SEV Biblia, Chapter 21:9
Y Moisés hizo una serpiente de metal, y la puso sobre la bandera, y fue, que cuando alguna serpiente mordía a alguno, miraba a la serpiente de metal, y vivía.
Clarke's Bible Commentary - Numbers 21:9
Verse 9. And Moses made a serpent of brass] t¨jn ¨jn nechash nechosheth. Hence we find that the word for brass or copper comes from the same root with nachash, which here signifies a serpent, probably on account of the colour; as most serpents, especially those of the bright spotted kind, have a very glistening appearance, and those who have brown or yellow spots appear something like burnished brass: but the true meaning of the root cannot be easily ascertained. On the subject of the cure of the serpent-bitten Israelites, by looking at the brazen serpent, there is a good comment in the book of Wisdom, chap. xvi. 4-12, in which are these remarkable words: "They were admonished, having a sign of salvation, (i. e., the brazen serpent,) to put them in remembrance of the commandments of thy law. For he that turned himself towards It was not saved by the THING that he saw, but by THEE, that art the saviour of all." To the circumstance of looking at the brazen serpent in order to be healed, our Lord refers, John iii. 14, 15: "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." The brazen serpent was certainly no type of Jesus Christ; but from our Lord's words we may learn, 1. That as the serpent was lifted up on the pole or ensign, so Jesus Christ was lifted up on the cross. 2. That as the Israelites were to look at the brazen serpent, so sinners must look to Christ for salvation. 3. That as God provided no other remedy than this looking for the wounded Israelites, so he has provided no other way of salvation than faith in the blood of his Son. 4. That as he who looked at the brazen serpent was cured and did live, so he that believeth on the Lord Jesus Christ shall not perish, but have eternal life. 5. That as neither the serpent, nor looking at it, but the invisible power of GOD healed the people, so neither the cross of Christ, nor his merely being crucified, but the pardon he has bought by his blood, communicated by the powerful energy of his Spirit, saves the souls of men. May not all these things be plainly seen in the circumstances of this transaction, without making the serpent a type of Jesus Christ, (the most exceptionable that could possibly be chosen,) and running the parallel, as some have done, through ten or a dozen particulars?
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 9. And Moses made a serpent of brass , etc.] Which was the most proper metal to make it of, that it might resemble the fiery serpents, whether of a golden or scarlet colour: and Diodorus Siculus speaks of some of the colour of brass, whose bite was immediately followed with death, and by which, if anyone was struck, he was seized with terrible pains, and a bloody sweat flowed all over him; and this was chosen also, because being burnished and bright, could be seen at a great distance, and with this metal Moses might be furnished from Punon, the next station to this, where they now were, Zalmonah, as appears from ( Numbers 33:42) a place famous for brass mines, and which Jerom says, in his time, was a little village, from whence brass metal was dug, by such that were condemned to the mines: and put it upon a pole ; as he was directed: and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived : which was very marvellous, and the more so, if what physicians say is true, as Kimchi relates f315 , that if a man bitten by a serpent looks upon a piece of brass he dies immediately: the lifting up of this serpent on a pole for such a purpose was a figure of the lifting up of Christ, either upon the cross, or in the ministry of the word, that whosoever looks unto him by faith may have healing, (see Gill on “ John 3:14”),where this type or figure is largely explained: the station the Israelites were now at, when this image was made, is called Zalmonah, which signifies an image, shadow, or resemblance, as the brazen serpent was; from Mount Hor, where they were last, to this place, according to Bunting f316 , were twenty eight miles: this serpent did not remain in the place where it was set, but was taken with them, and continued until the days of Hezekiah, ( 2 Kings 18:4).
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 4-9 - The children of Israel were wearied by a long march round the land of Edom. They speak discontentedly of what God had done for them, an distrustfully of what he would do. What will they be pleased with, who manna will not please? Let not the contempt which some cast on the wor of God, make us value it less. It is the bread of life, substantia bread, and will nourish those who by faith feed upon it, to eterna life, whoever may call it light bread. We see the righteous judgmen God brought upon them for murmuring. He sent fiery serpents among them which bit or stung many to death. It is to be feared that they woul not have owned the sin, if they had not felt the smart; but they relen under the rod. And God made a wonderful provision for their relief. The Jews themselves say it was not the sight of the brazen serpent tha cured; but in looking up to it, they looked up to God as the Lord tha healed them. There was much gospel in this. Our Saviour declared, Jo 3:14, 15, that as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so the Son of man must be lifted up, that whatsoever believeth in him, shoul not perish. Compare their disease and ours. Sin bites like a serpent and stings like an adder. Compare the application of their remedy an ours. They looked and lived, and we, if we believe, shall not perish It is by faith that we look unto Jesus, Heb 12:2. Whosoever looked however desperate his case, or feeble his sight, or distant his place was certainly and perfectly cured. The Lord can relieve us from danger and distresses, by means which human reason never would have devised Oh that the venom of the old serpent, inflaming men's passions, an causing them to commit sins which end in their eternal destruction were as sensibly felt, and the danger as plainly seen, as the Israelites felt pain from the bite of the fiery serpents, and feare the death which followed! Then none would shut their eyes to Christ, or turn from his gospel. Then a crucified Saviour would be so valued, tha all things else would be accounted loss for him; then, without delay and with earnestness and simplicity, all would apply to him in the appointed way, crying, Lord, save us; we perish! Nor would any abus the freeness of Christ's salvation, while they reckoned the price whic it cost him.
Original Hebrew
ויעשׂ 6213 משׁה 4872 נחשׁ 5175 נחשׁת 5178 וישׂמהו 7760 על 5921 הנס 5251 והיה 1961 אם 518 נשׁך 5391 הנחשׁ 5175 את 853 אישׁ 376 והביט 5027 אל 413 נחשׁ 5175 הנחשׁת 5178 וחי׃ 2425
