Snake Handling

From Mount Hor the children of Israel set out on the Red Sea road, to bypass the land of Edom. But with their patience worn out by the journey, the people complained against God and Moses, “Why have you brought us up from Egypt to die in this desert, where there is no food or water? We are disgusted with this wretched food!” In punishment the LORD sent among the people saraph serpents, which bit the people so that many of them died. Then the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned in complaining against the LORD and you. Pray the LORD to take the serpents away from us.” 

So, Moses prayed for the people, and the LORD said to Moses, “Make a saraph and mount it on a pole, and whoever looks at it after being bitten will live.” Moses accordingly made a bronze serpent and mounted it on a pole, and whenever anyone who had been bitten by a serpent looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.  (Numbers 21:4-9)

Complaints!?   Bring them to the Complaint Department.   Complainers wear out our patience.   Suck it up!  Deal with it!  So, there are snakes in our paths.  Just be wary, and sweep them away.  If bitten by the snakes – hypocrites, liars, accusers, cheaters, and slanderers – don’t worry, you’ll live, but only after dealing with them, not ignoring them.   They won’t go away.

Let’s take our saraphs mounted on poles – truth and courage – to confront the snakes and live.    Refuse to die in the deserts of persecution, deceit, and harassment.

The LORD will take away the serpents when we pray and then beat them over their heads by confronting them and calling them what they are, perhaps in Harry Potter’s terms: “dementors, soulless creatures among the foulest beings on Earth gradually depriving human minds of happiness and intelligence.”  

Perhaps I’m a little over-the-top with this Potter-like characterization.  But for those tormented by dementor-like people, snake-bashing with Moses’ pole may be the best recourse.  Forgiveness is always warranted, but not without first required snake handling.

Deacon David Pierce