An article: "Was Moses’ Bronze Serpent an Idolatrous “Graven Image?” The image Moses used shows that religious images can be used, though many Protest

[mdgspencer]

Was Moses’ Bronze Serpent an Idolatrous “Graven Image?”

Not all images are ”graven images.”

www.ncregister.com

In Moses day many people died when they were bitten by snakes. Then, according to the Bible, “Moses prayed for the people. [8] And the LORD said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and every one who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.” [9] So Moses made a bronze serpent, and set it on a pole; and if a serpent bit any man, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.” (Numbers 21:6-9)

 

[silentwitness]

For me idolatrous means that something other than God is being worshipped. I think if God said to create an object then God CAN be worshipped through that object, as long as it is recognized God is not that object.

 

[ThomasMT]

Dont forget the Cherubim on the Tabernacle.

 

[Dan_Defender]

And the Bronze Serpent was also symbolic of the future crucifixion of Jesus.

 

[ThomasMT]

That’s an interesting one… sounds like a connection I would hear about from Brant Pitre.

 

[Metatron1]

This is striking because it is, in effect, an image of Christ. The attributes proper to this image have nothing to do with the forms “serpent” or “bronze” ; they adhere to the circumstances that gave it transcendent meanings and values.

In this instance the fiery serpents are agents of God’s justice; therefore the representation of God’s mercy must also be a serpent because its source is of the same substance. “Elevation” has a spiritual function likewise indication 1) Christ’s elevation on the cross and later his Ascension. 2) When we justly sorrow over our sins, we must look to Christ for our cure and he is always willing that we should find him.

Protestants err in thinking Catholic devotional images are just “representations” or similitudes, whereas the reality context they exist in gives them transcendent values. If these are unlawful representations then more than half the Bible (Gospels included) is unlawful because it concerns particular events and people.

If God wanted us to reverence and worship him in abstraction only he wouldn’t have written the Bible, he’d have written the Summa.

 

[ThomasMT]

Well… guess I learned something new for the day!

 

[ThomasMT]

In this instance the fiery serpents are agents of God’s justice; therefore the representation of God’s mercy must also be a serpent because its source is of the same substance. “Elevation” has a spiritual function likewise indication 1) Christ’s elevation on the cross and later his Ascension. 2)

As I struggled to understand the connection between Jesus and a serpent, I’ve been entertaining the concept of sin and death (represented by the serpent), which Jesus took upon himself to be put to death with Him.