Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, we have sinned,.... Being bitten with serpents, and some having died, the rest were frightened, and came and made an humble acknowledgment of their sins to Moses:

for we have spoken against the Lord, and against thee; murmuring at their being brought out of Egypt, and because they had no better provision in the wilderness; concluding they should die there for want, and never enter into the land of Canaan, of which evils they were now sensible, and confessed them:

pray unto the Lord that he take away the serpents from us; or "the serpent"^F3את נחש "serpentem", Montanus; "hunc serpentem", Piscator, , in the singular, which is put for the plural, as it often is; or the plague of the serpent, as the Targum of Jonathan, that it might cease, and they be no more distressed by them: they were sensible they came from God, and that none could remove them but him; and knowing that Moses was powerful in prayer, and had interest with God, they entreat him to be their intercessor, though they had spoken against him and used him ill:

and Moses prayed for the people; which proves him to be of a meek and forgiving spirit; who, though he had been so sadly reflected on, yet readily undertakes to pray to God for them.

Hawker's Poor Man's Commentary

In Moses praying for the people, observe a lively type of JESUS in his glorious mediatorial character. Job is another lively type of the same. Job 42:8.

John Trapp Complete Commentary

Numbers 21:7 Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD, and against thee; pray unto the LORD, that he take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people.

Ver. 7. Pray unto the Lord.] Prayer is the best lever at a dead lift.

Make thee a fiery serpent,] i.e., The similitude of such a one; an unlikely means to effect such a cure. Yea, some write, that it is deadly for those that are stung with a serpent to look upon brass. Certain it is, that this cure was not wrought by anything in the nature of the brazen serpent, but by the institution and ordination of God, to be also a type of Christ; a noble and notable figure of Christ lifted up on the cross, [John 3:14] or rather in his ordinances. [Galatians 3:1] They that looked upon their sores, and not upon the sign, died for it; as those that looked on the sign, though but with one eye, though with but a squint eye, or but with half an eye, they were healed presently. So they that fix their eyes upon their sins only, and not upon their Saviour, despair and die; but those that look to Christ, being faithful in weakness, though weak in faith, are sure to be saved. It is but look up and live. Only look up, as they did that were wounded, weepingly, wishfully, pitifully, cravingly. See and sigh, look upon him whom you have pierced; let your sins be as so many Hazaels to you, and your hearts as so many Hadadrimmons. [Zechariah 12:10-11]

Whedon's Commentary on the Bible

7.We have sinned — Man’s moral nature is so constituted that he instinctively ascribes natural evil to a moral cause — suffering to sin. This judgment was designed to arouse the torpid conscience. The awakened moral sense unerringly discovers the sin.

We have spoken against the Lord — The quickened memory brings back every word which has impeached the divine goodness and wisdom. So it may be in the judgment.

Against thee — The thoroughness of the confession is proof of its sincerity. It is easier to confess our sins against God than it is to make acknowledgment of wrong to man.

Pray unto the Lord — The religious nature of man shines out in the darkness of great calamities. He turns to some power above nature and implores its interposition. The pagan rushes to his temple, the Hebrew turns toward the tabernacle or temple, the Christian to the throne of grace.

And Moses prayed — There is scarcely any record of Moses’s prayers for himself; his prayers are generally for others. He was the mediator of the old covenant as Jesus is of the new. Galatians 3:19. The burden of Moses’s prayer was, that the fiery serpents might be taken away. Like many of our prayers, it was not answered in form but in fact.

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

We have

Exodus 9:27,28; 1 Samuel 12:19; 15:24,30; Psalms 78:34; Matthew 27:4

pray

Exodus 8:8,28; 1 Kings 13:6; Jeremiah 37:3; Acts 8:24; James 5:16

And Moses

11:2; 14:17-20; Genesis 20:7; Exodus 32:11,30; Deuteronomy 9:20,26-29; 1 Samuel 12:20-23; Job 42:8,10; Psalms 106:23; Jeremiah 15:1; Romans 10:1