So the LORD sent venomous snakes among the people, and many of the Israelites were bitten and died.Yahweh sent venomous snakes among the people, and they bit the people. Many people of Israel died.And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died.And Jehovah sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died.
3 sermons cite this verse
… There's no food, no water, and we loathe this worthless food. And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people and they bit the people so that many of the people of Israel died. This is about leprosy. This is about fire coming down and just burning people. This is about the ground opening up and swallowing people alive. This book is about God, God himself sending these fiery serpents to just bite at these people and destroy them. to kill them. And then here's one that made me really uncomfortable is chapter 25, when the people began to sleep around with the daughters of Moab and they began to sacrifice to other gods. And they started yoking themselves to Baal. And in verse 4, it says, And so, we just don't... we don't know what to do with some of these passages because they're so far from our thinking. And we're living in a time when people are questioning whether or not God can be a loving God and also a God of wrath. …
"And when king Arad the Canaanite, which dwelt in the south, heard tell that Israel came by the way of the spies; then he fought against Israel, and took some of them prisoners. And Israel voweda vow unto the LORD, and said, If You will indeed deliver this people into my hand, then I will utterly destroy their cities. And the LORD hearkened to the voice of Israel, and delivered up the Canaanites; and they utterly destroyed them and their cities: and He called the name of the place Hormah. And they journeyed from Mount Hor by the way of the Red Sea, to compass the land of Edom; and the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way. And the people spoke against God, and against Moses, Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no bread, neither is there any water and our soul loathes this light bread. And the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and many people of Israel died." Numbers 21:1-6. …
You get the picture. God has delivered these people from slavery, from bondage. He's now provided for their physical needs supernaturally with the manna on the floor, And now these people are so ungrateful that they begin to speak against God and they speak against Moses and they say, why have you brought us out of Egypt? Why have you brought us to this terrible place, this dreadful wilderness, terrible desert with this stinking manna that has become loathsome to us that we have to collect every day in order to live? And so God responds to this rebellion of His people by sending a plague on them. This time the plague is not against the Egyptians, it's against them. He sends an infestation of poisonous snakes whose venom is described as being like fire. I mean, I don't know if you've ever contemplated this particular episode in redemptive history. I can't think of a few things that are worse than imagining being just thrown into a pit of vipers where all around me are these fiery serpents, one bite of which can be fatal. It's something like out of the Temple of Doom or the Raiders of the Lost Ark when you begin to graphically understand what's going on here. And again, this is God's judgment against His own people. …