THE FIERY SERPENT (NUM.21)
Then the people of Yisharal set out from Mount Hor, taking the road to the Red Sea (Sea of Reeds) to go around the land of Edom (after the hostile response from their king).
EVEN THOUGH YISHARAL HAD JUST DEFEATED A MAJOR CANAANITE NATION AND COULD EASILY DO THE SAME TO EDOM’S NOMADIC CLANS, THEY WANTED TO RESPECT THE BLOOD TIES THEY HAD WITH EDOM. REMEMBER EDOM AND ESAU ARE ONE AND THE SAME, SO IF YISHARAL ANNIHILATED EDOM, THEY WOULD HAVE LITERALLY BEEN KILLING THE DESCENDANTS OF THEIR TWIN BROTHER ESAU. THE OTHER REASON YISHARAL HEADED SOUTH ON THE `RED SEA HIGHWAY’ INSTEAD OF CONTINUING NORTH IS BECAUSE THEY WOULD HAVE RUN INTO THE PHILISTINES.
REMEMBER BACK IN EXODUS: ”WHEN THE PHARAOH FINALLY LET YISHARAL GO, YAHUSHA DIDN’T LEAD THEM ALONG THE MAIN PATHWAY THAT RUNS THROUGH PHILISTINES TERRITORY, EVEN THOUGH THAT WAS THE SHORTEST ROUTE TO THE PROMISED LAND, FOR YAHUSHA SAID, “IF THE PEOPLE ARE INSTANTLY FACED WITH A BATTLE, THEY MIGHT FREAK OUT, CHANGE THEIR MINDS AND RUN BACK TO EGYPT.” SO HE LED THE NATION OF YISHARAL AROUND THROUGH THE WILDERNESS TOWARD THE RED SEA” (EX13).
THE PHILISTINES WERE ALSO KNOWN AS THE “SEA PEOPLES” AND WERE VERY FIERCE WARRIORS TO THE POINT THEY WERE CONSIDERED UN-DEFEATABLE AND AT THIS POINT IN TIME, YAHUSHA DIDN’T WANT HIS PEOPLE CONFRONTING SUCH AN AWESOME FOE, SO AFTER THE BATTLE WITH ARAD’S FORCES, YISHARAL TURNED AROUND SOUTH AND HEADED TOWARDS THE GULF OF AQABA AGAIN. THIS SERVED TO AVOID A CONFLICT WITH BOTH EDOM AND THE PHILISTINES. GEOGRAPHICALLY THOUGH, THEY WERE BACKTRACKING THE EQUIVALENT TO THE DISTANCE OF ABOUT A MONTH’S WORTH OF TRAVEL ON A RUGGED AND HOT HIGHWAY THAT WAS CONSIDERED TO BE ONE OF THE MOST DIFFICULT ROUTES YISHARAL EVER TOOK DURING THEIR WILDERNESS JOURNEY. ADD TO THAT THE FACT THERE SEEMED TO BE NO GOOD REASON, PRACTICAL OR OTHERWISE, TO BACKTRACK LIKE THIS....
So the people grew impatient with the long journey and began to speak against YAHUSHA and Moses. “Why have you brought us out of Egypt to die here in the wilderness?” they complained. “There is nothing to eat here and nothing to drink, and we absolutely hate this hideous manna!”
So YAHUSHA sent FIERY SERPENTS among the people, and many were bitten and died! Then the people came to Moses and cried out, “We’ve done an incredibly wicked thing by speaking against Yahuah and against you! Could you please talk to Yahuah and ask Him to get rid of all these serpents?”
YISHARAL IS STARTING TO MATURE AND RECOGNISE THAT THE ONLY RELIEF AND DELIVERANCE FROM THE PUNISHMENT OF DISOBEDIENCE IS TO REPENT TO THEIR CREATOR THROUGH HIS GIVEN MEDIATOR.
So Moses went and talked to Yahusha about Yisharal. And YAHUSHA told him, “Make a bronze replica of a fiery serpent and attach it to a pole and all those who are bitten will live if they simply look up at it!”
So Moses made a bronze serpent and attached it to a pole and anyone who was bitten could look at the bronze serpent and be healed!
