The following comes from the famous Cursus Scripturae Sacrae ("Course on Sacred Scripture") volume on Numbers, authored by Fr. Franz von Hummelauer, S.J. This series was compiled between 1880-1920 by various Jesuit scholars, mostly teachers at the Gregorian in Rome. Fr. Hummelauer and Fr. Rudolph Cornely were the primary contributors to the series. The purpose of the series was to provide original commentaries on the Scripture, employing Historical‑critical exegesis (within Catholic orthodoxy), philology, textual criticism, engagement with contemporary scholarship. It should not be confused with the series Scripturae Sacrae Cursus Completus ("Complete Course on Sacred Scripture"). This series was compiled and published by Fr. Jacques-Paul Migne in the 1830's and 40's. In provided commentaries on the books of Scripture ranging from the Early Church through the Early Modern Period. The following was translated by Qwen.
Franz von Hummelauer's Commentary on Numbers 21:4-9
II. From Mount Hor to the Borders of the Amorrites (Numbers 21:4-20)
Summary of the Passage:
"On the journey from Mount Hor to the Red Sea, to go around the borders of Edom, certain murmurings of the people were punished by a plague of venomous serpents. God commands a bronze serpent to be erected on high, gazing upon which, those who had been bitten were healed by merit of their faith."
Exegetical Discussion:
Explaining this pericope, interpreters gather many ingenious points; some speak of the serpent held by the ancients as a symbol of the deity of healing, etc. Since these things are not sufficiently certain in themselves, they confuse the text more than they elucidate it. For although one or another of the ancient nations venerated the serpent as a symbol of life or of the deity itself, nevertheless, that this symbol was common to all before or after the Flood is demonstrated by no probable argument. The serpent was indeed a symbol of healing among the Greeks and Romans, and was sacred to Aesculapius, but this accomplishes nothing for the Mosaic age. Cf. P. Scholz, Götzendienst u. Zauberwesen [Idolatry and Sorcery], etc., Regensburg 1877, p. 101 sqq.
Adherence to the Sacred Text:
We adhere to the sacred text. Therefore, when the Hebrews, in the plague of serpents, had recourse to God for salvation, God did not remove the entire plague—which He had done in the Egyptian plagues at the intercession of Moses—nor did He permit it to be removed by the word or prayer of Moses, who had previously fallen away from faith, but He provided some visible sign of salvation which would restore health to those beholding it with faith and trust. For "he who turned himself was not healed by what he saw, but by You, the Savior of all" (Wisdom 16:7).
The Nature of the Sign:
This sign ought to be present to all everywhere, since the virulence of the poison would not endure delays; it ought to be of such size that it could be discerned even from afar. Therefore, Moses erected that sign on a pole (pertica) by God's command. The article is ignored by the LXX, Chaldee, and Syriac. It was not like a military or royal standard, for individual armies had their own standards, but like a warning sign (cf. Num 26:10).
Symbolism of the Serpent:
God chose a sign of that form from which the plague also proceeded. Just as God had decreed to redeem through man those whom man had lost, and to repair through wood the damage proceeding from wood, so He decreed to heal the evil inflicted by serpents through the likeness of a bronze serpent. Nor should you think this likeness of a serpent was less apt because the devil deceived man through a serpent in paradise; for if man and wood, which themselves had conspired in man's ruin, were assumed as instruments of salvation, why should not a serpent also be assumed?
The Second Commandment:
The narrative clearly shows that, according to the mind of God, Moses, and the Hebrews of that age, this was the sense of the commandment (Exodus 20:4 sqq.): that only those images were forbidden to be made which were made to be adored. Otherwise, God, by ordering the bronze serpent to be made for Moses and the people, would have been an occasion for transgressing His commandment. This serpent was made by God's command to avert a certain evil for a certain time.
Later History and Superstition:
Nor is it surprising that the Hebrews kept it reverently, indeed afterward sought relief from various evils from it superstitiously, whence the pious king Hezekiah broke it in pieces (2 Kings 18:4). It had the appellation Nehushtan (נחשתן), surely contracted from Nachash (serpent) and Nechosheth (bronze). Absurdly, some recent scholars proclaim the bronze serpent to be a vestige of some ophiolatry [serpent-worship] to which the elect stock had formerly indulged. This is asserted quite gratuitously; if the elect stock had ever been infected with such superstition, certainly God would not have chosen the form of a serpent for granting salvation to the wretched.
Geographical Notes:
Up to that point, the Hebrews had their camp at the roots of Mount Hor. Thence, some part of the people attacked the Canaanites (v. 3), for I do not think the whole people proceeded to avenge the calamity inflicted on some (14:44). The Hebrews now proceed by the way of the Red Sea (Via Maris Suph) toward that region. The expression is the same as 14:25. Cf. what we shall say on 33:37.
Num 21:4: "They set forward also from mount Hor by the way of the Red Sea, to compass the land of Edom."
Those who have attempted to describe the itinerary of the Hebrews, e.g., F. v. Riess, Bibel Atlas, Freiburg i. B. 1895, deduce them almost from Kadesh or Sephaath toward the east until they descend at Ain el Webe into Wady el Arabah—that depression which extends from the Dead Sea to the Aelanitic Gulf [Gulf of Aqaba]—and thence dismiss them to the head of that gulf. But since the borders of the Edomites (20:16) extended up to near Kadesh, and the Edomites undoubtedly obtained Mount Seir (Deut 2:4), that itinerary would have led the Hebrews through the midst of the Edomites' borders, which would be contrary to Num 20:20. I believe, therefore, that the Hebrews sought the head of the Aelanitic Gulf straight from Kadesh, to which itinerary Deut 8:15 is consonant: "who led you through the great and terrible wilderness, in which were fiery serpents and scorpions, and drought, where there was no water."
The Murmuring:
Num 21:5: "And the people began to be weary of the way and of the labor... And they spoke against God and Moses..."
The Hebrew says "their soul was abbreviated" [impatientia abrepta est]; cf. Ex 6:9. "There is no bread, nor are there waters; our soul now loathes this most light food" [manna]. All texts have Elohim (אלהים); that word could have entered in place of Yahweh (יהוה) by the error of some scribe in very ancient times. Nevertheless, a probable reason for its use here can also be assigned. From Lev 24:15 sqq., the Hebrews knew that blasphemy uttered against the true God by the name Yahweh was punished far more gravely than when called by another name. These murmurers, therefore, taught by prior plagues, religiously abstained from pronouncing the name Yahweh. I believe this entire murmuration was something lighter than those to which the Hebrews had formerly indulged. The number of those who perished by the bites of serpents is not written (cf. 16:49).
The Serpents:
The serpents do not seem to have infested the camp constantly; otherwise, there would not have been time for casting the bronze serpent, but perhaps only in the evening and at night. This again is perhaps the reason for the use of bronze, because polished it shines even at night while the moon and stars pour forth their light.
Num 21:6: "Wherefore the Lord sent among the people fiery serpents..."
I.e., whose bite caused inflammation. There are very many uraei and asps in the Sinai region, serpents most venomous. Cf. Judith 8:25 regarding the plagues and deaths of many.
Num 21:7: "They came to Moses and said: We have sinned because we have spoken against the Lord and you..."
Although perhaps the name Yahweh was not invoked. "Pray that He take away the serpents from us."
Num 21:8: "And the Lord said to him: Make a fiery serpent, and set it for a sign..."
I.e., upon a pole. "He who is struck and looks upon it shall live."
Num 21:9: "Moses therefore made a bronze serpent and set it for a sign..."
Christological Typology:
"…whom when they that were bitten beheld, they were healed." (John 3:14 sqq.)
"And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him may not perish but have eternal life."
By these words, Christ pronounces the bronze serpent to be a type of Himself. Both are lifted up: that one on a pole, this One on the cross. To both men look with faith; through both they are saved: the Hebrews indeed from temporal death inflicted by serpents, Christians from eternal death inflicted by the ancient serpent.
Patristic Witness:
The Fathers and interpreters recognized the type expressed by Christ Himself:
Justin, Apol. I pro Christianis and Dial. c. Tryph. (Migne 6, 418, 702)
Theodoret
Procopius
Tertullian, Liber de Idololatria cap. 5; Adv. Marcion. III, 18; Adv. Judaeos cap. 10 (Migne 1, 667; 2, 347, 628)
Ambrose, Apologia Prophetae David cap. 3 (Migne 14, 856)
[Pseudo-]Ambrose, De 42 Mansionibus, Mansion 34 (Migne 17, 34)
Jerome
Prosper of Aquitaine, Liber de Promiss. et Praedict. Dei cap. 11 (Migne 51, 780)
St. Maximus of Turin, Homil. 49 (Migne 57, 340)
Augustine, De Peccatorum Meritis I, 32 (Migne 24, 145)
And interpreters of the Gospel of St. John universally.
Notes on Translation:
Mare Rubrum: Translated as "Red Sea" following the Vulgate, though Hummelauer's geographical notes indicate the Gulf of Aqaba (Aelanitic Gulf).
Pertica: Translated as "pole" or "staff."
Migne (M): References to Jacques-Paul Migne's Patrologia Latina or Graeca.
Nehushtan: Transliterated from the Hebrew נחשתן.
Ophiolatry: Serpent-worship.
Elohim/Yahweh: Hummelauer discusses the textual variant between the generic "God" and the divine name "Lord."
CONTINUE
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