The Bronze Serpent [נחשת] Nachoshét

Numbers 21:4-10
⁴ They (the Isralites) traveled from Mount Hor along the route to the Red Sea, to go around Edom. But the people grew impatient on the way; ⁵ they spoke against God and against Moses, and said, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!” (manna)
⁶ Then the Lord sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died. ⁷ The people came to Moses and said, “We sinned when we spoke against the Lord and against you. Pray that the Lord will take the snakes away from us.” So Moses prayed for the people.
⁸ The Lord said to Moses, “Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.” ⁹ So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, they lived."

The children of Israel were near the end of their wandering in the wilderness.  40 years of murmuring and complaining, murmuring and complaining,  murmering and complaining. 

This passage above records the 10th time they had tested the LORD.  They even went so far as to say they HATED the Manna; called it "miserable food!"  

Uh oh.  Manna is a depiction of Jesus.  So God sent poisonous snakes among them and many died.  Actually, the snakes were there all along.  All He did was lift His hand of blessing from them and allow them to come in and bite them.

Moses prayed to the LORD for the people.  He placed a bronze serpent on a pole as God commanded.  When anyone looked intently with expectation at it they were healed.  It's a picture of Jesus our Healer!

Jesus came down from heaven and became the final sacrifice for sins.  He was THE LAMB of God!  HALLELUJAH!  So, why did God have Moses make a bronze SERPENT and not a bronze lamb and put it on a pole?  

Because it was to be THE LAMB that would take away our sins: What we DO.  But on the cross, Jesus became what we ARE: Snakes.

Yep.  Without Christ, we're all just a bunch of snakes.  

There areally also some beautiful pictures why it was a bronze serpent in both the Hebrew text as well and the letters themselves.

You see, God cannot forgive the flesh.  Romans 8:4 says that God "CONDEMNED sin in the flesh."  That is why Jesus "BECAME" sin at the cross.  He became what we are: a sin factory.  Though God could not forgive the flesh, He CONDEMNED it in the body of His Beloved Son on the cross. 

There's just something about the flesh that can turn around and bite you, like a snake.  It isn't always the devil whispering to or troubling you, giving us thoughts of suicide, anxiety or depression or being suddenly overwhelmed with impure thoughts:  It's our fleshly tendency to do wrong.

But don't look at your flesh--at yourself--when you fail.  Look to Jesus!  He is your your true Identity.  He became what we are so that we could become what He is!  HALLELUJAH!!!

We are transformed by beholding Jesus' GLORY, not our gory.

The Hebrew word for "look" in this passage is not the normal word.  The person bitten had to look "with positive expectation of being healed." It's a picture of the cross. 

What is God's answer today for our needs, for healing and provision? Look to the cross with positive expectation of provision for your needs!

Now let's look at what God has hidden in the text.  Hebrew reads from right to left and is a form of picture writing, like Chinese. The word pictures of each letter tell us a story and shows us things you'd never find in any definition.  They give us a window on God's perspective.

This is the Hebrew spelling of serpent:
nachash
[נחש]
The letters above are nun-chet-shin.

[נ] = Nun is a picture of a "fish," also symbolic of the believer and the church. Now you know why a fish was used as the symbol for "Christian" in the early church.

[ח] = Het or chet; the "ch" is pronounced like a guttural "k." It means "fence." Something can either be fenced in or fenced out.

[ש] = Shin.  This letter by itself means "Shaddai" as in El Shaddai-Almighty God.  It is the letter you see on the mezuzah secured to the doorpost of any Jewish household.

Tell me: What is it that the devil wants to do most of all?  KEEP THE BELIEVERS FENCED OFF FROM ALMIGHTY GOD!

The word for "bite" in Hebrew is "nashak:"
[נשך]
It is the word used when the fiery serpents "bit" the Israelites while they wandered in the desert.  It's also the same word used to refer to the "charging of interest" by lenders: fiery little bites of poison.

Your "fiery serpent" may be your debt, your depression, your disease or some other seemingly insurmountable problem.  Remember how God answered the people's prayers to take the serpents away?  He had Moses make a "fiery bronze serpent" and put it on a pole, a picture of Jesus on the cross.
God's answer is always "look expectantly" at the cross.  Your answer is always God's provision through Jesus' sacrifice.

Below is the Hebrew word for bronze:
"nachochet."
[נחשת]
The letters, from right to left, are "nun-het-shin-tav."

The first three letters you already know.
The last letter on the far left is [ת] Tav." It is a picture of the "cross."

"Bronze," wherever it is mentioned scripture, speaks of "judgment."  The letters for the word "bronze" in Hebrew literally spell out:
"The serpent is judged at the cross!"...hence, the bronze serpent on the pole, not a bronze Lamb.
HALLELUJAH!

Today, because of our precious Jesus and His selfless sacrifice on the cross, we can look expectantly for healing and every provision to His finished work because the cross has replaced the bronze serpent.

As if all that weren't cool enough here is the word for Eagle :
Nesher
[נשר]
Nun-shin-resh

The first two letters you've already met.  The letter on the far left is, "resh-[ר].  It means, "leader or head."  "Rosh Hashanah," for instance, means, "head of the year."
This is what it means to God to be an eagle:

"When you accept the Lord as your leader or your head, you become an EAGLE!"
....and guess what?  Remember what it says in Psalm 91?

EAGLES EAT SNAKES. 

Just like the eagle in the picture above, we will tread upon the lion and the cobra; the young lion and the serpent we shall trample UNDERFOOT!
That's why, when we wait upon The Lord, God says we are like EAGLES.  

For more on this topic, follow this link:

http://emmausrevelations.blogspot.com/2015/05/psalm-91-part-6-protected-from-attacks.html?m=1

...And now you know why it was not a bronze lamb on a pole but a Bronze Serpent.