Day 46. Numbers 21-23

The story of the bronze serpent in our reading for today has an element of strangeness about it. It is a peculiar account to find in this context. The first of the commandments forbade the making of any "graven Image," and yet here the LORD himself authorizes the making of an image, a serpent to be put on a pole.
The people of Israel, we are told, grumbled about the grub the LORD provides—and not for the first time. An angry God sends a plague of serpents among them—my translation (NRS) calls the serpents "poisonous" (Numbers 21:6), but they are literally called "fiery serpents"—"fiery" is a word used elsewhere in the scriptures to describe angels. These fire-snakes, we suppose, are not ordinary poisonous snakes but supernatural creatures. And strange and "magical" means are necessary to deal with their fatal bites.
Moses is instructed by the LORD to make a "fiery serpent" of bronze and put it on a pole. While the "real" serpents swarmed about their feet, the Israelites were told to look up at the "fake" serpent on the pole for healing and life. Here the bronze serpent on the pole is a sign of God's grace and forgiveness—and it is in that sense that Jesus uses it as figure of his own death of the cross in John 3.
But this serpent image could easily be misunderstood. In the ancient world, serpents were often the symbols of the gods of the underworld, and in 2 Kings 18:1-4 the bronze serpent Moses made had to be destroyed by King Hezekiah because the people were worshipping it as a god and making offerings to it.
We cannot be surprised to hear in Chapter 20 that the various regional kings do not want to allow Israel to pass through their territories. They were under no illusions about the intentions of this warlike people. When Israel wages war it is total war. Look at the fate of King Og of Bashan. Acting under the command of the Lord, it says that the army of Israel "killed him, his sons, and all his people, until there was no survivor left; and they took possession of his land" (21:35). This is to be the program for the conquest of Canaan—a complete purification by sword and fire that is intended to leave behind no vestige of paganism to corrupt the People of the Promise.
In the light of the fierceness of the foe gathered at his borders, it is no wonder that Balak, the king of Moab, seeks supernatural aid to deal with such a formidable enemy. He commissions a powerful prophet named Balaam to curse the people of Israel.
Balaam was a formidable person in his own right. He is mentioned in ancient sources outside the Bible as a great prophet. We don't know a great deal about this mysterious figure, but Balak has supreme confidence in his powers. It is not an idle compliment when he says—"I know that whomever you bless is blessed, and whomever you curse is cursed" (22:6).
But we quickly discover that Balaam knows the LORD—we aren't told how—and that God speaks to Balaam (22:12)—presumably in dreams. Furthermore Balaam is obedient to the LORD. "I could not go beyond the command of the LORD my God," he says, "to do less or more" (22:18). So Balaam is a legitimate prophet, but he lives outside the life of the Covenant People, and so he is certain ways blind to the presence of God, as the story of the donkey humorously demonstrates.
Balaam is riding along on his donkey on his way to fulfill his commission from the king of Moab, when he encounters the Angel of the LORD "as his adversary" (22:22) in a narrow place. His donkey cowers and will not go forward, and Balaam, furious with his disobedience, beats the poor beast fiercely. This happens three times before the donkey is given the power of speech and asks, "What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?" (22:28)
The story is a parable. A donkey is wiser than the prophet who does not listen to the words of the LORD. The donkey makes a fool of the prophet.
Now Balaam sees the angel, who says—"The donkey saw me, and turned away from me these three times. If it had not turned away from me, surely just now I would have killed you and let it live" (22:33). You owe your life to the animal you have mistreated.
Humiliated, the prophet confesses that he has sinned and offers to go home. But the LORD has other plans. The donkey has made a fool of the prophet, and now God will use the prophet to make a fool of the king of Moab. Each time he is called upon to curse Israel from a different vantage point, he instead blesses the People of the Promise. "I received a command to bless," the prophet tells the angry king. "The LORD has blessed, and I cannot revoke it" (23:21). The LORD is behind his people; no one can stand against them.