Nombres 21,4-9: un serpent d'airain et un tissu d'enigmes

The account of Num. 21.3-9 remains enigmatic because it takes us totallyinto an unfamiliar world, a pre-scientific universe close to magic and wheresymbols have a very pregnant, even effective, force. On the other hand, it isalso true that the account contains elements that serve as a corrective to thesometimes simplistic mentality that associates healing with the invocation ofYHWH and the various values of the symbols. Indeed, it is gazing directly atthe serpent that causes death, and a serpent raised up on a standard, that thepeople are healed of the consequences of their rebellion, and that the cause ofdeath becomes the means of healing.