OT: Numbers 21:4–9: Bronze Snake

DominicM

PLEASE DO NOT HOLD A DEBATE / FLAME WAR - IT IS NOT MY INTENTION

I would ask you restrain your responses to suggesting resources (preferably Logos) that will help me maybe give an answer, as I confess the Pentateuch/Torah is a very weak area for me.

I have had a non member/seeker ask me: "Ten commandments have been given, including Ex 20.4 "You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.", and yet in Numbers 21:8 with the snakes, God seems to change his mind when he tells Moses to make a bronze serpent.. so why would God tell Moses to break the law?"

All my commentaries seem to dwell on the snake on the pole being the "Type of Christ..", but none seem to touch the issue/question that has been raised, can anyone point me towards any resources the might help, or is one the questions which has no answer this side of Heaven?

 

Rosie Perera

Do a search for <ex 20:4> NEAR <num 21:8>.

I got hits in:

• Derek Kidner, vol. 15, Psalms 1-72: An Introduction and Commentary, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1973), 231.

"The Old Testament frequently uses one uncompromising remark to interpret another, where we should use a modifying clause (e.g. Exod. 20:4f. in the light of e.g. Num. 21:8; 2 Kgs 18:4b)."

• Arthur Walkington Pink, An Exposition of Hebrews. (Swengel, Pa.: Bible Truth Depot, 1954), 723.

"God is under no law, but is absolute Sovereign. Moreover, He is the Lord of life, both Giver and Preserver of it, and therefore has He an indisputable right to dispose of it, to take it away when He pleases, by what means or instruments He sees fit. God possesses supreme authority, and when He pleases sets aside His own laws, or issues new ones contrary to those given previously. By His own imperial fiat, Jehovah now, by special and extraordinary command, constituted it a duty for Abraham to do what before had been a sin. In similar manner, He who gave commandment “thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image or any likeness” (Ex. 20:4), ordered Moses to make a brazen serpent (Num. 21:8)! Learn, then, that God is bound by no law, being above all law."

Other useful searches are:

"graven image" NEAR <num 21:8>

This finds a footnote in John Calvin and Charles William Bingham, Commentaries on the Four Last Books of Moses Arranged in the Form of a Harmony (Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 2010).

“All such images, or likenesses, are forbidden by this commandment, as are made to be adored and served; according to that which immediately follows, thou shalt not adore them nor serve them. That is, all such as are designed for idols or image-gods, or are worshipped with divine honour. But otherwise, images, pictures, or representations, even in the house of God, and in the very sanctuary, so far from being forbidden, are expressly authorized by the Word of God. See Exod. 25:15, &c.; 38:7; Numb. 21:8, 9; 1 Chron. 28:18, 19; 2 Chron. 3:10.”—Note to Douay Version Dublin, 1825; by authority.

Similarly, a search for:

idol NEAR <num 21:8>

finds a relevant passage from Douglas Redford, The History of Israel (Cincinnati, OH: Standard Publishing, 2008), 235-36.

"The beginning of the record of Hezekiah’s reign according to 2 Kings 18 calls attention to some of his noteworthy achievements. First, it is noted that he 'did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, just as his father David had done' (v. 3). Second, the record cites his desire to rid the land of pagan worship practices, including the 'high places' (v. 4). These places of worship became a problem, especially after Solomon’s temple had been completed and the Lord had promised to bless it with his presence (1 Kings 9:3). Hezekiah even smashed to pieces the bronze snake that Moses had constructed for the Israelites (Numbers 21:4–9), because it had become nothing more than an idol to God’s people (2 Kings 18:4)." (my bold)