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SYMBOLISM IN THE “SERPENT” (Num 21:6; John 3:14) When we read about “The Serpent” in the Torah/Bible, we are reminded of Satan. “The Devil is the Serpent.” 99% of the time, it DOES symbolize “HaSatan.” But what about the other 1%. If it isn’t HaSatan, then, who can it be? Are you thinking about Messiah? Really? Seriously? Well, let’s see. We read in the Torah when the people of Israel sinned and complained, that Adonai sent “fiery serpents” to bite the people. Some translations say that they were “Seraphim” angels of fire, or perhaps the “Seraphim” directed the serpents to bite the people. One can only wonder. Yet when the people repented, Adonai directed Moshe to erect a bronze serpent on a pole and whoever looked at it, would be healed of the serpent poison.(Numbers 21:6-9) In John 3:14, Yeshua speaks saying; “As Moshe lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so the Son of Man be lifted up.” Does this mean that the serpent, in this case, is Messiah? Or is the bronze serpent “likened” unto Messiah in being “lifted up?’ Here are some things to ponder on. The people were poisoned by the serpents’ bites, yet the same serpent on the pole, when looked at, healed the one looking at it. Scientists take snake venom and make serum out of it, so as to heal people who are bitten by that same snake. The venom that kills, is the venom that heals. In our case, sin kills, yet Messiah Yeshua carried our sins on the cross, so being filled with our sins, we who look and trust IN Him, who carried our sins, are healed! What else can we see? In Hebrew gematria. The words we look at are; “Nachash” (serpent) and “Mashiach” (Messiah). When we add up the number values, they both equal “358”. “Nun, Chet, Sheen” = 358, “Mem, Sheen, Yod, Chet” = 358. Then we look at the symbolism in these numbers. 3 = Elohim, 5=grace, 8=new beginning. What can we see in the number 358 then? One way we can look at it is; “Elohim gives grace in our new beginning” (as born-again believers, we are saved by “saving grace”. 3+5+8 = 16. 1=Echad, 6=man. “Elohim who is “Echad” (the Unity of ONE) became man (to save mankind from the curse of sin). “16” 1+6=7. “7” is perfection. What then can be the whole message? “Elohim, who is “echad” ONEness in three, in his grace toward mankind, became a perfect man, without sin, so that mankind, whosoever that “looks up” to HIM, might be saved and have a “new beginning”. Shalom... Ben Avraham