Chukat – Statutes, customs, ordinances
B’midbar (Numbers) 19:1 – 22:1;
Shoftim (Judges) 11:1-33; Matthew 21:1-17;
Yochanan (John) 3:9 – 21
What is wrong with this painting? You’ve seen it many times. Typically, the serpent is talking Eve into eating the forbidden fruit. But could there be a clue in this event as to how the brazen serpent that Moses lifted up in the wilderness was fulfilled by the Messiah Yeshua? What could the answer say about our human nature and the work of our Messiah to redeem mankind from the fall of Adam?
Lucifer in the Garden
Who was that crafty deceiver who talked Eve into breaking Yah’s commandment? Most English translations say – ‘the serpent.’ In Hebrew, the word for serpent is – ‘nachash.’
Now the serpent (nachash) was more crafty than any beast of the field which YHWH Elohim had made. And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has Elohim said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?” Genesis 3:1
The root word for ‘serpent,’ spelled the same way, the same word – nachash – means ‘to learn something through divination, enchantment.’ ‘Nachash’ can also mean ‘bronze.’ The only connection that the root word has to a serpent or snake is by enchantment through a ‘hiss, to whisper, to prognosticate.’ Think of a king cobra snake enchanting and hypnotizing its prey, swaying side to side and flickering its forked tongue.
There are other means of enchantment and divination. What did the hissing enchanter look like in the garden that attracted Eve to her? In general, women hate snakes and recoil from their hideous looks and slithering nature. Then why didn’t Eve recoil from the nachash in the garden? Did the nachash appear to her as a snake?
After the fall of Adam and Eve into sin, YHWH cursed the enchanter with this judgment:
YHWH Elohim said to the woman, “What did you do?” The woman said, “The serpent (nachash) deceived me and I ate.” And YHWH Elohim said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, you are cursed above all beasts, and above every animal of the field. You shall go on your belly, and you shall eat dust all the days of your life.” Genesis 3:13-14
If the nachash was already slithering on its belly and eating dust with its forked tongue, why would YHWH pronounce this curse upon him? Doesn’t it make sense that the nachash was an attractive creature that Eve talked to like the forbidden fruit looked like? Could the nachash have fallen from standing upright down to a cursed creature slithering on its belly? Does the fall of man and his sinful nature reflect on this metamorphosis?
What did Lucifer look like before his cursed fall? The prophets had revelations of him:
Ezekiel described the nachash in the Garden of Eden as an attractive, beautiful creature:
You were in Eden, the garden of God. Every precious stone was your covering – ruby, topaz and diamond, beryl, onyx and jasper, sapphire, turquoise, and emerald – your settings and your sockets a workmanship of gold – in the day you were created they were prepared. Ezekiel 28:13
You were perfect in your ways from the day that you were created, until unrighteousness. Ezekiel 28:15
Your heart was exalted because of your beauty. You corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor. I threw you down to the earth. Ezekiel 28:17a
The nachash, the enchanter, definitely did not look like a snake-like creature in the Garden before the fall of man. Because Lucifer unrighteously deceived Adam and Eve into eating the forbidden fruit, the nachash was cursed and thrown down to the earth. Yah replaced his gemstone covering with slimy snake scales. He transformed a perfect, beautiful form into the repulsive look of a fallen, legless snake, slithering and eating dust.
Why would Yah make such a hideous transformation? Maybe so that any righteous woman, or man, would never again want to have a conversation with Lucifer face to face!
What does the transformation of the nachash in the garden picture for us about the fall of man? We see common threads affecting mankind with deception, divination, the fall, the curse, and perfect beauty transformed into hideous imperfection.
Like The Brazen Serpent Lifted Up in the Wilderness
One of the most bizarre, head-scratching pictures of the Messiah in the Torah is the brazen serpent that Moses made. You’d think only the devil would fit that picture. In Hebrew, ‘nachash ha’nechoshet’ both have the same root word as ‘the serpent’ in the Garden – nachash. Let’s look at why Moses lifted up the brazen serpent in the first place:
And the soul of the people became impatient because of the way. And the people spoke against God, and against Moses, “Why have you brought us out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no bread, and there is no water, and our soul hates this light bread.”
And YHWH sent fiery serpents (ha’nechashim ha’seraphim) among the people, and they bit the people, and many people of Israel died. And the people came in to Moses and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against YHWH, and against you. Pray to YHWH, and He shall turn the serpent (ha’nachash) away from us.” And Moses prayed on behalf of the people. Numbers 21:4b-7
Notice that the people realized they had sinned because they had been bitten by fiery serpents. Their sin started with doubt and a lack of faith in Yah’s Word. Have we noticed that when something bites and afflicts us, it may be because of our murmuring and complaining? We start with confessing we have sinned – that we have spoken against YHWH and the Torah of Moses. It’s the first step towards receiving healing from YHWH.
Then YHWH said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole; and it shall come to pass, that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, he will live.” And Moses made a bronze serpent (nachash nechoshet) and set it on the pole; and it came to pass, that if a serpent bit any man, when he looked to the bronze serpent (nachash ha’nechoshet), he lived. Numbers 21:8-9
Once we’ve confessed our sins, we look by faith to our Messiah Yeshua hanging on the cross for forgiveness and salvation. When Yeshua gave us the Gospel in a nutshell, John 3:16, it is interesting to me how the Master compared Himself to the brazen serpent lifted up by Moses in the wilderness:
“As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life.” John 3:14-15
Of all the types and shadows of the Messiah and the Gospel in the TaNaKh, why did Adonai Yeshua choose to compare Himself to ‘the serpent in the wilderness’? Isn’t a serpent one of the most diabolical representations of any being in the Word? Why would the Holy One of Israel want to be viewed as a hideous serpent of all things?
The ‘nachash’ in the Garden pictures for us the curse befalling mankind due to sin against YHWH. Lucifer fell from a beautiful, gemstone-covered being, perfect in all his ways, to a slithering, dust-eating, scaly snake crawling on its belly. The nachash represents the curse and the nature of man which fell from perfection into corruption.
Messiah liberated us from the curse of the Torah, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”); so that through Messiah Yeshua the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so we might receive the promise of the Ruach (Spirit) through trusting faith. Galatians 3:13-14
Redeemed From the Curse, a Glorious Transformation!
How would we know that Yeshua had ‘become a curse for us’? By fulfilling the Torah and becoming like the serpent that Moses lifted up in the wilderness. What did Messiah accomplish by becoming a curse? When we look to the cross of Yeshua, like the children of Israel did look at the brazen serpent in the wilderness, we are saved and healed from fatal snake bites, so that we may live. We live not just to live out the rest of our lives in our mortal bodies, but we have eternal life in Adonai Yeshua (John 3:16).
What was ‘the curse of the Torah’ that He liberated us from (Galatians 3:13)? Is the Torah a curse, as some say, or is it truly a blessing? Does keeping ‘the Law’ mean you curse yourself, as some claim, or does keeping His commandments bring us blessings?
According to the Word of Yah, the Torah is a curse only if we break it (Deut 28:15,45). If we do not keep the commandments of the Torah – we sin, we die (Gen 2:17; 3:19; Rom 6:23). Therefore, we are liberated not from the Torah, but ‘the curse of the Torah.’ The sinless Son of God saving us from our sins means that He also liberated us from constantly breaking the Torah. He saved us from slavery to sin under the fallen nature of the old man. The born-again can now live ‘crucified with Christ’, walking in the Spirit by His resurrection power (Gal 2:20; Romans 8). Clothed in His righteousness, by His Spirit, we can hit the mark and not bring the curse of the Torah down on our heads.
Praise Abba, the Son of God became a curse for us and died the death we deserve to die! He took on all the consequences of sin – beatings, bruises, sicknesses, sorrows, insults, shame, and guilt – every affliction man suffers due to sin. He became so cursed, that He looked like the creature cursed in the Garden, due to leading Adam and Eve into breaking Yah’s commandment by eating of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Because He died and rose again, He takes those who look to Him with faith and lifts us up, changing us from glory to glory as we behold the glory of our Adonai (2 Cor 3:18).
Isaiah prophesied of the glorious transformation in Him for the righteous in Zion:
To appoint to those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of the spirit of infirmity, so that one calls them trees of righteousness, the planting of YHWH, to beautify Himself. Isaiah 61:3
Lucifer will never be restored to the glorious beauty he once had, but the redeemed will! Because he rebelled against Yah’s will, attempting to exalt himself above all His creation, Satan was thrown down against his will, but will never, ever rise again to his former glory.
How are you fallen from heaven, O Lucifer (shining star), son of the morning! How are you cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! Isaiah 14:12
And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan (adversary, accuser), who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. Revelation 12:9
Not so with Adonai Yeshua and His saints! YHWH was willing to humble and empty Himself of His majestic authorities in Heaven, to become a human being as we are. Not only did the Messiah come as a common man, upon the cross He took on the full brunt of sin, its curse, pains, griefs, sorrows (Isaiah 53), and the full punishment of the wrath of God against even the rebels. He was so disfigured and smitten by God He was beyond recognition (Isa 53:2). He looked even lower than a brazen serpent! What could be lower than a dust-eating snake? A dirt-eating worm. Here’s the prophecy:
But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of mankind, and despised by the people. Psalm 22:6
Fear not, you worm Jacob, you men of Israel! I will help you.” It is a declaration of YHWH, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. Isaiah 41:14
HalleluYah, He became a worm like us! Is not Adonai Yeshua the Redeemer? Are there two Redeemers, or is there only One? Hear O Israel, YHWH our God, YHWH is One!
Our Messiah-like Mindset:
Have this attitude in yourselves, which also was in Messiah Yeshua, Who, though existing in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as a thing to be grasped.
But He emptied Himself – taking on the form of a slave, becoming the likeness of men, and being found in appearance as a man. He humbled Himself – becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
For this reason, God highly exalted Him and gave Him the Name that is above every name, that in the Name of Yeshua, every knee should bow, in heaven and on the earth and under the earth, and every tongue profess that Yeshua the Messiah is Lord (YHWH) – to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2:5-11
Do we identify Yeshua as Lord? In Greek, the word is ‘Kurios,’ the title for YHWH. How often do we call Him “Adonai Yeshua”? Will you profess that Adonai Yeshua is YHWH?
But He gives greater grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” Therefore submit to God. But resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded! Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned into mourning, and your joy into gloom. Humble yourselves in the sight of Adonai, and He shall lift you up. James 4:6-10
Raised Up With Him to Heavenly Places!
Abba raised our Master and King from His humble state to be high and lifted up, and His train fills the Temple!
Because the sinless Lamb of God entered into and took on our wretched, cursed state as sinners, we can now through faith in the Gospel of our Lord and Savior Yeshua, be raised up to be seated with Him in heavenly places!
But God was rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us. Even when we were dead in our trespasses, He made us alive together with the Messiah. (By grace you have been saved!) And He raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Messiah Yeshua. Ephesians 2:4-6
He is preparing a Bride to be without spot or wrinkle, a beautiful glorious Bride! May the Bride make herself ready for the soon-coming King, Adonai Yeshua!
That He (Messiah) might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the Word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that she should be holy and without blemish. Ephesians 5:26
All that was lost in the Garden of Eden, through our Adonai Yeshua Ha’Mashiyach, will be restored to even greater glory than Adam and Eve had! Get ready! He’s coming soon!
I also saw the holy city – the New Jerusalem – coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. Revelation 21:2
BaShem Adonai Yeshua,
David Klug