Commentaria in Numeros
These serpents are called fiery, not because they were fire by nature, but from the effect, that by their bite they induced so great heat that the bitten seemed to themselves to be burned; which Pliny therefore calls praesteres: for these in Greek are the same as seraphim in Hebrew; whence Vatablus translates burning: the Hebrew is seraphim, by which name the first order of angels is called, from the ardour of charity. These serpents God raised up from the very desert of Arabia: for there, as also in Libya, they abound. Whence Deuteronomy 8:15 says: “Who was thy leader in the great and terrible wilderness, wherein there was the serpent burning with his breath, and the scorpion, and the dipsas.” Hence also Cato in Lucan, book IX, says of the serpents of the Libyan desert:
“Serpent, thirst, heat—let sweet things wither: patience delights in hard things.”
Moreover historians relate that serpents, or dragons, have sometimes been seen to be fiery, that is, such as vomited fire. Leslie, in his Scotland, in the year of the Lord 1558, relates that in the March and at Landau a certain dragon vomited such fires that it set on fire the crops and fruits with them; wherefore the husbandmen had to keep watch continually to extinguish them.
Note: They are fittingly punished by serpents who imitate the venom of serpents. For murmurers and detractors “have sharpened their tongues like a serpent’s,” says the Psalmist, and bite in secret like a serpent. Justly therefore the serpent rules over them like an executioner. On the contrary, the humble, meek and obedient Antony the serpents feared and fled, as St. Athanasius testifies in his Life. And the serpent Boas obeyed the pious St. Hilarion: for when it was swallowing men and oxen (whence it is called Boas), St. Hilarion bade “a pyre be prepared, and, a prayer to Christ having been sent forth, he commanded the summoned beast to climb the heap of wood; presently he himself set fire beneath, and burned up the huge beast,” says St. Jerome in his Life.
So Abbot Paul held asps, serpents and scorpions in his unhurt hands, and cut them through the middle. Asked how he had received this grace, he answered: “If a man possess purity, all things are made subject to him, as Adam, when he was in paradise before the transgression of the divine commandment,” as is related in the Lives of the Fathers, book VI, title 2,
8. MAKE A BRAZEN SERPENT.—In Hebrew, make a saraph serpent (whence the seraphim already mentioned in verse 6), that is, a fiery serpent. Why brazen?
that is, one that has the likeness of a fiery and burning serpent, such as a serpent fashioned of brass is: for brass glows, or rather reddens, like fire. So Vatablus. Secondly, it was made of brass: for if it had been made of gold or silver it would have been of enormous and immense value: for it lasted long, as I shall presently say.
AND SET IT UP FOR A SIGN.—In Hebrew, set it upon a standard (for this the Hebrew nes signifies), as if to say: Set it upon a spear or standard-pole, that it may be like a sign and ensign, which may be seen by all. Whence it follows that this brazen serpent must have been enormous, and set up very high, and, as Christ says, lifted up, namely that through the whole camp, which was very vast and easily extended six miles, it might be seen by the wounded on every side. For, WHOSOEVER BEING STRUCK (by the fiery serpents) SHALL LOOK ON IT, SHALL LIVE, that is, he shall be preserved in life and healed. Not that this brazen serpent had any natural power of curing them: for that is impossible, as Abulensis fully demonstrates here; but that God, this sign being seen, miraculously cured them. This serpent was therefore at once the sign and the moral instrument of this cure.
A brazen serpent was a fitting sign, rather than an ox or a sheep: because the Hebrews had been bitten, not by oxen or sheep, but by serpents, and those fiery; and brass has a fiery colour, and is melted by fire.
Allegorically, and this is the chief cause, the serpent raised on a wood signified Christ lifted on the cross as one guilty and criminal, by looking on whom, through faith and contrition, we are healed of the deadly bites of sins. For as this serpent had the form of a serpent, but not the venom, so Christ took the form of a sinner, but not sin; for this is what Christ says of himself, John 3:14: “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of man be lifted up (on the cross), that whosoever believeth in him may not perish, but may have life everlasting.” So Theodoret, Question 39, and Nyssen, On the Life of Moses, before the end, and St. Augustine, sermon 101 De Tempore, and Tertullian, On Idolatry, chapter 5: “The image,” he says, “of the brazen serpent hung up pointed out the figure of the Lord’s cross, which was to free us from serpents, that is, from the angels of the devil, while by itself it hung up the devil, that is, the serpent, slain.” Whence also the ancient Hebrews taught that the bite brought upon Adam and upon us by the old serpent was to be healed in the days of the Messias. “Be not ashamed,” says St. Bernard, “to see the serpent hanging on the gibbet, if you wish to see the king sitting on his throne.”
St. Antony the Great, a champion against the assaults of demons, being asked by his disciples what arms would most strongly and surely repel diabolical attacks, answered: “The sign of the cross, and a faith burning toward Christ, are an impregnable and brazen wall for men consecrated to God against the machinations of demons.” St. Athanasius is witness in his Life. Blessed Magdalen, doing penance in her cave, tempted by the apparitions of demons, invoked Jesus. St. Michael was present and put them to flight, and set up a cross at the mouth of the cave, saying: “Fear not, the Most High is thy keeper.” Embracing the cross, therefore, and praying at the cross, and contemplating in it Christ her salvation, she did penance there happily and piously for thirty years.
“The Parasceve is for us the cause of all happiness: this freed us from the blindness of error; this restored us from darkness to light; this brought the conquered to rest; this joined strangers to God; this showed pilgrims to be citizens. This is the cutting off of discord, this the firmness of peace, this the abundant bestowal of all gifts. Today the cross is fixed, and the world is sanctified. Today the cross is fixed, and the demons are scattered. Today the cross is fixed, and death is overthrown. Today the cross has conquered, and death is conquered. Today the devil is bound, man is loosed, and God is glorified.” The same, book On Virgins: “Look,” he says, “upon the wounds of him that hangs, the blood of him that dies, the price of him that redeems, the scars of him that rises. He has his head inclined to kiss, his heart opened to love, his arms stretched out to embrace, his whole body exposed to redeem. Think how great these things are, weigh them in the balance of your heart, that he may be wholly fixed in your heart who was wholly fixed for us on the cross.”
Piously St. Bernard, sermon 15 on the Canticle: “How sweetly, Lord Jesus,” he says, “hast thou lived among men! how abundantly hast thou bestowed many great goods on men! how bravely hast thou suffered for men things so unworthy, so bitter and hard! hard words, harder blows, hardest torments. O hard and hardened and obdurate sons of Adam, whom so great a flame does not soften, so great a kindness, so vast a fire of love, so ardent a lover, who for worthless baggage laid out so precious wares!” The same, sermon on the Passion of the Lord: “In the Passion of the Lord,” he says, “three things in particular it is fitting to behold: the work, the manner, the cause. For in the work patience is commended, in the manner humility, in the cause charity: patience singular, humility admirable, but charity inestimable.”
St. Augustine adds that this serpent was of brass, to signify, first, the divinity and eternity of Christ: for brass is most hard, incorruptible, and as it were eternal; secondly, the brightness and glory of the cross of Christ, which has pervaded all nations: for brazen vessels, among all metals, are wont to give the greatest sound and ring; thirdly, the fiery charity both of God and of Christ on the cross, as much in sorrow as in love of us burned and roasted; for this brazen serpent was a saraph, that is, fiery, as I said. And this is what St. John, chapter 3, verse 16, presently adds, saying: “For God so loved the world, as to give his only begotten Son; that whosoever believeth in him may not perish, but may have life everlasting.” In which words each several one supplies a new proof and incentive of love, as is plain. Christ crucified, therefore, is a saraph, that is, fiery, burning, kindling and consuming us with his charity. “Fitly, therefore, the brazen serpent was hung on a wood, that the Lord might be signified both as dead in the serpent and as eternal in the brass; namely, that he might be shown dead through humility, and as it were brazen through divinity,” says St. Ambrose Ansbert, book V on the Apocalypse, after the beginning.