The Bronze Serpent

The Epistle of Barnabas, an early Christian writing, reads the plague in the wilderness as a sign: since transgression came through the serpent, serpents were allowed to bite, to show the people that they were given over to death for transgression. It sets the bronze figure beside the prohibition of images as a type of Jesus.

For since transgression was committed by Eve through means of the serpent, [the Lord] brought it to pass that every [kind of] serpents bit them, and they died, that He might convince them, that on account of their transgression they were given over to the straits of death. Moreover Moses, when he commanded, “Ye shall not have any graven or molten [image] for your God,” did so that he might reveal a type of Jesus.

Justin Martyr, in his Dialogue with Trypho, answers a Jewish objector who says the bronze serpent breaks the commandment against images. The God who forbade likenesses ordered this one, as a sign by which the bitten were saved. It bears on the literal question of how the two commands stand together.

For tell me, was it not God who commanded by Moses that no image or likeness of anything which was in heaven above or which was on the earth should be made, and yet who caused the brazen serpent to be made by Moses in the wilderness, and set it up for a sign by which those bitten by serpents were saved? Yet is He free from unrighteousness.

Tertullian, in Against Marcion, argues that the form of the brazen serpent afforded no pretext for idolatry, since it was made for the cure of those plagued with fiery serpents. He leaves aside what the cure figured. It bears on the literal question of the prohibition of likenesses.

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. I say nothing of what was figured by this cure.

Augustine, Doctor of the Church, in his twelfth Tractate on John describes the plague as the stroke of God correcting his people, and says it was a figure of a thing to come, as the Lord himself testifies in the Gospel. It reads the event as both chastisement and sign.

The people Israel were fallen helplessly in the wilderness by the bite of serpents; they suffered a great calamity by many deaths: for it was the stroke of God correcting and scourging them that He might instruct them. In this was shown a great mystery, the figure of a thing to come: the Lord Himself testifies in this passage, so that no man can give another interpretation than that which the truth indicates concerning itself.

Augustine, in the City of God, recalls that the bronze serpent, preserved in memory of the event, was afterwards worshipped as an idol and destroyed by King Hezekiah. It bears on the literal sequel: how a holy sign came to be abused.

It was this serpent which was preserved in memory of this event, and was afterwards worshipped by the mistaken people as an idol, and was destroyed by the pious and God-fearing king Hezekiah, much to his credit.

The Roman Catechism, issued after the Council of Trent for pastors, explains the first commandment. Since God himself commanded images of the Cherubim and the brazen serpent, the commandment forbids images only as used for adoration as deities. It reads the serpent as an image that God commanded.

Let no one think that this Commandment entirely forbids the arts of painting, engraving or sculpture. The Scriptures inform us that God Himself commanded to be made images of Cherubim, and also the brazen serpent. The interpretation, therefore, at which we must arrive, is that images are prohibited only inasmuch as they are used as deities to receive adoration, and so to injure the true worship of God.

Cornelius a Lapide, the seventeenth-century Jesuit exegete, comments in his exposition of 1 Corinthians on the fiery serpents. They were not of a fiery nature, but named from the heat of their bite and breath. It bears on the literal sense: what the people suffered.

These fiery serpents are not so called because they were of a fiery nature, for this is repugnant to their true nature, but from the effect of their bite and the heat of their breath: these caused such a heat in those who were bitten that they seemed to be burning.

Haydock’s annotation, citing Calmet, places the episode in the journey after Edom refused the Israelites a passage. They went by Salmona to Phunon, where they probably murmured and were bitten. It sets the incident in the order of the wanderings.

Ver. 4. Edom, one of the princes, had refused them a passage; upon which they went by Salmona to Phunon, (chap. xxxiii. 37, 42,) where they probably murmured, (chap. v.,) and were bitten by the serpents, as we read in this chapter. (Calmet)

Haydock’s annotation, citing Challoner, says the serpents were called fiery because those bitten were burnt with a violent heat, and relates them to the name seraphim. It adds a note on the Egyptian cult of a serpent. It bears on the literal meaning of the word.

Fiery serpents. They are so called, because they that were bitten by them were burnt with a violent heat. (Challoner) --- Hence they are called seraphim, by which name an order of angels is known. The Egyptians adored a serpent which they called serapis, at Rome; and they represented their god serapis, with a serpent entwining a monstrous figure, composed of a lion, a dog, and a wolf.

Haydock’s annotation observes that the Hebrew reads “fiery” where the Vulgate has “brazen,” so the figure may have been a seraph on a standard, resembling one suspended on a cross. It notes that Ezechias destroyed it when it was abused. It joins the literal detail to the later history.

Brazen. Hebrew, “fiery.” But in the following verse, it is said to have been “of brass.” We might translate, “make a seraph, and fix it upon a standard,” (Calmet) in which form it would resemble one suspended on a cross. It was placed at the entrance of the tabernacle. (St. Justin Martyr, First Apology) Ezechias afterwards destroyed it, because it was treated with superstitious honours, 4 Kings xviii. 4. Thus the best things are often abused. (Haydock)

The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that already in the Old Testament God ordained or permitted images that pointed symbolically toward salvation by the incarnate Word, among them the bronze serpent. It reads the episode as an image commanded by God that points toward Christ.

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.