It’s no fun thinking you’re almost finished, only to discover that you still have a long way to go.
Like fractious children on a long car ride, Israel was very unhappy about this detour, away down almost to the Red Sea and then back up around the Dead Sea to cross the Jordan River into their new home. So “the people spoke against God and against Moses.” It was the same old, same old. “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and our soul loathes this worthless bread” (Num 21:5). In other words, What use is it to have God on your side? Let’s find out, says the Lord. If you’ve spent any time in the desert, you know that there are many poisonous snakes there. It’s one of their favorite habitats, due to their cold-blooded nature, and their eating only once every few weeks. Later, Moses would remind them that God “led you through that great and terrible wilderness, in which were fiery serpents and scorpions” (Deut 8:15). So the snakes were already there, but God had kept them back from the encampment, protecting the people. Now, however, to chastise them, “the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people” (Num 21:6). Bitten and dying, they quickly changed their tune: “Pray to the Lord that He take away the serpents from us” (v 7). Instead, the Lord instructed Moses to make a bronze snake and elevate it on a pole. Look and live! was the command. Wait! Can people look before they live? Obviously so. And we can believe and live, too! “These are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name” (Jn 20:31). Do you get it? asks Jesus. “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life” (Jn 3:14-15).