The Book of Numbers

Hebrew Study

Explanation

Discouraged "because of the way," the people "spake against God, and against Moses," complaining there was no bread and no water, and "our soul loatheth this light bread," despising the manna, the very bread of heaven. So "the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people... and much people of Israel died." Stricken, they confessed, "we have sinned," and begged Moses to pray. God's remedy was startling: "Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live." Moses "made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole," and "if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived." No medicine, no struggle, no work; only a look. The dying had one thing to do: turn their eyes to the uplifted serpent, and live.

Gospel Focus

Jesus Himself unlocks the meaning of this scene: "as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life" (John 3:14-15). The uplifted serpent is a picture of Christ on the cross. The serpent was the emblem of the curse and of sin, and it was lifted up in the form of that which was killing them, just as Christ, who knew no sin, was "made a curse for us" (Galatians 3:13) and lifted up bearing our sin. And the way of salvation is the same: a look of faith. Every Israelite had been bitten, just as all have sinned; and the remedy was not to fight the serpents or treat the wound, but simply to look and live. So salvation is not by our works or our striving, but by looking to the crucified Christ, "look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else" (Isaiah 45:22). The dying man who could do nothing else could still turn his eyes. If you have been bitten by sin, you need not struggle to save yourself; look to the One lifted up, and live. And beware making the symbol an idol, as Israel later did until Hezekiah broke it (2 Kings 18:4); the serpent saved no one on its own, it was the God who gave it, and the Christ it pointed to, who saves.

Hebrew Study

Explanation

The journey continues, and at a place called Beer, "the well," God said, "Gather the people together, and I will give them water." And here something new happens. Instead of murmuring for water as they had done at Meribah, "Israel sang this song, Spring up, O well; sing ye unto it." The princes and nobles dug the well "by the direction of the lawgiver, with their staves," and the people sang over it in joy. It is a small, bright moment in a hard book: a song where there had been complaint, thanksgiving where there had been grumbling. The water God provided was met not with a demand but with a melody. The generation that would inherit the land was learning, at last, to respond to God's provision with worship rather than complaint.

Gospel Focus

The song of the well is a lovely picture of the joy of the Spirit welling up in a believing heart. Water in Scripture often speaks of the Spirit, and Jesus promised that in those who come to Him would be "a well of water springing up into everlasting life" (John 4:14). What a contrast to Meribah: there the people struck out in strife and demanded water; here they gathered in faith and sang the water up. The difference is the difference between murmuring and worship. When God's people learn to respond to His provision with singing rather than complaint, the wilderness itself begins to blossom. There is also a quiet lesson in the digging: the nobles dug "with their staves," working even as they sang, for faith and effort are not enemies. God gave the water, and the people dug the well; His provision and their glad labor met in a song. Let the well spring up in you, the joy of the Spirit, and answer God's goodness not with grumbling but with a song.

Hebrew Study

Explanation

Now the tide turns. Israel asked Sihon king of the Amorites for peaceful passage, as they had asked Edom, but Sihon "would not suffer Israel to pass," and instead "gathered all his people together, and went out against Israel." This time Israel fought, and "Israel smote him with the edge of the sword, and possessed his land." Then Og the king of Bashan, a giant of a man, came out to battle. God spoke a word of courage: "Fear him not: for I have delivered him into thy hand." So Israel "smote him, and his sons, and all his people, until there was none left him alive: and they possessed his land." The generation that had trembled at giants and refused to enter now began, under God, to conquer kings and take territory. The long wilderness was giving way to the first taste of the inheritance.

Gospel Focus

These first victories mark a turning: a new generation, believing God, begins to possess what the fearful generation had forfeited. The contrast is striking. Forty years earlier, ten spies saw giants and called themselves grasshoppers; now Israel faces Og, an actual giant king, and God says, "Fear him not: for I have delivered him into thy hand." The giants had not shrunk; the difference was faith. When God's people believe Him, the very obstacles that once terrified them fall before them, for "if God be for us, who can be against us?" (Romans 8:31). The word "fear him not" is God's constant encouragement to His advancing people; the battle is His, and the victory is given. And notice that possession came through faith joined to obedient action: Israel believed God and drew the sword, and God delivered the enemy into their hand. So we press against the strongholds that stand between us and God's promises, not in our own strength, but knowing the Lord has already delivered them into our hand. The grasshopper generation died in the wilderness; the believing generation takes the land. Fear not the giants; the God who slew Og goes before you.