Chapter 6: Wandering (Transition)
Notes
Transcript
Handout
The Bronze Serpent
The Bronze Serpent
4 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 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 we loathe this worthless food.”
6 Then the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died.
7 And 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.
8 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.” 9 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.
This is not the first time that the people have complained about the manna God provided (see Num. 11:4-6; 31-35). How do the people describe the manna in v. 5? “We loathe this worthless food”
Do you think that their attitude towards the manna was different when God initially provided it (Ex. 16)? What has changed? Initially, they were probably grateful for the manna (although no gratitude is recorded in Ex. 16). The only thing that has really changed is that the manna is always available and they have not had to go without.
The Israelites have not had to go without food since God began providing manna for them many years ago, yet that very fact gives birth to the temptation to complain about it. What does this tell us about human nature? What effect do times of need tend to have upon us? What effect do times of plenty tend to have upon us? Human nature is so depraved that when we have our needs met consistently, we typically begin to take the provision for granted and grow to view it as what we are owed. Times of need teach us not to take for granted daily necessities, whereas times of plenty often reinforce entitlement.
How do the people react to their perceived need, and who do they criticize for it? Why? They complain against both God and their leader, Moses. They complain against Moses because he is the nearest authority figure they can blame for their perceived problems, and against God because they think they deserve better than what he has provided them.
How does God respond to their complaining, and what does this teach us about God? God sends venomous snakes which kill many people. Complaining against what God has provided for us is more serious a sin than we’d like to admit. Ingratitude for God’s provision is fundamentally rebellion, and God takes it seriously.
How can we protect our hearts against this kind of ingratitude and rebellion? Remind ourselves daily of God’s provision, ask for protection from the temptation to ingratitude and complaining, keep a gratitude journal, etc.
Along with his discipline for their rebellion, God also provides a remedy for their sin. What is the remedy and what does this teach us about God? The remedy was to look upon the bronze serpent and they would be healed of the deadly bite. This teaches us that God is merciful and gracious, even when we sin against him.
In Num. 11, God punishes their complaining with a plague from the quail they ate, but here he uses serpents. Why do you think that God used serpents to punish them for their sin? And why does he instruct Moses to lift up a serpent on a pole as the means of their healing?
Why use serpents as the means of punishment for their sin?
The Israelites have given in to the Serpent’s temptation to sin. This sin brings death. This is pictured through physical bites by physical serpents which bring physical death.
Death by the bite of the serpent pictures the consequences of giving in to the serpent’s temptation (sin).
Why hang up a serpent on a pole? Why is looking at the serpent the means of healing?
In ancient cultures, those executed (or their corpses) were often hung up and displayed as a warning to others not to follow suit. So, executed bodies hung up on display were viewed as cursed.
22 “And if a man has committed a crime punishable by death and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, 23 his body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall bury him the same day, for a hanged man is cursed by God. You shall not defile your land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance.
The serpent displayed on a pole pictures the curse that the serpent (and anyone who follows him) is under.
When we, as Christians, look at Jesus on the cross we think “substitutionary sacrifice” and “salvation.”
But what most Jews would have reflexively thought when they saw that was “there’s a man who’s been cursed by God.” This is part of why so many Jews struggled to accept Jesus as the Messiah—
23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles...
So, when we see the serpent on the pole, we struggle because we see the cross as a symbol of salvation, not as a symbol of the curse. But, if we look at the serpent on the pole with that lens, it doesn’t make sense. Satan is not a means of salvation. But, he is under a curse by God.
Recall that the Serpent in Gen. 3:15 is under a curse.
14 The Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life.
When Moses hangs a bronze serpent on a pole, it was a visible display that those who follow in the path of the Serpent are doomed to suffer the same judgment and curse that he is under.
But, it is also a reminder of God’s promise to undo the curse of sin and defeat the serpent. Just as the serpent on the pole reminds us of Gen. 3:14, it also reminds us of Gen. 3:15.
The serpent displayed on a pole also reminds the people of God’s promise to undo the curse and crush the serpent.
15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”
The act of looking at the judged serpent to bring healing pictures our inability to save ourselves and the necessity of trusting God’s promise for our salvation.
14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
But why would Jesus be lifted up as if on a pole? Doesn’t that symbolize being under God’s curse and judgment for sin? Yes, it does...
13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”— 14 so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.
21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Jesus’ public crucifixion was the moment God’s wrath was poured out upon our sin.
The curse of sin was poured out upon Jesus, and he takes the place on the pole that those who have followed the Serpent deserved.
And now, just as the Israelites in the wilderness could not do anything to save themselves, neither can we.
If we look to Jesus and believe his promises, we receive life.
35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.
40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”
48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50 This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die.
51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
Transition to New Leadership
Transition to New Leadership
Joshua appointed new leader
Joshua appointed new leader
12 The Lord said to Moses, “Go up into this mountain of Abarim and see the land that I have given to the people of Israel.
13 When you have seen it, you also shall be gathered to your people, as your brother Aaron was, 14 because you rebelled against my word in the wilderness of Zin when the congregation quarreled, failing to uphold me as holy at the waters before their eyes.” (These are the waters of Meribah of Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin.)
15 Moses spoke to the Lord, saying, 16 “Let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, appoint a man over the congregation 17 who shall go out before them and come in before them, who shall lead them out and bring them in, that the congregation of the Lord may not be as sheep that have no shepherd.”
18 So the Lord said to Moses, “Take Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit, and lay your hand on him. 19 Make him stand before Eleazar the priest and all the congregation, and you shall commission him in their sight. 20 You shall invest him with some of your authority, that all the congregation of the people of Israel may obey.
21 And he shall stand before Eleazar the priest, who shall inquire for him by the judgment of the Urim before the Lord. At his word they shall go out, and at his word they shall come in, both he and all the people of Israel with him, the whole congregation.”
22 And Moses did as the Lord commanded him. He took Joshua and made him stand before Eleazar the priest and the whole congregation, 23 and he laid his hands on him and commissioned him as the Lord directed through Moses.
Why was Moses punished, and what was the punishment for Moses’ disobedience? Moses dishonored God by not obeying him when he commanded Moses to speak to the rock to provide water for his people. The punishment was that Moses would only see the Promised Land from a distance, but would not get to lead the people into the Promised Land.
Does Moses’ punishment seem harsh to you? Why or why not? What should we learn from this story? Moses’ punishment reveals how high the standard is for those who follow God and especially for those who lead his people. It also shows that no one—not even Moses—is above the discipline of the Lord. However, even in God’s discipline of his people, he shows grace. Moses got to see the Promised Land from afar, and he ultimately got to go to a much greater Promised Land.
Moses’ Recap of the Law and their History (Deuteronomy)
Moses’ Recap of the Law and their History (Deuteronomy)
Deteronomy = Deutero (Second) + Nomos (Law) = “Second telling of the Law”
1 These are the words that Moses spoke to all Israel beyond the Jordan in the wilderness, in the Arabah opposite Suph, between Paran and Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Dizahab.
God has blessed you & provided your needs:
7 For the Lord your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands. He knows your going through this great wilderness. These forty years the Lord your God has been with you. You have lacked nothing.” ’
The one true God has chosen you for a special relationship with him, so be faithful!
32 “For ask now of the days that are past, which were before you, since the day that God created man on the earth, and ask from one end of heaven to the other, whether such a great thing as this has ever happened or was ever heard of.
33 Did any people ever hear the voice of a god speaking out of the midst of the fire, as you have heard, and still live?
34 Or has any god ever attempted to go and take a nation for himself from the midst of another nation, by trials, by signs, by wonders, and by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and by great deeds of terror, all of which the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?
35 To you it was shown, that you might know that the Lord is God; there is no other besides him.
36 Out of heaven he let you hear his voice, that he might discipline you. And on earth he let you see his great fire, and you heard his words out of the midst of the fire.
37 And because he loved your fathers and chose their offspring after them and brought you out of Egypt with his own presence, by his great power, 38 driving out before you nations greater and mightier than you, to bring you in, to give you their land for an inheritance, as it is this day,
39 know therefore today, and lay it to your heart, that the Lord is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other.
40 Therefore you shall keep his statutes and his commandments, which I command you today, that it may go well with you and with your children after you, and that you may prolong your days in the land that the Lord your God is giving you for all time.”
What does God expect of his people? (“The Shema”)
4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.
The wilderness was God’s discipline for your good:
3 And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.
4 Your clothing did not wear out on you and your foot did not swell these forty years. 5 Know then in your heart that, as a man disciplines his son, the Lord your God disciplines you.
God is giving you the victory because of who he is, not because of who you are:
1 “Hear, O Israel: you are to cross over the Jordan today, to go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than you, cities great and fortified up to heaven,
2 a people great and tall, the sons of the Anakim, whom you know, and of whom you have heard it said, ‘Who can stand before the sons of Anak?’
3 Know therefore today that he who goes over before you as a consuming fire is the Lord your God. He will destroy them and subdue them before you. So you shall drive them out and make them perish quickly, as the Lord has promised you.
4 “Do not say in your heart, after the Lord your God has thrust them out before you, ‘It is because of my righteousness that the Lord has brought me in to possess this land,’ whereas it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is driving them out before you.
5 Not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart are you going in to possess their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations the Lord your God is driving them out from before you, and that he may confirm the word that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.
6 “Know, therefore, that the Lord your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stubborn people.
A Prophet Like Moses is coming:
15 “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen—
16 just as you desired of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God or see this great fire any more, lest I die.’ 17 And the Lord said to me, ‘They are right in what they have spoken.
18 I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. 19 And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him.
God has not yet given them a heart to understand, eyes to see, ears to hear:
2 And Moses summoned all Israel and said to them: “You have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land, 3 the great trials that your eyes saw, the signs, and those great wonders.
4 But to this day the Lord has not given you a heart to understand or eyes to see or ears to hear.
This is important, because later in the OT God foretells through the prophets of a New Covenant that will replace the Mosaic Covenant, and one of the crucial differences between the Old and New Covenants is that God WILL give his people a heart to understand and obey in the New Covenant (Ezek. 11:19-20; 36:26-27; Jer. 31:31-34; 32:38-41)
God has set before you life and death, blessing and curses...Choose life! (Deuteronomy 30:15-20)
15 “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil.
16 If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you today, by loving the Lord your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, then you shall live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it.
17 But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, 18 I declare to you today, that you shall surely perish. You shall not live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess.
19 I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live,
20 loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.”
God will not leave you nor forsake his people:
7 Then Moses summoned Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel, “Be strong and courageous, for you shall go with this people into the land that the Lord has sworn to their fathers to give them, and you shall put them in possession of it.
8 It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.”
Moses’ Death
Moses’ Death
Deuteronomy 32:48-52
Deuteronomy 34:1-8
Messianic Prophecies in the Torah (Law):
Messianic Prophecies in the Torah (Law):
If Jesus isn’t the Messiah, then all of these prophecies have gone unfulfilled to the Jewish people:
Defeat of the Serpent:
Defeat of the Serpent:
15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”
Israel will bless the Gentiles:
Israel will bless the Gentiles:
1 Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
18 and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.”
The Provision on Mt. Zion:
The Provision on Mt. Zion:
12 He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” 13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns.
And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So Abraham called the name of that place, “The Lord will provide”; as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”
Notice that God’s provision on Mt. Zion is linked with the promise to bless the Gentiles through Abraham’s offspring.
Without Jesus, this story is merely about the faith of Abraham and God’s provision for Abraham in that one instance.
God’s provision for his people at Mt. Zion can’t just refer to the Temple, either, because the temple hasn’t been there for 2,000 years.
Without Jesus, this story doesn’t actually make a lot of sense. God expressly forbids human sacrifice in the OT, so why ask Abraham to do it?
8 Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So they went both of them together.
And are Abraham’s words of faith in God’s provision in Gen. 22:8 merely supposed to refer to this one instance where God provided a lamb? There’s more going on here.
The Lion of Judah:
The Lion of Judah:
8 “Judah, your brothers shall praise you; your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies; your father’s sons shall bow down before you. 9 Judah is a lion’s cub; from the prey, my son, you have gone up. He stooped down; he crouched as a lion and as a lioness; who dares rouse him?
10 The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until tribute comes to him; and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.
11 Binding his foal to the vine and his donkey’s colt to the choice vine, he has washed his garments in wine and his vesture in the blood of grapes. 12 His eyes are darker than wine, and his teeth whiter than milk.
Pictures the tribe of Judah reigning supreme over the other tribes—obviously fulfilled in the Davidic dynasty
But it also says the “scepter shall not depart from Judah.” This seems to point to an enduring, eternal dynasty, which is obviously unfulfilled if the Messiah has not come. If the Messiah has not come, then God has left his people completely in the dark without a king for 2,000 years.
The Sacrificial System & Tabernacle:
The Sacrificial System & Tabernacle:
The Tabernacle/Temple is crucial to worship in Judaism. If Jesus is not the Messiah, huge portions of the Torah are now entirely pointless.
Much of the Law centers on the prescriptions for construction of the Tabernacle/Temple, ritual purification of the priests and Levites, how to conduct sacrifices and offerings, and how to observe holidays and feasts.
No feast requiring animal sacrifices (which is all of them) can be observed anymore
No Day of Atonement, no Passover, no Year of Jubilee, no method of atoning for sins
No more means of cleansing from ritual impurity (leprosy, menstruation, etc.)
The High Priest was the people’s means of access to God; No more means of receiving divine revelation or guidance from God
Presence of God with his People—gone for 2,000 years if Jesus is not the Messiah.
Promise of a New Heart:
Promise of a New Heart:
6 And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.
7 And the Lord your God will put all these curses on your foes and enemies who persecuted you. 8 And you shall again obey the voice of the Lord and keep all his commandments that I command you today.
9 The Lord your God will make you abundantly prosperous in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your womb and in the fruit of your cattle and in the fruit of your ground. For the Lord will again take delight in prospering you, as he took delight in your fathers,
10 when you obey the voice of the Lord your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes that are written in this Book of the Law, when you turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
If Jesus is not the Messiah, this return to devotion to God has not been fulfilled. The overwhelming portion of Jews are not religious at all, and those that are are in varying states of apostasy or inability to obey the Torah.
The Prophet Like Moses:
The Prophet Like Moses:
10 And there has not arisen a prophet since in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, 11 none like him for all the signs and the wonders that the Lord sent him to do in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land, 12 and for all the mighty power and all the great deeds of terror that Moses did in the sight of all Israel.
It obviously wasn’t Joshua (who probably wrote this epilogue), nor does any OT prophet claim this, nor is it claimed of any OT prophet.
If Jesus wasn’t this prophet, then this promise is yet unfulfilled.
