Numbers 21:4-9, the First Reading appointed for the 4th Sunday in Lent in the Year of Mark, is obviously the perfect reading to partner with John 3:14-21, the Gospel appointed for this day. Here we have what Christians have claimed is a foreshadowing of the work of Christ. Just as the Israelites looked to a figure on a pole to be saved from death, we look to Christ for our deliverance. This is a classic Law/Gospel text, calling us to repentance and announcing God's mercy. The preacher is called to do the same.
(The following questions are not meant to be exhaustive, but are best used in conjunction with other fine sets of questions available to exegetes. These questions have been developed to help disclose how the Word is functioning in the text, a central concern of Law and Gospel preachers. For more on this method and on Law and Gospel preaching in general, see my brief guide Afflicting the Comfortable, Comforting the Afflicted, available from wipfandstock.com or amazon.)
1. How does the Word function in the text? The opening verses lift up Israel's sin, their speaking against God and Moses. This is the Word functioning as Law, calling them to repentance. The judgment against the people comes and they beg for mercy, indeed speaking words of repentance: "We have sinned..." Gospel is proclaimed with the announcement of God's mercy: "Everyone who is bitten shall look at [the serpent] and live."
2. With whom are you identifying in the text? It is always important for us to identify with those to whom the Word is spoken and this text is no exception. We are those bitten by the snake of death, and we need to look to Christ for our life.
3. What, if any, call to obedience is there in this text? This text does not invite us to live in a certain way in response to God's gifts. There is therefore, no call to obedience here.
4. What Law/Gospel couplet is suggested by this text? Many couplets come to mind in this vivid story: dying/alive; poisoned/given an antidote; diseased/healed.
5. Exegetical work: Jacob Milgrom, in his commentary on this passage, asks the question: "Why did not God simply remove the plague as He removed all the plagues of Egypt? The answer given by tradition is that He resorted to this means in order to test Israel's obedience; only those who heeded His command to look at the snake would recover." (The JPS Torah Commentary series, Numbers, p.174). Milgrom then goes on to lift up an intertestamental text that comments on this famous event from the Wisdom of Solomon: "For when the terrible rage of wild animals came upon your people and they were being destroyed by the bites of writhing serpents, your wrath did not continue to the end; they were troubled for a little while as a warning, and received a symbol of deliverance to remind them of your law's command. For the one who turned toward it was saved, not by the thing that was beheld, but by you, the Savior of all." (16:5-7). This is so interesting, because this interpretation speaks of faith not magic. It is the Savior who saves, not the object we behold. Ephrem the Syrian, the 4th century Christian scholar, makes the connection for us: "Just as those who looked with bodily eyes at the sign which Moses fastened on the cross lived bodily, so too those who look with spiritual eyes at the body of the Messiah nailed and suspended on the cross and believe in him will live [spiritually]." (Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, OT, vol. III, p. 242).
Blessings on your proclamation!
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