Parshat Chukat; Numbers 19:1-22:1 By: Rabbi Denise L. Eger
This week’s Torah portion Chukat has a very strange episode recorded in it. The Children of Israel following the deaths of Miriam and Aaron are unsettled. Two of the three leaders of the people have died. Moses is old and the Children of Israel are marching closer and closer to the Promised Land. They have begin to engage local people in battle as they encounter them. We learn in Chapter 21 of Numbers that the Canaanite, king of Arad heard that Israel was advancing he attacked. Some were captured but the faith of Israel helped them succeed and defeat the Canaanites when they prayed for deliverance. The Israelite’s faith was rewarded by God. And yet, in the next verse, Israel’s doubts start to eat away at them.
They complain bitterly against both God and Moses. They long for Egypt. They whine about the lack of water and food. They have decided that they “loathe this miserable food. (Numbers 21:5). Their faith is waning. And these are complaints we have heard before from the Children of Israel. But this is not an opportune time for there to be such rancor in the people. They must come together and be united if they are going to march forward to settle the Promised Land.
God sends seraph serpents. These fiery snakes bite the Children of Israel and many die. This episode jars the Children of Israel greatly from their disillusionment and they plead to Moses to intervene. They seem to recognize that their lack of faith and their own bitterness caused their doubts to surface and indeed destroyed some of their own. So Moses does intercede with God and we gather from the text that these seraph serpents—or fiery serpents withdrew. But God tells Moses to make a copper seraph serpent and mount it on a staff and that anyone who was bitten and looks at it will be healed! You
This would seemingly be in contradiction to all that has been previously taught about idolatry in our Torah. And yet the copper serpent was commanded by God as an antidote to the snakes themselves. It wasn’t the copper serpent that healed—but the Israelites faith that healed them and this is a very important point. But you do have to appreciate God’s own sense of humor! The seraph serpent is translated as fiery serpent—fire being orange and red—and perhaps the venom from these snakes inflamed the skin as well. God tells Moses to make a copper or bronze serpent—and the color of copper or bronze can be the colors of flames. In fact in the desert of Israel there are important copper mines and archaeologists have found copper serpents in various excavations.
When the Israelites’ faith is strong—they succeed in their efforts. This is evidenced by the success they achieved against the Canaanite king of Arad who attacked first. But when the Children of Israel’s faith is weak they are plagued. Thus God provides them with inspiration through the copper snake. This will be a visible token that can inspire them and remind them of the healing power of their faith in God.
Especially as two of the leaders that they have known throughout their journey from Egypt are now dead, the copper snake helps to
Posted by Lee at June 18, 2007 10:09 AM
