It’s safe to say the Israelites who left Egypt were no stranger to complaining. On their 40 year journey to the Promised Land they littered the wilderness with complaints. In a previous post I talked about a reason behind this behavior – if you haven’t read that post, you can read it here. Today we’re going to explore Numbers 21:4-9.
A Little History
The Israelites are at a point in their journey where they can finally see an end to their wandering. They are mere miles away from entering the Promised Land, so close they could touch it if they stretched out their hands. But before they could get there, they must go through the land of Edom.
Edom and Israel have a long and complex history that started in the womb. They are both descendants of Isaac and Rebekah. The Edomites are descents of Esau and the Israelites are descendants of Jacob. Esau and Jacob are the twin sons who were born to Isaac and Rebekah. Their descendants would be cousins many times removed. Sadly, this familial heritage breeds no loyalty.
The Delay
When the Israelites ask the king of Edom if they could cross their land, he not only says ‘no’ but he mobilizes an army and marches against them to make sure they don’t breach his borders (Numbers 20:14-20). This setback means, instead of cutting through Edom to get to the Promised Land, they will now have to go around it. Nowadays that may cause a slight delay but back in the day, when travel was by foot, this was a huge setback. This added weeks, if not months, to their years-long journey.
Another delay so close to the finish line is beyond frustrating. It’s not hard to imagine how discouraging the journey around Edom would’ve been. Is it any wonder the Israelites began to grow impatient (Numbers 21:4)?
But their impatience wasn’t the problem, it was what they said that was problematic. Isn’t that the way it works? However convenient it is to blame emotions for everything, it’s how we choose to act on those emotions that causes problems. In this situation, the Israelites chose to blame God and Moses for all their problems.
It’s one thing to falsely accuse a human being, another matter entirely to say those things about an Omnipotent God. I’m not sure what the Israelites hoped to achieve by complaining, but God’s retribution was swift. He sends poisonous snakes that not only bite people but cause many to die. The Bible doesn’t say who got bit, we’ll leave that little detail to our imaginations.
The Cure
Naturally, the Israelites apologize for their actions and ask Moses to intercede on their behalf. Their behavior is so predictable, it could be a template. They get angry and complain about God, Moses and Aaron. God punishes them. They apologize for their behavior and ask Moses to intercede on their behalf. God delivers them.
What struck me about this passage was how God chose to deliver them. He could’ve healed the people in any number of ways but He instructs Moses to ‘make a replica of a poisonous snake and attach it to a pole (Numbers 21:8)’. God was specific with Moses on exactly what he needed to make. It had to be a poisonous snake. So a garter snake on a pole wasn’t going to cut it.
Our part
Building the structure was Moses’ part, God had a different set of instructions for the people. God tells Moses “All who are bitten will live if they simply look at it! (Numbers 21:8)” All the people had to do was to simply look at it. They didn’t have to dance around it, worship it or sing songs to it. They simply had to look at it. What this means is that their healing was up to them. Moses could do exactly what God said but if the bitten never looked, they would still die. So even though deliverance could be right at their doorstep, they will never receive it unless they look. It’s a beautiful reminder that healing is a choice. We have to want to be healed and sometimes that’s hard. After getting bit by a poisonous snake, I don’t know if I could stand to see another snake ever again. It would be pretty traumatic. Yet healing only happened when the Israelites looked at the very creature that harmed them in the first place.
Simply Look At It
That’s such a valuable life lesson that I need to repeat it. Sometimes the only way to live is to simply look at it. This means don’t ignore the things that caused pain. Don’t brush aside past trauma. Don’t pretend the scars don’t bother you because we are only fooling ourselves. Burying those feelings deep inside only causes death. Maybe not a physical death but certainly a death of who we used to be and we carry that corpse with us everywhere we go. It impacts our life and our relationships. The good news is that deliverance is right at our doorsteps…if we chose to simply look at it.
What I’m Learning
Healing can only happen if we look at what caused the pain in the first place.