The Bronze
Snake
Numbers 21: 4-9 (NIV) says . . .
The Bronze Snake
4 They traveled from Mount Hor along the route to the Red
Sea, 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.
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.
Jesus later explained (see John 3:14 & 15) that just
as the Israelites were healed of their sickness by looking at the snake on the
pole, all believers today can be saved from the sickness of sin by looking to
Jesus’ death and resurrection. It wasn’t the snake on pole that healed the
people, but their belief that God could heal them.
I’ll take 1,000 mg dose of the Holy Spirit over any drug
— any day.
And here is the change that the “LEFT”
made.
Why Is the Medical
Symbol a Snake on a Stick?
By Remy Melina | March 9, 2011 01:22pm ET
Credit: sdcity.edu
The image of serpents wrapped around a staff is a
familiar one in the medical field, decorating pharmaceutical packaging and
hospitals alike. Snakes bites are generally bad news, and so the animal might
seem ill-fitting as the symbol of the medical profession, but the ancient
emblem actually has a quite a story behind it.
There are actually two versions of the symbol. The winged
version is known as a caduceus, andthe stick is actually a staff that was
carried by the Olympian god Hermes. In Greek mythology, Hermes was a messenger
between the gods and humans (which explains the wings) and a guide to the
underworld (which explains the staff). Hermes was also the patron of travelers,
which makes his connection to medicine appropriate because, in the olden days, doctors
had to travel great distances by foot in order to visit their patients.
In one version of Hermes' myth, he is given the staff by
Apollo, the god of healing . In
another version, he receives the staff from Zeus, the king of the gods, and it
is entwined with two white ribbons. The ribbons were later replaced by
serpents, as one story tells that Hermes used the stick to separate two fighting snakes
, who then coiled around his staff and remained there in balanced harmony.
Another, earlier depiction of the medical symbol is the
staff of Asclepius, thought it has no wings and only one snake. The son of Apollo
and the human princess Coronis, Asclepius is the Greek demigod of medicine .
According to mythology, he was able to restore the health of the sick and bring
the dead back to life.
In one telling, Zeus killed Asclepius with a thunderbolt
for disrupting the natural order of the world by reviving the dead, while
another version states that Zeus killed him as punishment for accepting money
in exchange for conducting a resurrection. After he died, Zeus placed Asclepius
among the stars as the constellation Ophiuchus, or "the serpent
bearer."
The Greeks regarded snakes as sacred and used them in
healing rituals to honor Asclepius, as snake venom was thought to be remedial
and their skin-shedding was viewed as a symbol of rebirth and renewal. Which is
a good thing to keep in mind the next time you spot a medical alert bracelet
featuring the seemingly sinister serpents.
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