The Nehushtan...

"I, If I BE LIFTED UP FROM THE EARTH,
WILL DRAW ALL MEN UNTO ME."
by

Rev. Leon W. Mohammed, Jr.

Genesis through Malachi provide us with historical events, metaphors, allegories, and types and shadows. These form a thesis, antithetical and metathetical points of view when studying the Holy Texts. The Hebrew sages were brilliant in their investigation of the scriptures, employing a unique method when studying the Word of God. Their process used to decipher the Torah and the fulfillment of the Logos is called pardes, the Hebrew word for Garden. Taken as an acronym, pardes demonstrates four levels of interpretation: 1) the peshat or primary and obvious level of understanding that is achieved by reading the text literally and understanding it from a panoramic and all-inclusive frame of reference; 2) the remez level produces a philosophical and allegorical understanding where a familiarity with the Bible enables one to locate and understand Scripture without having the whole story, as it were, "He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit is saying"; 3) The drosh deals with the parables and riddles contained in the Book and is known as the regal level in lieu of the understanding from prophecy that Israel would one day produce the King of kings; and 4) The sodh level that is similar to the drosh in that it is prophetic, however, unlike the drosh in that it is a prophetic level not of this world (in the spiritual realm).

This truth is amply demonstrated in the prophetic declaration of John 3:14; 12:32: ". . . And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up. . ."; ". . . I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me . . . this he said signifying what death he should die . . ." Later Israel made an icon, then an idol of the brazen serpent, prompting Hezekiah to destroy it: ". . . He removed the high places, and brake the images, and cut down the groves, and brake in pieces the brazen serpent that Moses had made: for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it: and he called it Nehushtan . . ." (2Kings 18:4). Nehushtan is defined by Gesenius (p. 545) as a thing that is ignoble, impure, a base metal.

"I, if I be lifted up from the earth." These were the words spoken by Jesus to show forth the crucifixion and the victory of the cross. "Lifted" is hupsoo in the Greek. Thayer’s (p. 647) defines it as being exalted to show the victory over death. This, of course, was accomplished by Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection. Messiah’s referred to Moses was a type and shadow of the event on Golgotha (Hebrews 10:1). " . . . for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. . . " (1 Corinthians 2:8).

"Search the Scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: andthey are they which testify of me. . ." (John 5:39). Here, hashmauwth, the Hebrew word for search means "an announcement or to cause to hear." It comes from the primary root word, shema, which means to hear intelligently. It is a privilege and honor to search out a subject in the Holy Scrolls. Spirituality and intellect must be applied when we investigate a matter. The Word is Spirit and life. The influence of the Holy Spirit is essential when we undertake our substratum etymologically "digging" into the Word. One must also be more concerned with finding the truth than "being right."

Using the principles of pardes, we can more fully understand the Nehushtan.

Peshat: In Numbers 21 the historical account of Nehustan is given. The Israelites were traveling from Mount Hor by way of the Red Sea when they began to murmur about the food that God had provided. The result was that venomous serpents appeared among them causing the death of many of the murmurers. When the people repented of their blasphemy, God instructed Moses to forge a serpent of bronze and put it on a pole so that anyone who was snake-bitten could gaze upon it and live.

Remez: In the light of the historical events, Nehushtan hinted as a type and shadow of the crucifixion and deliverance provided by the Messiah’s perfect sacrifice. The Nehushtan is a metaphor for Calvary wherein people who were poisoned by sin would be delivered by the One who was lifted up on the cross.

Drosh: The burning of incense and worshipping of Nehushtan was an antithetical prophetic shadow of a crucified and resurrected Messiah to whom we would pray for deliverance. It is also a revelation of our Messiah as High Priest after the order of Melchizedek (Hebrews 7:17).

Sodh: The story of Nehushtan has a deep revelation of Jesus, the Son of God, setting aside his divine nature and putting on the likeness of sin, personified in the brazen serpent. It was said of him that God made him to be sin for us who knew no sin so that we might become the righteousness of God through him (2 Corinthians 5:21). Before he cloaked himself in the likeness of sinful flesh, Jesus was adorned in the divine glory.

There is a deeper revelation within the story of Nehushtan concerning the ultimate adornment of those who look upon the cross of Calvary. "For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens . . ." (2Corinthians 5:1). One of the features of the body we will receive in the resurrection is that like Jesus’ glorified body we will be able to change from matter to energy, just as Jesus was able to appear in a locked house.

Even now we possess a certain ability of energy and matter existing in us simultaneously. Consider our ability to process thinking and learning through the electrical currents that flow through our brains. In the fall of Adam, however, when the first man yielded his mind and body to the will of ha-Satan, God made for Adam and Eve coats of skin. The Hebrew for skin is our with one definition being "the skin of man" (Gesenius 615).

A translation from the Sepher ha-Aggadot: A Collection of Legends in the Talmud and Midrashim (by Haim Nahman Bialik) suggests that the garment/clothing given to Adam (mankind) before the fall was the "skin of fingernail" (translucence) and a cloud of glory (luminosity) that covered him. Because he ate from the fruit of the tree, the "fingernail" skin fell from him and the cloud of glory lifted from him, and he saw himself naked.

Isaiah 46:10 says that God declares the end from the beginning. If this is true, then we can declare the beginning from the end. One could call this divine symmetry. Beings of light there were, and beings of light there will be. Our Messiah voluntarily left his glory and came in the likeness of sinful flesh to lift us up to his glory and likeness. He came to restore us to his image. He became Nehushtan (a thing of brass) so that we might live in glory. "Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body. . ." (Philippians 3:21).

"And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole. . ." The word pole gives us an interesting metaphorical connection. "Pole" in Hebrew is the word nec, which means a flag, a sail, implicating a flag staff, in general a signal, figuratively a token, banner, ensign, sign, standard. It comes from the prime root nacac, which means to gleam from afar, to be a conspicuous signal. The "pole" has the idea of being a flag fluttering in the wind. It is also a beacon that is raised. As Jesus was crucified, a superscription was written over him in Greek, Latin, and Hebrew: "This is the King of the Jews," a virtual banner proclaiming God’s love and salvation.

Praise God for the Messiah who became our propitiation and paid the debt we owed. And as the children of Israel who gazed upon the brazen serpent in the wilderness and were healed, so must we gaze upon our Risen Savior. The Apostle Paul said, "I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus . . ." (Philippians 3:14). Let us look upon him and be conformed to his image crucifying the flesh daily and living in his resurrection power.

Rev. Leon W. Mohammed, a founding board member of Restoration Foundation, has become an authority on the application of the Judaic heritage of the Christian church to matters of the scientific world. He is presently engaged in research for a book analyzing the the working of God’s Word in the material and spiritual realms. His challenging and enlightening teaching has inspired audiences in various faith communions. Leon lives in Asheville, North Carolina.

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