The Snake on the Pole

“When anyone who is bitten looks at it, he will live.” — Numbers 21:8

The Israelites wandered in the desert for many years. God still fed them with manna every morning, and He still led them with His cloud. But the people were tired and impatient, and they started grumbling again.

“Why did you bring us out of Egypt to die in the desert?” they said to God and to Moses. “There’s no bread! There’s no water! And we hate this horrible food!”

“This horrible food” was the manna, the bread from heaven that God gave them every single day.

Then God sent poisonous snakes among the people. The snakes bit them, and many of the Israelites died.

The people came to Moses. “We have sinned,” they said. “We spoke against the Lord and against you. Please pray that the Lord will take the snakes away.”

So Moses prayed for the people.

And God told Moses to do something very strange. “Make a snake and put it up on a pole,” God said. “Anyone who has been bitten can look at it, and they will live.”

So Moses made a snake out of bronze, a shiny metal, and put it up high on a pole in the middle of the camp, where everyone could see it.

Imagine you were an Israelite who had just been bitten. The poison is starting to hurt. What would you do? You could try to make medicine. You could try to suck out the poison. But God said there was only one thing that would save you: look at the snake on the pole.

It didn’t seem like much. Just a look. But it meant trusting God’s promise. And everyone who had been bitten and looked up at the bronze snake lived!

God didn’t take away all the snakes. But He gave a way to be saved from their bite, a way that was open to everyone. Nobody had to be strong, or clever, or good enough. They just had to look, and trust what God had said.

Looking ahead to Jesus: Jesus Himself talked about this story. He said, “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in Him may have eternal life” (John 3:14–15). Jesus was lifted up on the cross. Sin is like a snake’s poison in all of us. But everyone who looks to Jesus and trusts in Him is saved.

Read it in your Bible: Numbers 21:4–9

Dear God, thank you that you made a way for people to be saved. Help me to look to Jesus and trust Him, every day. Amen.