Numbers 21 – The king of Arad,
just west of the Dead Sea in the Negeb, comes out to fight the Israelites and
takes some captive. Verse 3 refers to a vague later time when the Lord will
deliver them up to the Israelites but that time is not now apparently.
They
set out on the Red Sea road to bypass Edom; and again the people grumble
against God and Moses – this time about the wretched food. The Lord sends
saraph [burning] serpents to punish them, and they repent and ask Moses to get rid of the
snakes.
He
is told by the Lord to make a bronze serpent and mount it on a pole.
Anyone bitten by a saraph after that can just look at it and be healed John later refers
to this and compares it to the cross on which Jesus was lifted up – John 3:14].
And Justin Martyr also celebrated this as a
foreshadowing of Christ’s presence on the cross – one of a multitude of “types”
that could be found in the Old Testament.
They
do move into the country of Edom, to a place called Oboth and then to the
southern border of Edom. The story does
not recount the journey to Aqaba shown on the map. They pass without event through the land of
Moab and come to Sihon, land of the Amorites.
They ask permission to pass through peacefully, but Sihon, the king,
comes out to fight them. They beat him
and then also the king of Bashan
Origen (185-254 AD)
De Principiis (First
Principles)
Preface
4 – The things that
are CLEAR in the teaching of the apostles are the following:
First, “That there is one
God, who created and arranged all things, and who, when nothing existed, called
all things into being—God from the first creation and foundation of the
world—the God of all just men, of Adam, Abel, Seth, Enos, Enoch, Noe [Noah],
Sere, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, the twelve patriarchs, and the prophets; and that
this God in the last days as He had announced beforehand by His prophets, sent
our Lord Jesus Christ to call in the first place Israel to Himself, and in the
second place the Gentiles, after the unfaithfulness of the people of Israel.”
Second, “That Jesus Christ
Himself, who came (into the world), was born of the Father before all
creatures; that after He had been the servant of the Father in the creation of
all things. . . He in the last times, divesting Himself (of His glory), became
a man, and was incarnate although God, and while made a man remained the God
which He was; that He assumed a body like to our own, differing in this respect
only, that it was born of a virgin and of the Holy Spirit: that this Jesus
Christ was truly born, and did truly suffer and did not endure this death
common (to man) in appearance only, but did truly die; that He did truly rise
from the dead; and that after His resurrection He conversed with His disciples,
and was taken up (into heaven).”
And third: The “apostles related
that the Holy Spirit was associated in honor and dignity with the Father and
the Son. But in His case it is not clearly distinguished whether He is to be
regarded as born or innate, or also as a Son of God or not: for these are points which have to be inquired
into out of sacred Scripture according to the best of our ability, and
which demand careful investigation. And that this Spirit inspired each one of
the saints, whether prophets or apostles; and that there was not one Spirit in the men of the Old
dispensation and another in those who were inspired at the advent of Christ,
is most clearly taught throughout the Churches.”
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