Moses' Brazen Serpent
“And he did straiten them in the wilderness with his rod; for they hardened their hearts, even as ye have; and the Lord straitened them because of their iniquity. He sent fiery flying serpents among them; and after they were bitten he prepared a way that they might be healed; and the labor which they had to perform was to look; and because of the simpleness of the way, or the easiness of it, there were many who perished.
And they did harden their hearts from time to time, and they did revile against Moses, and also against God; nevertheless, ye know that they were led forth by his matchless power into the land of promise.”
An interesting cross reference here – rods are often used as a metaphor for God’s word. Think of Lehi’s dream – the iron rod is the word of God; also Isaiah 11:4 (smite the earth with the rod of His mouth). Here we see that the Lord straitened them with his “rod”, which is His word, usually through His prophet.
Now, Nephi is using his words to convince his brethren that he is not foolish in trying to build a ship. He is using examples from the past to bring the their remembrance that God, at times, commands that great things be done, and His servants can accomplish them. Other times the commandments are simple, yet the people still do not follow.
You remember that the Israelites created a golden calf to worship as Moses was receiving the 10 commandments at Sinai. While this was obvious idolatry, part of what they were worshiping in the gold calf was the gold – the symbolism of wealth. After generations of slavery, who wouldn’t want some wealth. But of course, when wealth becomes the center of our worship, the intent of our hearts, only problems live there. God requires our devotion and asks that we have an eye single to His glory – only then can we secure the blessings that he has in store for us – including blessings of prosperity.
Another interesting lesson here is Moses brazen serpent. Another quick refresher – the Israelite (again) began worshiping other gods and were not keeping the law, so the Lord sent fiery flying serpents (and scorpions according to Deut 8:15). Moses created a brass serpent and put it on a staff and in order to be saved from the bites and the Israelites were told that to be healed they just had to look at the brazen serpent. The scriptures tell us that many of them perished because the labor (to look at the serpent) was too easy. We can imagine how it would have been: You are in your tent having been bitten by one of these poisonous snakes; you are sick and nauseous and dieing. Someone runs to the door of your tent and says: “Moses has just told us, if we look at this brass snake he created and put on a staff – we’ll be healed”. Then he runs off to tell the next tent. There are millions of us in the camp, so we’d have to travel to the brazen serpent feeling sick and all. Would you have the faith to make the trek in that condition to just look at the serpent? Or would you be calling for the doctor?
The serpent, of course, was a symbol of Christ. As we look to Him and keep an eye single to His glory, our souls will be healed, and through His atonement our fallen state will be excused and we can be permitted to return to Heaven.
From a wealth point of view we can learn from both of these historical stories. We can’t pursue wealth for the sake of pursuing wealth and expect the Lord to help us. When we put the pursuit of wealth before God, we are idolators also. If we are obedient and follow the commands the Lord gives, even those from our local leaders, we can be taken from our impoverished state to a state of enrichment with all of the accompanying blessings the Lord promises us. Lets be careful we don’t fall into the trap of expecting to have to perform “some great thing” to qualify for the Lord’s blessings. Lets take Him at His word and expect the blessings that come with obedience.
Posted in C) 1st Nephi | 
Tags: book of mormon, brazen serpent, easiness of the way, fiery serpent, golden calf, iron rod, mormon, mormons, Moses, rod of his mouth, scripture, scriptures