< Numbers 21 >

Despite being so close to their destination, Israel still continued to murmur, complain, and express their desire for Egypt.

The LORD sent fiery serpents which bit them, and many died. The purpose of this was not only to punish the rebels but also to prefigure our salvation from sin. We are all suffering the consequences of sin and are dying. The serpent was used from the beginning to represent sin and we therefore may be described as having been bitten by the serpent, and “the sting of death is sin” 1 Corinthians 15:56.Waiting for response for 1 Corinthians 15:56 No-one can save us from dying except God who has provided salvation through Jesus, a partaker of our sinful nature and crucified for us. To represent this, Moses was commanded to make a brass serpent (to represent sinful flesh) and fix it on a pole (to represent the crucifixion of Jesus) John 3:14-15.Waiting for response for John 3:14-15 The people who looked to the brass serpent on the pole survived the serpent’s sting, so those who look to Jesus in the way prescribed in the scriptures will survive the sting of death, which is sin 1 Corinthians 15:57-58Waiting for response for 1 Corinthians 15:57-58

Later this territory on the eastern side of the river Jordan was possessed by two and a half tribes of Israel (Reuben, Gad, and half of Manasseh) when the other nine and a half tribes received their inheritance in the promised land.