Numbers 21:4–9

How can the lessons the Israelites learned help us prepare to enter our promised land: eternal life with our Heavenly Father?

"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.

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.

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

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.

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." (Numbers 21:4–9)

And here's the introductory commentary for this week's reading assignment: May 4–10: “Rebel Not Ye against the Lord, Neither Fear” Numbers 11–14; 20–24; 27

"Even on foot, it wouldn’t take 40 years to travel from the wilderness of Sinai to the promised land in Canaan. But that’s how long the children of Israel needed—not to cover the geographical distance but to cover the spiritual distance: the distance between who they were and who they could become as God’s covenant people.

The book of Numbers describes some of what happened during those 40 years, including lessons the children of Israel needed to learn before entering the promised land. They learned about being faithful to the Lord’s servants (see Numbers 12). They learned about trusting the Lord’s power, even when the future seems hopeless (see Numbers 13–14). And they learned that being faithless brings spiritual harm, but they could repent and look to the Savior for healing (see Numbers 21:4–9).

We’re all like the Israelites in some ways. We know what it’s like to be in a spiritual wilderness, and the lessons they learned can help us prepare to enter our promised land: eternal life with our Heavenly Father.

For an overview of the book of Numbers, see “Numbers” in the Bible Dictionary."

How can the lessons the Israelites learned help us prepare to enter our promised land: eternal life with our Heavenly Father?

It took the Israelites 40 years to eventually become prepared to enter the promised land. They wandered through their spiritual wilderness for many years. They needed those many years for their faith to grow. They needed to become God's covenant people. Their transformation process took a long period of time, and yet they're able to make it. From being inconsistent at first, repenting, and looking to the Savior for healing strengthened and grew their faith into becoming God's covenant people who are qualified to enter the promised land. 

Our faith might not need 40 years, but it does need time to grow and transform us into God's covenant people. We would want to repent and look to the Savior for healing instead of rebelling against Him. We wouldn't want our transformation process to take so long because we only have this life to prepare to enter the promised land, and we never know how much time we have exactly. We want to make sure we are prepared before our time here on earth is over. We don't really know if we have enough time. We don't know exactly if we have 40 years to prepare. We want to make sure we are making the most of the time we are being given each and every day because we never know when our last day here on earth is. We want to make sure we are choosing to enter God's kingdom day after day, moment by moment, to ensure that we will have eternal life with our Heavenly Father.