Chukat “statute”
It is customary for religiously practicing Jews to read from an annual cycle of weekly Old Testament readings called Torah Portions. This is said to be the same reading schedule that was taught every Sabbath in the Synagogues during the times of Jesus in the first century.
As Christians exploring the Torah portion cycle we must maintain a balance of including the Old Testament, the prophets, and the gospels in our weekly bible study.
Torah Portion Name and Readings-
Chukat is the Hebrew word for “statute”, this is the name for the weekly Torah Portion reading for the Numbers starting in chapter 19 verse 1 and going through chapter 22 and verse 1.
Prophets and New Testament-
It is also important to point out that along with the Torah portion readings and teachings, there are what are called Haftarah portions which are readings from the Bible in the books of the prophets. This week’s haftarah readings come from the book of Judges in chapter 11 verse 1 through verse 33.
The gospel readings incorporated with the weekly Torah portion readings come from the book of John in chapter 2 with verses 1 through verse 12.
Torah Portion Overview-
In this torah portion we get the commandments for a very unique ritual. The priests are instructed on how they are to sacrifice a red heifer and burn it to ash in order to use the ashes for a purification offering. These would be used for the ritual that cleansed an Israelite after touching a dead body. Other commands were given about the uncleanness that a dead body brings. Sadly Miriam dies in this Torah portion. The people then complain about water, for they had no water to drink. In response God commands Moses to speak to the rock to bring water forth. Moses loses his temper and instead strikes the rock. He is informed that he will not be allowed to enter the Promised Land. Israel continues their journey. They request permission to go through the land of Edom. Edom refuses and threatens them if they try to go through their land. Aaron goes up the mountain to die at the command of the Lord and the role of High Priest is passed to his son Eleazar. Next we get some battles and conquest. The Canaanite king of Arad attacked Israel. In response Israel attacks his towns and dedicates them to destruction. The battles are interrupted when the people once again test God. The people complain and are plagued by poisonous snakes. Moses has a bronze serpent created and whoever looks at it is saved. Then the battles continue, as Israel journeys near Moab and defeats the Amorite king Sihon and take his towns. Israel defeats king Og of Bashan and destroys all his people. Finally Israel moves near Jericho and camps.
Today I want to talk about the plague of poisonous snakes and the bronze serpent that Moses created.
“From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom, but the people became discouraged on the way. 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 detest this miserable food.” Then the LORD sent poisonous serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many Israelites died. The people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned by speaking against the LORD and against you; pray to the LORD to take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. And the LORD said to Moses, “Make a poisonous serpent, and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten shall look at it and live.” So Moses made a serpent of bronze and put it upon a pole, and whenever a serpent bit someone, that person would look at the serpent of bronze and live.”
Numbers 21:4-9 (NRSVue)
The first thing to note here is that the serpents were not sent by God, serpents are always in the wilderness. Instead, because of the people’s insult, Yahweh allowed the people to suffer the natural consequence of being in the wilderness without His supernatural protection; they were attacked by poisonous snakes. As Michael L. Morales explained in his commentary on Numbers 20-36,
“Just as YHWH is near in the Camp to hear his people’s plea for help (v. 3), that same nearness means he hears their complaints as well (cf. 11:1; 12:2). Unlike other occasions where YHWH’s act of judgement is preceded by a notice of his fierce anger being kindled (see 11:1, 10; 12:9), here his response is recounted simply: ‘YHWH released fiery serpents (hannĕḥāšîm haśśĕrāpîm) among the people’—there is no indication that he has become angry or that his wrath has been kindled. The motif of sending (‘sent’, šālaḥ) unites chapters 21–25 with a tenfold use (21:6, 21, 32; 22:5, 10, 15, 37 [twice], 40; 24:12), and is also found in the Edom episode foreshadowing this section (20:14, 16). Nevertheless, there is an exegetical detail, rarely observed (exceptions include Leibowitz 1982: 261–262; Hirsch 2007a: 463), concerning šālaḥ here; namely, that it is in the pi. stem, often employed for the third meaning of šālaḥ: ‘let loose’ or ‘set free’. In the qal stem, šālaḥ refers simply to sending, such as when Moses sends messengers to Edom (20:14), and as when Jacob sent messengers to Esau (Gen. 32:4)—these both use the qal wayyišlaḥ. However, occasions that carry the nuance of releasing or letting go, such as the release of the Israelites from Egypt (Exod. 5:1; 13:17), freeing slaves (Deut. 15:12), or when Noah released the raven and then the dove from the ark (Gen. 8:7, 8, 10; cf. Deut. 22:7), or even when simply allowing a guest to leave (Gen. 18:16; 24:54), these situations use the pi. as here in 21:6, which is best translated, ‘YHWH released fiery serpents among the people.’ Our text is the first example of this use in the Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (1980: 928): ‘This means that God removes his protective hand and unleashes various hostile forces (Num. 21:6; Jer. 9:16; Amos 4:10; etc.)’ (cf. BDB 108–1019). Every use of the pi. form of š-l-ḥ in the Torah having an animal as its object means ‘release’ rather than ‘send’ (cf. Birkan 2005: 66). The implication is that the wilderness is a place of ‘fiery serpents and scorpions’, as Moses later recalls (Deut. 8:15), and that YHWH had been providentially restraining such threats from harming his people—as Leibowitz puts it (1982: 263): ‘It was not therefore the attack of the serpents, but rather their absence during the whole of their wanderings till then, that constituted the miracle.’ Now, when they speak against him, YHWH allows them to taste what life in the wilderness apart from his sovereign presence would be—to realize afresh that he had been their faithful shepherd and protector all along.”
The commentary then goes on to report an extraordinary account of snakes in the wilderness.
“A variety of ancient sources testify to the presence of numerous kinds of poisonous snakes in the wilderness; and in the modern era, Lawrence of Arabia’s published recollections of his time in the desert—with its plague of horned vipers, puff-adders, cobras and black snakes, his guides killing some twenty serpents per day, so that the people feared every step—are often cited (see T. E. Lawrence 1927: 93).”
Serpents then were a real threat to the people! The Lord had been saving them from them until this time! We see then that when the Lord takes us on a journey, He will protect us along the way! We do not have to fear the snakes in the grass, for He is with us! Often today, living in cities, we do not fear snakes. Instead we fear other problems, gangs, robbery, murder, theft, or perhaps even losing our jobs, divorce, the death of a loved one. Yet we see here that while we travel with God, we are protected! He is with us! We do not have to fear! To put it another way, when you are in the will of God, no gun can harm you that He does not allow.
There is even more irony here. For part of the sin of the people was that they wanted to return to Egypt. As the same commentary we have been referencing explains, there is irony even in this!
“Currid, noting that seraph was originally an Egyptian word referring to serpents that spit fire or glow like fire, related in numerous Egyptian texts where such serpents protected Pharaoh and Egypt, says they were an emblem of ancient Egypt, sent by God as a plague among the Israelites, who, ironically, wanted to return to Egypt (2009: 296–297; see also Exod. Rab. 3.12; Yalk. Shim. Va‘era 181).”
But the people did not believe and have faith. Indeed, they were constantly complaining and rebelling. And so the snakes began to attack the people! They were dying and so they cried out to Moses. God shows mercy and instructs Moses to form a serpent made of bronze.
It is interesting that for the most part, the Torah commanded not to make an image of anything on earth (Exodus 20:4), yet here, when Israel is being attacked they are commanded to fashion one of a snake. Not only this, but it is only those who look at the serpent that will be saved.
As an interesting aside 2 Kings 18:4 tells us that the Israelites worshipped the bronze serpent calling it Nehushtan, until it was destroyed by king Hezekiah. This is interesting because this shows us that an object created at the command of God can still be turned into an idolatrous object by people. In other words, just because it was commanded at some point doesn’t mean it can’t be turned into idolatry (cross, saints, the Torah, etc). Indeed, I am reminded of this today when people mistakenly believe that Jesus IS the Torah. I remind them that He is not the Torah, the Torah is His words. There is a difference. Anyone worshipping the Torah is committing idolatry.
But what does this have to do with us today? How does a poisonous snake attacking Israel apply to modern Christians? It was this very story that Jesus used as an analogy for His crucifixion!
“And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.”
John 3:14-15 (NRSVue)
Just as the Israelites had to look to the serpent that was lifted up on a standard, so too we must look to Jesus who was lifted up on the Cross! The lifting up on the cross meant so much more though! It was at the cross that Jesus was truly revealed as the Messiah, who is Yahweh in the flesh!
“They did not realize that he was speaking to them of the Father. So Jesus said to them, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will realize that I AM, and that I do nothing on my own, but I say only what the Father taught me.”
John 8:27-28 (NABRE)
It is important to note that many translations add in the word “He” after “I am”. This insist that the “he” is implied in the Greek, although it is not actually a word there. The translation above though, has used just the Greek words, and we can see from this that Jesus is saying that He is I AM. As Raymond E. Brown explains in his commentary on John,
“I AM. This is one of the four relatively clear instances of the absolute use of egō eimi without a predicate implied (see App. IV). Some have suggested that “Son of Man” is the implied predicate, but it does not fit John’s thought that the ultimate insight into the exalted Jesus would be that he is Son of Man. The exalted Jesus is confessed as Lord and God in 20:28, and our reading of the divine use of egō eimi here fits in with that estimation.”
This is astounding, for it was at the cross when it was revealed that He is I AM! In His moment of greatest suffering, in this moment that should have brought the most shame, instead we see that He is glorified! He is revealed not to just be a man, but to be God in the flesh! As God, when He is lifted up, He brings not just the Jews alone, but also all nations to Himself!
“And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”
John 12:32 (ESV)
Let us therefore look to Him, Jesus the Messiah, Yahweh in the flesh, for our healing, our salvation and have faith and trust that He will make a way for us. He will protect us.
“What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?”
Romans 8:31 (ESV)
Torah Portion Scriptural Highlights-
Numbers 19:1 The commandments for the ashes of the Red Heifer for a purification offering.
Numbers 19:11 The commandments for the ritual cleansing after a dead body is touched and the uncleanness that a dead body brings.
Numbers 20:1 Miriam dies.
Numbers 20:2 The people complain because they don’t have water.
Numbers 20:8 Moses is commanded to speak to the rock to bring water, but Moses strikes the rock and is punished with not entering the Promised Land.
Numbers 20:14 Edom refuses Israel passage through their land.
Numbers 20:22 Aaron dies and the High Priesthood is passed to his son Eleazar.
Numbers 21:1 The Canaanite king of Arad attacked Israel. In response Israel attacks his towns and dedicates them to destruction.
Numbers 21:4 The people complain and are plagued by poisonous snakes. Moses has a bronze serpent created and whoever looks at it is saved.
Numbers 21:10 Israel journeys near Moab and defeats the Amorite king Sihon and take his towns.
Numbers 21:33 Israel defeats king Og of Bashan and destroys all his people.
Numbers 22:1 Israel camps across from Jericho.
Haftarah (Prophets) Scriptural Highlights-
Judges 11:1 Jephthah is appointed as the leader of Gilead and fights against the Ammonites. He makes a wicked vow that he will sacrifice whatever comes out of his house if the Lord gives him the battle.
Brit (Gospel) Scriptural Highlights-
John 2:1 Jesus turns water into wine.
References-
Michael L. Morales, Numbers 20-36, ed. David W. Baker and Beth M. Stovell, Apollos Old Testament Commentary 4b (London, England: Apollos, an imprint of Inter-Varsity Press, 2024), 63-69.
Raymond E. Brown, The Gospel according to John (I–XII): Introduction, Translation, and Notes, vol. 29 of Anchor Yale Bible (New Haven; London: Yale University Press, 2008), 348.
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