민수기 Chapter 21

Translation: ESV

5

And the people spoke against God and against Moses, "Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food."

Key Message

An ungrateful heart makes even God's greatest gifts seem worthless; grumbling is a human weakness that repeats across generations.

▸Israel's complaint is repeated again.

Israel's complaint is repeated again. The fact that the same complaint recurs near the end of the forty years in the wilderness shows the weakness of human nature. 'This worthless food' refers to the manna God provides daily — a contemptuous expression for God's gracious provision. A heart that cannot be grateful is the root of complaint.

Related Verses

nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer.
6

Then the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died.

Key Message

Complaining that despises God's goodness brings serious spiritual danger; judgment is God's warning calling us to repentance.

▸As judgment for Israel's complaint, fiery serpents appear and many people die.

8

And the LORD said to Moses, "Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live."

Key Message

The event of the bronze serpent, in which salvation comes by looking, is a foreshadowing of the salvation that brings eternal life when one looks in faith to Christ lifted up on the cross.

▸The means of salvation is simple but paradoxical.

9

So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.

Key Message

Simply looking in faith at God's provided means of salvation brings healing and salvation; the gaze must be fixed on the God of salvation, not on the instrument of salvation.

▸God's command, Moses' immediate obedience, and healing as a result — this sequence unfolds.