Above: Stained-Glass Window: Moses and the Snake, St. Mark’s Church, Gillingham, Kent, England
Image in the Public Domain
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The Collect:
O God, our leader and guide, in the waters of baptism
you bring us to new birth to live as your children.
Strengthen our faith in your promises, that by your
Spirit we may lift your life to all the world through
Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns
with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
–Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 27
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The Assigned Readings:
Numbers 21:4-9 (11th Day)
Isaiah 65:17-25 (12th Day)
Psalm 128 (Both Days)
Hebrews 3:1-6 (11th Day)
Romans 4:6-13 (12th Day)
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Some Related Posts:
Numbers 21:
http://lenteaster.wordpress.com/2010/10/29/thirtieth-day-of-lent/
http://lenteaster.wordpress.com/2011/07/26/fourth-sunday-in-lent-year-b/
Isaiah 65:
http://lenteaster.wordpress.com/2010/10/28/twenty-third-day-of-lent/
http://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2013/06/04/proper-28-year-c/
Hebrews 3:
http://adventchristmasepiphany.wordpress.com/2010/09/18/week-of-1-epiphany-thursday-year-1/
Romans 4:
http://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2011/05/06/week-of-proper-23-friday-year-1/
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Happy are they all who fear the LORD,
and who follow in the ways of the LORD!
–Psalm 128:1, Book of Common Worship (1993)
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The story in Numbers 21:4-9 is a good place to start this post. It sent me scurrying to commentaries. The notes in The Jewish Study Bible (2004) tell me of the Rabbinic discomfort with the sympathetic magic in the account. Professor Richard Elliott Friedman, in his Commentary on the Torah (2011), makes the connection between the bronze serpent and the incident concerning the snake in the court of the Pharaoh (Exodus 7:8-10). Friedman also refers to 2 Kings 18:4, in which King Hezekiah orders the destruction of the bronze serpent, to which some people had been burning incense. Volume 2 (1953) of The Interpreter’s Bible says that the bronze serpent was an example of spiritual homeopathy or at least an example thereof, one which
rests on a sound basis in human experience
whereby
wounds heal wounds.
–page 243
The best, most helpful analysis, however, comes from Walther Eichrodt, as translated by J. A. Baker:
The terrifying power of God, who will turn his weapons of leprosy, serpent and plague (cf. Ex. 4.1-7, Num. 21:6ff; 11:33) even against his own people leaves men in no doubt that the covenant he has created is no safe bulwark, behind which they can make cunning use of the divine power to prosecute their own interests. The covenant lays claim to the whole man and calls him to a surrender with no reservations.
–Theology of the New Testament, Volume One (Philadelphia, PA: Westminster Press, 1961), pages 44-45
Thus this post continues a line of thought present in its immediate predecessor in order of composition. God calls the blessed people to function as blessings to others. The faithful, redeemed people of God have a mandate to cooperate with God in reforming society for the common good and divine glory. In the Bible righteousness and justice are the same thing. Hence we read prophets’ condemnations of economic exploitation and judicial corruption as opposites of righteousness. To live in the household of God is to have both privileges and duties.
One task for those with a slave mentality is to abandon it and to embrace freedom in God. I know that eating the same thing repeatedly gets old rapidly, but at least the Israelites were not starving. God does provide; gratitude is in order, even if manna is crystallized insect feces. Often our mentalities stand between us and God, whose manna does come with the condition of servitude to the source. What we receive from God might not be what we want or expect, but it is what we need. May we accept it gratefully and accept the obligation to serve God and leave our world better than we found it.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
NOVEMBER 25, 2013 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SQUANTO, COMPASSIONATE HUMAN BEING
THE FEAST OF JAMES OTIS SARGENT HUNTINGTON, FOUNDER OF THE ORDER OF THE HOLY CROSS
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Adapted from this post:
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BLOGA THEOLOGICA 
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