Numbers 21 – What is a fiery serpent? 2023

Num 21:6
And the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died.

Elohim sent "fiery serpents" among the people. What is a fiery serpent? It comes from the Hebrew word saraph (saw-rawf). Most commentators believe this is referring to snakes with a venomous poison that caused burning pain and death. Many people of the land died from these fiery serpents.

Num 21:7
So the people came to Moses and said, "We have sinned, because we have spoken against the LORD and you; intercede with the LORD, that He may remove the serpents from us." And Moses interceded for the people.

The people confessed their sin against Elohim and against Moses. This sign of repentance was needed and necessary. Moses prayed for the people and his prayer was effective because he was a righteous man. James tells us that the prayer of a righteous man avails much. James 5:16.

Num 21:8
Then the LORD said to Moses, "Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a standard; and it shall come about, that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, he shall live."

Num 21:9
And Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on the standard; and it came about, that if a serpent bit any man, when he looked to the bronze serpent, he lived.

It is interesting the Elohim did not just destroy the serpents or drive them away. Instead Elohim provided a different solution. It required that Moses make a bronze serpent and put it on a pole. The people were then to look up to the pole and they would be healed. It was not enough for the people to repent. They also had to look toward the heavens at the serpent in faithfulness. There would be no mistaking from where the healing came from. It was the power of Elohim that provided the healing to those who gazed up at the serpent. Yeshua said the lifting of the serpent was a picture of Himself John 3:14-16). Just as the people could look toward the serpent for deliverance from a fiery and painful death, we can look to Messiah for deliverance from a fiery and painful judgment. In later years, the bronze serpent was used as an idol by Israel. They were burning incense to it and gave it a name. Consequently, it was destroyed by Hezekiah (2 Kings 18:1-6). A rendition of this serpent is used as a symbol of healing on EMS vehicles.