Numbers 20–21: On Two Funerals, Charles Spurgeon’s Conversion, and a Legion of Snake-Demon Lieutenants (Bible Talk, Ep. 49)
At this transition point in Numbers, Miriam and Aaron die, the people complain (again!), and Moses makes a grave error with even graver consequences. Oh, and there are also a fiery snakes. In this episode of Bible Talk, Alex Duke chats with Jim Hamilton and Sam Emadi about Numbers 20–21.
SHOW NOTES
1:31 / What kind of transition happens in the book of Numbers in chapter 20?
4:02 / What goes down at the waters of Meribah?
6:21 / How does Moses respond to Israel’s quarreling for lack of water?
8:21 / Why does the Lord’s punishment of Moses—that he shall not enter the Promised Land—fit his crime?
11:05 / What’s significant about the events that surround the death of Aaron?
14:55 / Jim walks through the story of the bronze serpent.
19:18 / If preaching on this episode in Israel’s history, what would you say pastorally to your people?
22:13 / Israel has turned the bronze serpent into an idol by 2 Kings 18.
23:44 / How does the story of the bronze serpent better help us understand the most famous verse in the Bible?
26:33 / How does Numbers transition in chapter 21 to prepare us for the detailed story of Balaam?
RAPID-FIRE QUESTION
29:21 / In Numbers 21:14, Moses refers to a song that’s quoted in the Book of the Wars of the Lord. Is that a Roman Catholic Apocrypha book?
Artwork: The Brazen Serpent, by Anthony van Dyck
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