Moses and the bronze serpent

February 3, 2025 Mike Zonta Leave a comment

Aubin Vouet (1595–1641), “The Bronze Serpent” (photo: Public Domain)

In the Bible, Moses and the bronze serpent is a story about how Moses saved his people from snakes sent by God as punishment for their sins. The bronze serpent is a symbol of salvation and healing.

What happened?

God sent venomous snakes to punish the Israelites for speaking against God and Moses.
Many Israelites were bitten and died.
The Israelites came to Moses and asked him to pray for God to take the snakes away.
God told Moses to make a bronze serpent and put it on a pole.
Anyone who was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze serpent would be healed.

What does it mean?

In Christianity, the story is seen as a foreshadowing of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross.
The bronze serpent on a pole has become an international symbol for medical care.

Where is the story told?

The story of Moses and the bronze serpent is told in the Bible, in the Book of Numbers, chapters 21, 5–9.

Nehushtan – WikipediaIn the biblical Books of Kings (2 Kings 18:4; written c. 550 BC), the Nehushtan (/nəˈhʊʃtən/; Hebrew: נְחֻשְׁתָּן, romanized: Nəḥuštān [Wikipedia
Bible Gateway Numbers 21 :: NIVMIT
Moses and the Brazen Serpent, Benjamin West | MiaMoses prayed to God and received instructions to make a bronze serpent and set it up on a pole. When the people beheld the bronze …Minneapolis Institute of Art Collection
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–J.D. Salinger

“If things don’t seem out of control, you’re not going fast enough.”
— Mario Andretti

“We see things not as they are, but as we are.”
— Anais Nin

“A change in the weather is sufficient to re-create the world and ourselves.”
— Marcel Proust

“The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.”
— George Bernard Shaw

“. . . the only difference between you and God is that you have forgotten that you are divine.”
— Peter Solomon in The Lost Symbol

“Have an open-mind, but don’t let your brains fall out.”
— Jacob Needleman

“When thought races ahead of Being, a civilization is racing towards destruction.”
— Jacob Needleman in his new book What is God?

“A great man knows he is not God, and the greater he is the better he knows it.”
— G.K. Chesterton

“Those who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only at night.”
— Edgar Allan Poe

“Give thanks to unknown blessings already on their way.”
— Native American proverb at cafe in San Francisco

“To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you like everybody else means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting.”
–e.e. cummings

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Bathtub Bulletin

Moses and the bronze serpent

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Consciousness, spirituality, biography, sexuality, androgyny, futurism, space, the arts, science, astrology, democracy, humor, books, movies and more