Striking the rock, idolizing the snake: Lessons in trusting God’s provision (Numbers 19–21; 2Kings 18; John 3; 1Corinthians 10)

Hallel Fellowship

Outline of this study

• John 3:2–5; Deuteronomy 8:1–3: Signs of Heaven’s power on display in Israel’s history and how they are vital to being “born again” (0:00 in the recording)
• Cleansing and purification in Torah instruction and Jewish tradition (4:04)
• Cleansing rituals in ancient Israel and their connection to Messiah Yeshua’s teachings (9:57)
• Trust and faith in God’s provision (16:06)
• Spiritual warfare and the importance of seeking God’s strength to overcome evil forces (21:56)
• Death, cleansing and battle with spiritual powers (27:32)
• Being unequally yoked with Yeshua is a good thing: Lessons from the red heifer and the fiery snakes in Numbers 19 (Hebrews 9) and Numbers 21 (John 3:10–21) (33:52)
• Numbers 21:1–9; 2Kings 18:4: The symbolism of the copper serpent in the Bible and how it went from healing to hurtful (37:45)
• Numbers 21:10–35: Biblical locations in modern-day Israel and Jordan (44:45)
• Numbers 21:14–18; 1Corinthians 10:1–4: Red Sea crossing and the true Source of “living water”water source.” Leadership’s role in maintaining people’s focus on the Source of help and hope. (49:20)

The Way of Life

This reading is a complete change from the prior one, happening nearly 40 years later. We are reading about the second generation after the Exodus.

Nicodemus comes to meet with Yeshua under the cover of night. He tells Yeshua that he and the people have noticed the miracles He’s performing and the power of God being displayed.

“Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews; this man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.” Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born, can he?” Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” (John 3:1-5 NAS95)

Are we seeing the signs of Heaven leading those who are alive in the second generation?

When Yeshua and Nicodemus dialogue in John 3, Nicodemus’s introductory statement to Yeshua and Yeshua’s immediate response seem completely disconnected, as though they are each in their own conversation.

Nicodemus tells Yeshua that he understands Yeshua’s power comes from God, and Yeshua responds that no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born again. Right off the bat, the conversation starts with what appears to be a complete non sequitur. Yeshua’s answer to Nicodemus seems unrelated to the previous statement. Or does it?

The first generation liberated from Egypt through the plagues and the Red Sea were not born again. They did not believe that God was with them through their journey and did not trust that God would protect them and their children from the giants who lived in the land. God calls them out for their unbelief and tells them they will not enter the land, but the second generation, who were born again, entered the land that their parents and grandparents were too scared to take for themselves.

Yeshua told Nicodemus that to be born again and be fit to enter God’s Kingdom, one has to be born both of water and the Spirit.

Better Red Than Dead

As we read about the sacrifice of the red heifer, whose ashes were combined with water to purify those who had been in contact with a dead body or a grave, we see some sects of Judaism avoiding marked cemeteries and even flying over them. But ask yourself, how can one know if one has had contact with a grave? It’s impossible to know. In California, it’s the law to perform an archaeological survey before building any structures, and what do they inevitably find? Graves, often unmarked. Commentators note that there are so many unmarked graves all over the earth that all of us are ritually contaminated and need the cleansing waters of the red heifer.

The ashes of the red heifer are described as the ultimate detoxification agent, yet those who participate in the sacrifice become contaminated for a time while making these ashes. It’s a paradox that only the Messiah will be able to re-establish the red heifer sacrifice and set up the Temple ceremonies again.

Israel’s cleansing can only come from God with water and spirit.

The second generation of Israel had to be ready to be born again, to say Amen to God and to trust the One who led them. Fortunately, the second generation was very different from the first.

“But the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you have not believed Me, to treat Me as holy in the sight of the sons of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.”” (Numbers 20:12 NAS95)

Neither Aaron nor Moses was allowed to enter the promised land because they did not believe God or treat Him as holy in the eyes of the second generation. Moses and Aaron did not say “amen,” did not let His will be done on earth as it was in Heaven, and did not treat God as one who is set apart from the ways of the normal operations of men and nations. God could not let either Moses or Aaron enter the Promised Land with the second generation. Later, the prophet Isaiah said that although the people worshipped Him with their lips, their hearts were far from Him.

The second generation was more united than the first. This is evident when they address the nation of Edom, as they prepare to pass through their territory to the Promised Land.

“From Kadesh Moses then sent messengers to the king of Edom: “Thus your brother Israel has said, ‘You know all the hardship that has befallen us; that our fathers went down to Egypt, and we stayed in Egypt a long time, and the Egyptians treated us and our fathers badly.” (Numbers 20:14-15 NAS95)

The patriarch Jacob, whom God named Israel, is long gone by this time, yet here we read that this group is no longer just a ragtag group continually fighting and bickering. They are uniting under a leader, speaking with one voice with one goal in mind. This second generation is beginning to trust in God, who took them out of the house of bondage and is going to take them into the Promised Land. The first and second generations are not different genetically or ethnically but are very different spiritually.

God is unbelievably generous. Even when the people made massive mistakes and even outright mutiny and rebellion against God, He is willing to let it pass.

What happened to the first generation of the Exodus is often recalled as a stern warning in the writings of the prophets and even the authors of the New Testament. They look at the actions of the first generation as an example of how not to act, because they did not trust that God gave them their daily bread. They wanted food but not the food God gave them.

Familiar Spirits and Spiritual Warfare: Overcoming the Unseen Battle

The power of the adversary lies in deceiving humans into believing that we can understand good and bad without God. But the path the adversary wants us to walk only leads to death. The Apostle Paul tells us that we must hold every thought captive to Christ and that any thoughts must be measured by the words of God in the Scriptures. When we don’t understand something, we should pray to God and call for reinforcements. God, who is in us, is greater than the adversary who is in the world.

The pattern shown by the red heifer and the entire ceremony is to draw us to the true source of true power. God wanted His presence to reside with the people of Israel through the tabernacle.

There are several interesting parallels between the red heifer and the Golden Calf. The red heifer used in the sacrifice to create the cleansing water could never have experienced being under a physical yoke.

To accept the sacrificial waters from the red heifer was an acknowledgment of God’s yoke, His laws.

The Golden Calf showed how the first generation of Israel who left Egypt hated Heaven’s yoke and treated it with contempt. By worshipping the Golden Calf, they had yoked themselves to the false gods of Canaan. Their worship of that calf polluted them. Moses made them drink the golden powder of that calf as a display of repentance.

On the other hand, the ashes of the red heifer universally cleanse those who come in contact with it after the process of the sacrifice is complete.

We are unequally yoked with the Messiah because when we are yoked with Him, He is the one pulling the load.

Serpents, Symbols, and the Seduction of Idolatry

When the second generation launches a complaint to God, it appears they are going to fall into the same mistake as their parents, so we read about this strange story of God releasing fiery serpents into the Israelite camp. In Deuteronomy, God reminds them that their shoes didn’t wear out, their clothes didn’t wear out. They did not suffer all the snakes, scorpions, and other creepy crawlies that inhabit a desert wilderness. They didn’t suffer from all of these. Why? Because they had the protection of the Creator. He did not let those venomous and poisonous critters into their camp. God still protected the first generation even when they dug in their heels and refused to enter the Promised Land.

There’s a Hebrew play on words in Numbers 21:1-9: the words for serpent and copper come from the word for red. This is why the metal works at the front of the tabernacle were made from copper. The redness of the copper is a reminder of blood. The altar was plated with copper, and the basins and other items directly around that altar were also made from or plated with copper. In Hebrew, the words for blood and dirt both come from the word for red. It’s all wrapped together in God’s instruction that life is in the blood.

One lesson from the serpent on the pole is that what was once a savior to the people became a snare to the Israelites.

King Hezekiah of Judah (729–687/686 BC) reigned during the lives of prophets Isaiah and Micah. 700-800 years after the Exodus, the people of Judah still had the bronze serpent. They had this relic of the Exodus in their possession.

“He [Hezekiah] removed the high places and broke down the sacred pillars and cut down the Asherah. He also broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the sons of Israel burned incense to it; and it was called Nehushtan.” (2 Kings 18:4 NASB 1995)

The people of Canaan, whom the Israelites failed to completely remove from the Promised Land, worshipped various deities, including one represented by a serpent. The people of Judah co-opted the Bronze Serpent and used it as a representation of one of the Canaanite gods, worshipping the bronze serpent in the name of this false deity.

The people of Israel treated the Ark of the Covenant with a similar degree of disrespect, using it as a lucky charm by taking it into battle against the Philistines.

We all know the story: the Philistines captured the Ark of the Covenant and put it into their temple to Dagon. Every morning, they found the statue of Dagon face-planted in front of the Ark of the Covenant. It only took a few days for the Philistines to move it out of the temple, but they also started suffering terrible gastrointestinal symptoms and were smart enough to understand what was happening. Even though the Israelites didn’t have much respect for God, the Philistines showed God more honor than the children of Israel did.

At the end of the day, it was not the ashes of the red heifer itself that cleansed the people but God Himself, who cleansed them when they acted in faith and performed this ritual sacrifice, which on paper makes no sense whatsoever.

Scripture and Shadow: The Fear of Israel’s God Among Canaanites

“Therefore it is said in the Book of the Wars of the LORD, ‘Waheb in Suphah, And the wadis of the Arnon, And the slope of the wadis That extends to the site of Ar, And leans to the border of Moab.’” (Numbers 21:14-15 NAS95)

The wanderings in the wilderness are not recorded as a travel log for tourists or pilgrims. These stories are recorded for us because what the second generation experienced in the wilderness was a historical reality, not only for the children of Israel but also for the Canaanites.

Rahab told the spies that everyone in Canaan knew the stories about what God did for the children of Israel in Egypt and how He liberated them from slavery. They knew that they were wandering in the wilderness and were waiting anxiously about where these people would end up.

Rahab gives testimony that for forty years, the people of Canaan knew that the God of the Israelites was a very powerful deity, more powerful than their own, and He was working with the children of Israel.

Moses was supposed to speak to the rock, to cry out to the rock, and tell the water to come out from the rock so the children of Israel could understand that all they needed to do was ask God for what they needed. They did not need to act with violence to convince God to give them what they needed, but rather, He wanted to give them what they needed. Because Moses struck the rock instead of speaking to it, the children of Israel did not learn that lesson.

“For I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea; and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea; and all ate the same spiritual food; and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them; and the rock was Christ. Nevertheless, with most of them God was not well-pleased; for they were laid low in the wilderness.” (1 Corinthians 10:1-5 NAS95)

Moses’ leadership and his power came from God and Moses speaking to the rock, rather than hitting it was supposed to show the children of Israel that everyone, from the highest leader to the lowliest servant are subservient to the source of life and water. The Jewish sages connect to the rock’s miraculous provision of water to the Israelites during the 40 years in the wilderness to Miriam’s prayers and merit (since it had stopped producing water after Miriam died) but the Apostle Paul tells us that this Rock was the Messiah.

Summary: Tammy