22. The Snake on a Pole

Manna

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 our soul loathes this worthless bread.” 

Much has been written about this worthless bread, which is more commonly called, Manna.  At first, the Israelites did not know what it was, so they called it, what is it.

The substance now called manna in the Arabian desert through which the Israelites passed is collected in the month of June from the tarfa or tamarisk shrub. According to Burckhardt it drops from the thorns on the sticks and leaves with which the ground is covered, and must be gathered early in the day or it will be melted by the sun. The Arabs cleanse and boil it, strain it through a cloth and put it in leathern bottles; and in this way, it can be kept uninjured for several years. They use it like honey or butter with their unleavened bread, but never make it into cakes or eat it by itself. The whole harvest, which amounts to only five or six hundred pounds, is consumed by the Bedouins, “who,” says Schaff, “consider it the greatest dainty their country affords.” 
Smith’s Bible dictionary 

Numerous attempts have been made to identify manna with substances found in the Sinai Peninsula. Insects living on the tamarisk bush produce a small, sweet substance during the early summer that has been identified as manna by some scholars. But this substance does not fulfill all the biblical requirements for manna. ... Manna certainly was nourishing, but it cannot be identified with any known food. 
Nelson's Bible Dictionary

Snakes

So the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and many of the people of Israel died. ... the people came to Moses, and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you; pray to the Lord that He take away the serpents from us.”

That part of the desert where the Israelites now were—near the head of the gulf of Akaba—is greatly infested with venomous reptiles, ... The exact species of serpents that caused so great mortality among the Israelites cannot be ascertained. They are said to have been "fiery," an epithet applied to them either from their bright, vivid color, or the violent inflammation their bite occasioned.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

The Lord did not prepare those serpents especially to punish the Israelites; the serpents were there naturally, but according to the author they were instruments which Jehovah used to punish the nation for complaining about the supposed heaven-sent food.

So Moses prayed for the people. Then the Lord said to Moses, Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live. So Moses made a bronze serpent. and put it on a pole, and so it was if a serpent had bitten anyone when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived. Num. 21:5-9. "a serpent of bronze," is a wordplay as "serpent" and “bronze” are closely related in Hebrew: nehash (serpent) nehoshet (copper). 
Pulpit Commentary  
               

As the story goes, even then, in His anger, the Lord was merciful to the people.  All that the people needed to do to avoid death, by a serpent bite, was to look at the brass serpent Moses had made. 

The Lifted Curse

Many years later when Jesus was talking to Nicodemus, he drew a comparison between the bronze serpent and Himself; He said, 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. John 3:14-15.

In each case, the result was similar.  Those that looked up at the brass serpent, believing they would be healed, were healed.  Those that, in faith, look up to Jesus as the redeemer of humanity, will also be given eternal life.  Saint Paul wrote, Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”). Gal. 3:13. 

In other words, when Adam and Eve sinned in the garden, Jehovah cursed both the ground and the spiritual aspect of humanity.  When "Noah's flood" happened the curse was lifted from the ground Lamech ... had a son and he called his name Noah, saying, This one will comfort us concerning our work and the toil of our hands, because of the ground which the Lord has cursed. Genesis 5:38.  

The point of this story is that God had cursed the earth, because of the actions of Adam and Eve.  The Lord said, Cursed is the ground for your sake. Gen. 3:17.  Noah was chosen to be the one through whom the curse to the ground would be removed. 

The Lord was merciful to the Israelites in the desert, but how much more merciful was He to us when Christ died on the cross.  Then the spiritual curse was lifted from that segment of humanity who is willing to accept the fact that Jesus Christ died for them!  

Because He hung on a tree He was cursed by His own Father.  When His Father raised Him from death He proved to the world that He was satisfied with Christ's work on the tree.  The curse which fell on the Human race, in the Garden of Eden, has been removed and eternal life is possible! However, it is a free gift, it cannot be earned, it can only be accepted or rejected.

To Christians, the term, Good Friday, sounds like a misnomer. Christ, our leader and hero was killed by wicked people.  Jesus of Nazareth, ... ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain.  The wonderful truth is that God hath raised (Him from the grave). Acts 2:22-24 KJV. 

There are many portrayals of Christ in the Old Testament, however, the near sacrifice of Isaac by Abraham and the snake on the pole are the two most beautiful.  

At that time Isaac was already an older teenager and his father was well over one hundred years old.  Isaac could have struggled to preserve his life, but he did not! 

Christ could have avoided the cross, He did not want to die a horrible, painful death.  He prayed, O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me, nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will. Mat. 26:39.  More important than seeking His own comfort, He wanted to do His Father's will. 

The death of Christ is a horrible, wonderful, fact in the history of humanity. Because of it, humans have the possibility of inheriting eternal life.