The Brass Serpent

One of the challenges the children of Israel faced during their sojourn in the wilderness was poisonous snakes. As they journeyed around the land of Edom, complaining as they went, “the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died” (Numbers 21:6).

Moses prayed for the people, and God gave him an unexpected solution: “Make thee a fiery serpent,” He said, “and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live.” So “Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived” (Numbers 21:8-9).

Easy, right? Problem solved? Not according to Nephi. Relating this story to his brothers, he added an important detail. “The labor which they had to perform was to look,” he said; “and because of the simpleness of the way, or the easiness of it, there were many who perished” (1 Nephi 17:41). Looking at a sculpture might not seem hard, but according to Nephi, that’s the point. It was a hard problem with the simplest of solutions. Many of the Israelites rejected the solution because it seemed too easy.

So lesson number one from the brass serpent: Don’t ignore or reject simple solutions to challenging problems.

Alma elaborated on this event as he preached to the Zoramites. What Moses raised up in the wilderness was a type, a symbol of the Son of God, he said. “But few understood the meaning of those things, and this because of the hardness of their hearts.” Those people “were so hardened that they would not look.” Why not at least give it a try? “The reason they would not look,” he explained, “is because they did not believe that it would heal them” (Alma 33:20).

It reminds me of Laman and Lemuel. When Nephi asked if they had prayed about their questions, they replied, “We have not; for the Lord maketh no such thing known unto us” (1 Nephi 15:9). It seems irrational, but if we’ve already made up our minds something won’t work, then we may be unwilling to try. There may even be a kind of perverse confirmation bias in this thought pattern. We may not want to risk being proven wrong.

But Alma pleaded with the Zoramites not to fall into this trap. “If ye could be healed by merely casting about your eyes that ye might be healed, would ye not behold quickly? … Cast about your eyes and begin to believe in the Son of God” (Alma 33:21-22).

Alma used the same language when he later taught his son Helaman about the Liahona. Even though he doesn’t mention the serpent in this passage, the echo is unmistakable.

…so was it prepared for them, that if they would look they might live; even so it is with us. The way is prepared, and if we will look we may live forever.

Alma 37:46

The second lesson: Overcome your fears by acting in faith. Don’t be too sure of your doubts.

About 50 years later, Alma’s great-grandson Nephi again referenced this story. Like Alma, he saw the serpent as a symbol of Christ, and he made the parallel even more vivid:

As [Moses] lifted up the brazen serpent in the wilderness, even so shall he be lifted up who should come. And as many as should look upon that serpent should live, even so as many as should look upon the Son of God with faith, having a contrite spirit, might live, even unto that life which is eternal.

Helaman 8:14-15

The Savior Himself would make that same visual comparison during His conversation with Nicodemus: “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:14-15; see also John 12:32; 3 Nephi 27:14).

So the third lesson from the story is this: Just as the Israelites were physically healed by looking up to the serpent, we can be spiritually healed by looking up to the Savior.

The symbolism of the cross is powerful. He was lifted up, violently and painfully, so that He could lift us up, joyfully and gloriously. But to receive that blessing, we have to look up.

Today, I will remember the lessons of the brass serpent. I will be open to simple solutions. I will question my doubts. And I will turn my thoughts to the Savior, knowing that He has the power to lift me up and heal me.