KnoWhy #749 | September 3, 2024
Why Did Nephites Use the Lifted Up Serpent as an Archetype for the Lifted Up Savior?
Post contributed by
Scripture Central
Yea, did he not bear record that the Son of God should come? And as he lifted up the brazen serpent in the wilderness, even so shall he be lifted up who should come. And as many as should look upon that serpent should live, even so as many as should look upon the Son of God with faith, having a contrite spirit, might live, even unto that life which is eternal. Helaman 8:14–15
The Know
For Book of Mormon prophets, the brazen serpent was one of the key symbols of the Savior’s atoning sacrifice.1 Three Nephite prophets explicitly mention the brazen serpent as a symbol for Christ, while others make typological allusions to it in various ways.2 Central to this comparison was the idea that both serpent and Savior were lifted up to bring life to those who would exercise faith. As Nephi son of Helaman put it, “as [Moses] lifted up the brazen serpent in the wilderness, even so shall he be lifted up who should come. And as many as should look upon that serpent should live, even so as many as should look upon the Son of God with faith … might live, even unto that life which is eternal” (Helaman 8:14–15; emphasis added). This statement is consistent with the language of the Savior Himself in John 3:14–15 but was likely based on the Nephite prophetic tradition rather than the New Testament verbiage.
A couple generations earlier, Alma also described the brazen serpent as “a type [that] was raised up in the wilderness, that whosever would look upon it might live” and related it to the Son of God (Alma 33:18–22; emphasis added). This earlier statement from Alma—Nephi son of Helaman’s great-grandfather—expresses the same sentiment but does not closely reflect the New Testament language.
Instead, Alma’s language appears to ultimately originate in the sixth century BC with Nephi son of Lehi, who taught that just as the Lord “gave unto Moses power that he should heal the nations … if they would cast their eyes unto the serpent which he did raise up before them, … as the Lord God liveth, there is none other name given under heaven save it be this Jesus Christ … whereby man can be saved” (2 Nephi 25:20; emphasis added). This Christological declaration appears to be Nephi’s own prophetic insight, drawn from a combination four sources: (1) the brazen serpent account in Numbers 21:4–9, (2) Nephi’s ancient Near Eastern cultural background, (3) passages of Isaiah quoted in 2 Nephi 12–24, and especially (4) Nephi’s unforgettably meaningful vision of Jesus’s mortal ministry, recorded in 1 Nephi 11.
The Brazen Serpent
In Numbers 21:8, Moses was commanded to “make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole.” The next verse confirms, “Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole” (Numbers 21:9). The Hebrew word translated as “pole” in this passage is nes, a term that typically means “standard, banner, or ensign.”3 Douglas W. Ullmann explained, “Usually it denotes a flag or banner which is lifted up to signal victory (e.g. Exod. 17:15; Jer. 50:2) or alarm (e.g. Isa. 13:2; Jer. 4:6, 21; 51:12). The flag can also mark a rallying point to assemble people (e.g. Isa. 11:10, 12; 18:3; 49:22; 62:10) or to gather soldiers for battle (e.g. Jer. 51:27).”4 Some scholars have argued that the brazen serpent should be understood, at least in part, against the backdrop of ancient Egyptian battle standards, which often depicted a serpent or another fierce beast on the top of a pole.5
Ancient Near Eastern Cultural Background
Such battle standards “often had religious and ideological symbolism” throughout the ancient Near East.6 According to Heinz-Josef Fabry, “in the ancient Near East, standards symbolize concretely the gods advancing into battle.”7 John Currid explained that in Egypt, “the gods were thought to be embodied in the standards” to such an extent that Egyptian texts “often use the words standards and gods interchangeably.”8 The “weapon of Ashur” battle standard was “topped by the symbolic representation of Ashur,” the supreme deity of the Assyrian Empire.9 The children of Israel probably would have similarly understood the brazen serpent as a divine symbol.10
Isaiah’s Ensign to the Nations
Passages of Isaiah, which Nephi quoted, describe an “ensign to the nations” that would be lifted or raised up in the last days.11 Isaiah 5:26 explains that the Lord “will lift up [w-nśʾ] an ensign [ns] to the nations” to rally an army to destroy the wicked (compare 2 Nephi 15:26). Many scholars believe that “the grand army envisioned in Isaiah 5:25–30 (2 Nephi 15:25–30) … was likely inspired by the Assyrians—the most powerful military force known during the time of Isaiah.”12 An Assyrian relief from the eighth century BC depicts “a pair of serpents impaled on a pair of poles” that scholar Shawn Zelig Aster argues are representations of a pair of battle standards.13 Thus, people in Isaiah’s time may very well have envisioned the ensign to the nations as a serpent on a pole.14
The Why
When Nephi son of Lehi mentioned “the serpent which [Moses] did raise up,” he was writing prophetic commentary on the Isaiah chapters he had just quoted, but he was also using his expansive vision in 1 Nephi 11–14 as a brilliant interpretive guide to those Isaiah chapters.15 If Isaiah envisioned the raised up ensign to the nations as the serpent standard depicted on Assyrian reliefs, then Nephi could have connected it readily to the brazen serpent in Numbers 21, which was also placed on a standard (nes) to rally and unify the children of Israel.16 Significantly, in Isaiah 11 the ensign to the nations or “of the people” can be best understood as symbolizing the future Messiah, whom Isaiah was also identified as a “fiery flying serpent,” which is what the brazen serpent represented.17
Thus, in the writings of Isaiah, Nephi—who understood the historical context of Isaiah’s prophecies—could have seen the Assyrian’s serpent raised up on an ensign or standard as being associated with the future divine Messiah (2 Nephi 25:1–8). This serpent ensign then could have called to Nephi’s mind “the serpent which [Moses] did raise up,” linking it to “the everlasting God” Nephi had seen in vision that would be “lifted up upon the cross and slain for the sins of the world.” Crucially, this “everlasting God” was identified by Nephi’s angelic guide as the Messiah, Jesus Christ.18 This link could have been further strengthened by the fact that many attributes of Christ were associated with serpent symbolism in the ancient Near East.19
Everything needed to see “the link between Moses’ actions [of raising up the brazen serpent] and Jesus’ atonement” was thus available to Nephi in the writings of Isaiah, his ancient Near Eastern cultural context, and his personal revelations. Later Nephite prophets were inspired by this idea and further made the association with Christ explicit, seeing “the raised brass serpent as a prophetic metaphor for Jesus’ crucifixion.”20
Most central to this powerful typology of Christ was that both the serpent and the Savior were lifted or raised up. When visiting the people at Bountiful, the Savior Himself emphatically affirmed this anciently revealed aspect of His eternal mission:
And my Father sent me that I might be lifted up upon the cross; and after that I had been lifted up upon the cross, that I might draw all men unto me, that as I have been lifted up by men even so should men be lifted up by the Father, to stand before me, to be judged of their works, whether they be good or whether they be evil—and for this cause have I been lifted up; therefore, according to the power of the Father I will draw all men unto me, that they may be judged according to their works. (3 Nephi 27:14–15)
The Hebrew term used for lifting or raising a standard or ensign (naśaʾ) “is a theologically potent term, with a broad semantic range.”21 In its most basic sense, it meant “to be lifted or raised up.” It could also mean “to be exalted” as well as “to carry, bear, endure,” and even “to suffer.”22 When used in the phrase nśʾ ʿwn, it can express the bearing of guilt, sin, or iniquity and is even used to refer to taking on the iniquities, sins, or guilt of others. It was also used in connection with themes of atonement, forgiveness, and reconciliation.23
All these connotations are related to Jesus being lifted up upon the cross to suffer and bear the sins of the world and then be triumphantly exalted on high at the right hand of the Father.24 As Krystal V. L. Pierce concluded, “the lifting or raising up of the brazen serpent represents the lifting or raising up of the Savior for the atonement, crucifixion, and resurrection so that we too can be lifted or raised up to eternal life.”25
Krystal V. L. Pierce, “The Brazen Serpent as a Symbol of Jesus Christ: A Dichotomy of Benevolence and Admonition,” in I Glory in My Jesus: Understanding Christ in the Book of Mormon, ed. John Hilton III, Nicholas J. Frederick, Mark D. Ogletree, and Krystal V. L. Pierce (Salt Lake City, UT: Deseret Book; Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 2023), 87–105.
Neal Rappleye, “Serpents of Fire and Brass: A Contextual Study of the Brazen Serpent Tradition in the Book of Mormon,” Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scripture 50 (2022): 217–298.
Scott Stenson, “‘Wherefore, for This Cause’: The Book of Mormon as Anti-type of the Brass Serpent,” Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship 43 (2021): 291–318.
Andrew C. Skinner, “Serpent Symbols and Salvation in the Ancient Near East and the Book of Mormon,” Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 10, no. 2 (2001): 42–55.
- 1. Alonzo L. Gaskill, Miracles of the Book of Mormon: A Guide to the Symbolic Messages (Springville, UT: Cedar Fort, 2015), 107–114; Krystal V. L. Pierce, “The Brazen Serpent as a Symbol of Jesus Christ: A Dichotomy of Benevolence and Admonition,” in I Glory in my Jesus: Understanding Christ in the Book of Mormon, ed. John Hilton III, Nicholas J. Frederick, Mark D. Ogletree, and Krystal V. L. Pierce (Salt Lake City, UT: Deseret Book; Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 2023), 87–105.
- 2. See 1 Nephi 17:41; 2 Nephi 25:20; Alma 33:18–22; Helaman 8:13–15. For some examples of typological allusions to the brazen serpent, see Terrence L. Szink, “Nephi and the Exodus,” in Rediscovering the Book of Mormon: Insights You May Have Missed Before, ed. John L. Sorenson and Melvin J. Thorne (Salt Lake City, UT: Deseret Book; Provo, UT: Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies [FARMS], 1991), 43–44; Kristian S. Heal, “‘Look to God and Live,’” Insights 26, no. 2 (2006): 2–3, 6; Scott Stenson, “‘Wherefore, for This Cause’: The Book of Mormon as Anti-type of the Brass Serpent,” Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship 43 (2021): 291–318.
- 3. David J. A. Clines, ed., The Dictionary of Classical Hebrew, 8 vols. (Sheffield, UK: Sheffield Phoenix Press, 1993–2011), 5:697.
- 4. Douglas W. Ullmann, “Moses’s Bronze Serpent (Numbers 21:4–9) in Early Jewish and Christian Exegesis” (PhD diss., Dallas Theological Seminary, 1995), 20.
- 5. Pierce, “Brazen Serpent,” 98; John D. Currid, Ancient Egypt and the Old Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1997), 149–155; Amy Birkan, “The Bronze Serpent, a Perplexing Remedy: An Analysis of Numbers 21:4–9 in the Light of Near Eastern Serpent Emblems, Archaeology and Inner Biblical Exegesis” (master’s thesis; McGill University, 2005), 13–15, 20–22, 72.
- 6. Neal Rappleye, “Serpents of Fire and Brass: A Contextual Study of the Brazen Serpent Tradition in the Book of Mormon,” Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scripture 50 (2022): 239.
- 7. H.-J. Fabry, “nēs,” in Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament, 15 vols., ed. G Johannes Botterweck, Helmer Ringgren, Heinz-Josef Fabry, trans. Douglas W. Stott (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1974–2006), 9:440.
- 8. Currid, Ancient Egypt, 151.
- 9. Morton Cogan, Imperialism and Religion: Assyria, Judah, and Israel in the Eighth and Seventh Centuries B.C.E. (Missoula, MT: Scholars Press, University of Montana, 1974), 53. It is noteworthy that Aster, “Transmission of Neo-Assyrian Claims,” 27n86, argues that the serpentine battle standard found on Assyrian reliefs is this “weapon of Assur,” although Cogan (pages 53–55, fig. 62) identifies it with a different emblem. See Rappleye, “Serpents of Fire and Brass,” 254–255n13, for a discussion of this issue.
- 10. Lowell K. Handy, “Serpent, Bronze,” in The Anchor Bible Dictionary, ed. David Noel Freedman (New York, NY: Doubleday, 1992), 5:1117; James H. Charlesworth, The Good and Evil Serpent: How a Universal Symbol Became Christianized (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2010), 350. Isaiah 6:2 (and 2 Nephi 16:2) described some of the divine beings of the heavenly court as seraphim, a term that is also used to refer to the fiery serpents in Numbers 21:6, 8. See Scripture Central, “Why Did Isaiah Refer to the Heavenly Hosts as ‘Seraphim’? (2 Nephi 16:1–2; Isaiah 6:1–2),” KnoWhy 645 (September 6, 2022).
- 11. Isaiah 5:26; 11:12; 13:2; compare 2 Nephi 15:26; 21:12; 23:2, respectively.
- 12. Rappleye, “Serpents of Fire and Brass,” 240. For examples of scholars promoting this interpretation, see Joseph Blenkinsopp, Isaiah 1–39: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary (New York, NY: Doubleday, 2000), 220–222; J. J. M. Roberts, First Isaiah, a Commentary (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2015), 163; Margaret Barker, “Isaiah,” in Eerdmans Commentary on the Bible, ed. James D. G. Dunn and John W. Rogerson (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2003), 508.
- 13. Shawn Zelig Aster, “Transmission of Neo-Assyrian Claims of Empire to Judah in the Late Eighth Century B.C.E.,” Hebrew Union College Annual 78 (2007): 27n86. In Shawn Zelig Aster, Reflections of Empire in Isaiah 1–39: Responses to Assyrian Ideology (Atlanta, GA: SBL Press, 2017), 54n47, Aster specifically argues that these battle standards influenced the imagery in Isaiah’s writings.
- 14. Rappleye, “Serpents of Fire and Brass,” 240, also notes that the ensign to the nations in Isaiah 11:12 (and 2 Nephi 21:12) is linked to the future Davidic king and that iconography from Judah links the Davidic monarchy to fiery serpents in the eighth to seventh centuries BC. “Consequently, Nephi may very well have understood Isaiah’s raised up ensign to be serpentine in nature, and fused it with the brazen serpent on a ‘pole’ in his interpretation of Numbers 21.”
- 15. John W. Welch, “Getting through Isaiah with the Help of the Nephite Prophetic View,” in Isaiah in the Book of Mormon, ed. Donald W. Parry and John W. Welch (Provo, UT: FARMS, 1998), 19–45.
- 16. Stenson, “‘Wherefore, for This Cause,’” 303–315.
- 17. 1 Nephi 17:41; 2 Nephi 21:10, 12; 24:29–32. See Rappleye, “Serpents of Fire and Brass,” 235–236, 240. Pierce, “The Brazen Serpent,” 91, 95, explained: “The winged serpent was also depicted as part of Judean royal iconography, which is why some scholars believe it was used by Isaiah as a symbol of a future Davidic king or Messiah that would save Israel.”
- 18. 1 Nephi 11:32–33; 12:18; 2 Nephi 25:19–20. Quoted verbiage follows Royal Skousen, ed., The Book of Mormon: The Earliest Text, 2nd ed. (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2022), emphasis added. See also Scripture Central, “Why Did Nephi Say an Angel Had Revealed the Name Jesus Christ? (2 Nephi 25:19),” KnoWhy 304 (April 24, 2017). See also Pierce, “The Brazen Serpent,” 92.
- 19. Book of Mormon Central, “Why Did Jesus Compare Himself to the Brazen Serpent? (John 3:14–15),” KnoWhy 657 (February 6, 2023). See also Andrew C. Skinner, “Serpent Symbols and Salvation in the Ancient Near East and the Book of Mormon,” Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 10, no. 2 (2001): 42–55; Rappleye, “Serpents of Fire and Brass,” 229–241; Pierce, “Brazen Serpent,” 87–105.
- 20. S. Kent Brown, “Brazen Serpent,” in Book of Mormon Reference Companion, ed. Dennis L. Largey (Salt Lake City, UT: Deseret Book, 2003), 172.
- 21. Rappleye, “Serpents of Fire and Brass,” 241.
- 22. Clines, Dictionary of Classical Hebrew, 5:758–770.
- 23. See D.N. Freedman et al., “nāśā,” in Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament, 10:24–40, for a full discussion of its theological usage.
- 24. Rappleye, “Serpents of Fire and Brass,” 241.
- 25. Pierce, “Brazen Serpent,” 102.