Thank you for the question on the brass serpent, “Why did God choose a brass serpent that was raised on a pole for the Israelites to look upon for their healing when it could have been a lamb or a dove? Book of Numbers Chapter 21 verse 8,9.”
The context of Numbers 21:8–9 may provide some insight as to why God chose a brass serpent for the Israelites healing:
The text says this: “They traveled from Mount Hor along the route to the Red Sea,[c] to go around Edom. But the people grew impatient on the way; 5 they spoke against God and against Moses, and said, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!”
6 Then the LORD sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died. 7 The people came to Moses and said, “We sinned when we spoke against the LORD and against you. Pray that the LORD will take the snakes away from us.” So Moses prayed for the people.
8 The LORD said to Moses, “Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.” 9 So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, they lived” (NIV).
The biblical text does not state the reason why God chose a brass serpent, but here are some thoughts for one’s consideration:
A. The construction of the bronze snake on a pole was a reminder of their sin against the LORD.
B. The construction of the bronze snake was a lesson of faith. The Israelite who was bitten had two choices: to die by refusing to admit their grumbling against the LORD or to acknowledge their sin of grumbling by looking at the bronze snake for healing from the LORD.
C. The construction of the bronze snake was a symbol of God’s graciousness of forgiveness and healing without having the Israelite to bring an animal sacrifice for that sin.
D. The construction of the bronze snake was to show that God has triumph over the poisonous snake.
E. The construction of the bronze snake was to show that God has taken an object of death and turned it to an object of life.
The sacrifices of bulls, lambs and doves are for unintentional sins (Lev. 4). The sin by the Israelites were not unintentional but intentional. They knew what they were saying against God and they meant every word of it.
The construction of a lamb or dove would have falsely portray that their sin was unintentional. Thus the construction of any other animal type would be an inadequate representation of their sin.
SUMMARY: The construction of the bronze serpent was to represent their willful sin of grumbling and God’s gracious triumph over the poisonous snake.