was patently false, for He had miraculously provided abundant water from a rock and the heavenly manna each day except the Sabbath, using it as a ‘teacher’ to remind them of His weekly holy day of rest with Him (see Exodus 16:22-30). But finding fault with their blessings even led them to make a declaration of hatred of them: “our soul loathes this worthless bread.”

Now it was no secret that poisonous vipers (symbolic of Satan’s effect in the world) lived in the wilderness, but the people's bitter criticism of God’s tangible blessings blinded them to the blessings of protection that God had provided from wilderness dangers. Their indulgence of a spirit of ingratitude and discontent resulted in withdrawal of God’s protections.

So the LORD sent* fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and many of the people of Israel died. Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD and against you; pray to the LORD that He take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. Then the LORD said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live.” So Moses made a bronze serpent, and put it on a pole; and so it was, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived. Numbers 21:6-9

Beloved, all of us have been spiritually bitten by that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world (Revelation 12:9). But because of the Bible, “it is written” that each of us may say to that deceiver, “I’m on to you! By God’s grace, I am overcoming your traps!”

Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed in Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed.” John 8:31

*In Hebrew reckoning, the LORD’s “sending” of the fiery serpents was actually the result of the withdrawal of His divine protection. Another such example is found in 1 Samuel 16:14: “a distressing spirit from the LORD troubled [Saul]”. This is not at all inaccurate, for the King of the universe is in charge. Seemingly negative occurrences are allowed by Him for redemptive purposes.