Apologies for the missed devotion yesterday...
When good things become bad
In Numbers 21 we read about when the Israelites were in the wilderness and they complained against God. So venomous snakes entered the Israelite camp and bit the people. They repented and Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole - when people were bitten they could look at the snake on the pole and they would be healed. (This, by the way, is why the symbol of some ambulance services is a snake coiled around a pole.)Later, when the ark of the covenant was made, the two tablets of the ten commandments, Aaron's rod that had budded and the bronze snake were kept inside as reminders of God's covenant.
But some 700 years later, things had changed...
| He [Hezekiah] removed the high places, smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles. He broke into pieces the bronze snake Moses had made, for up to that time the Israelites had been burning incense to it. (It was called Nehushtan.) (2Kings18:4) |
The NIV Study Bible notes that snake worship of various kinds was common in the Ancient Near East.
This is a tough moment. Something that had been a symbol of God's mercy and grace had now become an idol.
This is unfortunately part of our fallen human nature: we are too lazy to look through a symbol to the deeper meaning and we just worship the symbol instead.
The snake was a complex symbol - it was a reminder of Israel's rebellion and pride - it was a reminder that Adam and Eve listened to a snake and it had bitten them. Israel, by complaining against God and longing for the fleshpots of Egypt, were affirming their commitment to putting themselves first. When snakes came into the camp and bit them, it was God's way of saying "You're letting the snakes into your midst - you're listening to the snake again and it will bite you." What was the solution? Put the snake on a pole. Not a pedestal. A pole. The snake wasn't being venerated, it was being crucified! Looking at the crucified snake was a rejection of the snake's temptation and a reminder that sin had to be paid for.
Listen to what Jesus says to Nicodemus: "Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life." (John3:14-15) (And Jesus was talking about His own crucifixion - He became the sin-bearer for us.)
But Israel got lazy - they didn't think about the symbol, they just worshiped it.
Today some people worship the symbols rather than the deeper reality.
People make idols of certain Bible translations, certain musical instruments, certain dress-codes and rituals.
I talked to someone who was adamant that the King James translation was the only viable translation. No argument I could make, even with my knowledge of Greek and Hebrew and translation practice could convince him. The irony, was that King James authorised and sponsored the translation in 1611 and his purpose was so that everyone could have access to the scriptures in contemporary language. Ironically, the contemporary language of 1611 is not contemporary anymore and our teenagers can't understand it. By putting the King James on a pedestal, we miss the key point: the point was not the "Thee's" and "Thou's" but the Bible in the language of the people.
In the same way clerical dress was meant to be like a mechanic's overall and a nurse's smock: symbols of service that highlighted the function and not the person. Now clerical dress is often a symbol of status and education.
And I could go on and on about good things that become bad when we worship them.
Hezekiah realised that the snake had become a distraction. Not only had the symbolism been lost, but now pagan and occultish practices accompanied it. He didn't hesitate - he removed it.
