The Skeptics Annotated Bible (151 page)

29 And when all the congregation saw that Aaron was dead, they mourned for Aaron thirty days, even all the house of Israel.

21
And when king Arad the Canaanite, which dwelt in the south, heard tell that Israel came by the way of the spies; then he fought against Israel, and took some of them prisoners.

(21.2-3) These verses demonstrate the power of prayer: If you ask God, he will destroy entire cities for you.
God’s 23rd Killing

2 And
Israel vowed a vow unto the LORD, and said, If thou wilt indeed deliver this people into my hand, then I will utterly destroy their cities.

(21.2)
“Israel vowed a vow unto the LORD, and said, If thou wilt indeed deliver this people into my hand, then I will utterly destroy their cities.”

3 And
the LORD hearkened to the voice of Israel, and
delivered up the Canaanites; and
they utterly destroyed them and their cities
: and he called the name of the place Hormah.

(21.3)
“The Lord harkened to the the voice of Israel, and … they utterly destroyed them and their cities.”

4 And they journeyed from mount Hor by the way of the Red sea, to compass the land of Edom: and the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way.

(21.5-6) For complaining about the lack of food and water, God sent fiery serpents to bite the people, and many of them died.
God’s 24th Killing

5 And
the people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul loatheth this light bread.

(21.5)
“The people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul loatheth this light bread.”

6 And
the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died.

(21.6)
“The LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died.”

(21.7-9)
God’s cure for snakebite: a brass serpent on a pole
To save the people from God’s snakes, Moses makes a graven image in the form of a snake (breaking the second commandment) and puts it on a pole. Those who look at Moses’ magic snake do not die—even if they were previously bit by God’s snakes.
106 Is it OK to make images?
92 Is magic OK?

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.

(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.”

8
And the LORD said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole
: and it shall come to pass, that
every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live.

(21.8)
“And the LORD said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole … every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live.”

9
And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.

(21.9)
“And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.”

10 And the children of Israel set forward, and pitched in Oboth.

11 And they journeyed from Oboth, and pitched at Ije-abarim, in the wilderness which is before Moab, toward the sunrising.

12 From thence they removed, and pitched in the valley of Zared.

13 From thence they removed, and pitched on the other side of Arnon, which is in the wilderness that cometh out of the coasts of the Amorites: for Arnon is the border of Moab, between Moab and the Amorites.

14 Wherefore it is said in the book of the wars of the LORD, What he did in the Red sea, and in the brooks of Arnon,

15 And at the stream of the brooks that goeth down to the dwelling of Ar, and lieth upon the border of Moab.