Numbers 21:9 (WEB)
Moses made a serpent of bronze, and set it on the pole. If a serpent had bitten any man, when he looked at the serpent of bronze, he lived.
Catechism · 1
“Nevertheless, already in the Old Testament, God ordained or permitted the making of images that pointed symbolically toward salvation by the incarnate Word: so it was with the bronze serpent, the ark of the covenant, and the cherubim.” — Catechism footnote: Cf. Num 21:4-9; Wis 16:5-14; Jn 3:14-15; Ex 25:10-22; 1 Kings 6:23-28; 7:23-26.
Fathers and councils · 9
Tertullian
“…anything,” set forth a brazen serpent, placed on a “tree,” in a hanging posture, for a spectacle of healing to Israel, at the time when, after their idolatry, they were suffering extermination by serpents, except that in this case he was exhibiting the Lord’s cross on which the “serpent” the devil was “made a show…” — editor's note: Their sin was “speaking against God and against Moses” (Num. xxi. 4–9).
Read the whole comment“The form, however, of the brazen serpent which the Lord afterwards commanded Moses to make, afforded no pretext for idolatry, but was meant for the cure of those who were plagued with the fiery serpents.” — editor's note: Num. xxi. 8, 9.
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Cyril of Jerusalem
“This was the figure which Moses completed by fixing the serpent to a cross, that whoso had been bitten by the living serpent, and looked to the brasen serpent, might be saved by believing.” — editor's note: Num. xxi. 9; John iii. 14. The Jerusalem Editor asks, “How did Moses complete the figure by fixing the serpent to a cross? First he set up the wood and fixed…
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Augustine of Hippo
“A serpent was lifted up in the desert, in order that it might cure of the poison him that was smitten.” — editor's note: Numb. xxi. 9.
Read the whole comment“…kind, for the mere purpose; so as either to continue a little while in existence, as that brazen serpent was able to do which was lifted up in the wilderness, and as written records are able to do likewise; or so as to pass away after having accomplished its ministry, as the bread made for the purpose is consumed in…” — editor's note: Num. xxi. 9
Read the whole comment“This was done: men were bitten; they looked and were healed.” — editor's note: Num. xxi. 6–9.
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Jerome
“As Moses in a type so he in reality is lifting up the serpent in the wilderness.” — editor's note: Nu. xxi. 9.
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Basil the Great
“The manna is a type of the living bread that came down from heaven; and the serpent on the standard, of the passion of salvation accomplished by means of the cross, wherefore they who even looked thereon were preserved.” — editor's note: σημεῖον, as in the LXX. cf. Numb. xxi. 9 and John iii. 14.
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Gregory of Nazianzus
“But that brazen serpent was hung up as a remedy for the biting serpents, not as a type of Him that suffered for us, but as a contrast; and it saved those that looked upon it, not…” — editor's note: Num. xxi. 9.
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Cross-references · 6
Cited together in The Five Books Against Marcion II.22.
Cited together in The Five Books Against Marcion II.22.
Cited together in The Five Books Against Marcion II.22.
Cited together in The Five Books Against Marcion II.22.
Cited together in The Five Books Against Marcion II.22.
Cited together in The Five Books Against Marcion II.22.