The Bronze Serpent

This eleventh-century French illumination of Moses and the bronze serpent reveals how often our visual imaginations influence our reading of the Bible. As we look to the serpent on top of the pole, we would not be mistaken in interpreting the artist’s work as some sort of dragon. Did the artist misunderstand the biblical story? Yet a brief look into serpent iconography reveals that the most common images of snakes in the ancient world were depicted with two or more wings.

In the ancient near East, serpents were considered magical winged creatures that contained extraordinary power. Egypt was the home of serpent images, charms, and iconography. On the throne of Tutankhamen, we find two wings of a four-winged snake projecting outward from the back of the seat as if flanking and protecting the king on both sides. The erect, coiled cobra was the symbol of Egyptian royalty and we recall Moses’s own confrontation with the magicians of Egypt when their staffs turned into serpents and Aaron’s staff devoured them all (Exodus 7:9–12).

The bronze serpent is elevated centrally in the illumination as if we, like the Israelites, are called to fix our gaze upward upon it. It even protrudes beyond the confines of the frame, suggesting a continuity with our own space and time. Moses stands below with one finger pointed toward the serpent, guiding us to look, whilst his other hand holds the Torah scroll. We note that he is depicted with horns, showing the influence of Jerome’s Latin translation of Moses’s shining face in Exodus 34:29. Jerome rendered the Hebrew qaran (‘shine’) with cornuta (‘horned’), an interpretation whose artistic effects extend all the way to Michelangelo’s sculpture of Moses in San Pietro in Vincoli, Rome.

To the right of Moses are two men with rosy cheeks, slightly smiling as they obediently look up to the serpent and experience healing. On the left of Moses stands a single man who glares at the prophet with hand outstretched, refusing to cast his glance at the bronze image. He represents those who have rejected God and Moses outright and will die in the wilderness.

Giovanni Fantoni's sculpture is located on the traditional site of Moses’s death overlooking the Promised Land. At first it appears to be a cross, but upon closer inspection we see a tubular-like serpent with a cobra head wrapped around a pole. This, however, is no ordinary pole as the artist has crafted it from small, individual tubes that extend to its base reflecting the same fluid, serpentine feel. The wings of the serpent are outstretched and emerge from the pole itself. Though separate elements, the pole and serpent are bound together as one.

In the biblical story, God commands Moses to make a saraph, or a fiery serpent, and place it on a pole (Numbers 21:8) but does not specify what material to use. The choice of bronze (or possibly copper) relates to the sounds of the Hebrew words for snake (nahash) and bronze (nehoshet). The wordplay emphasizes the connection between the material and what is crafted which also influences the name later associated with the object, Nehushtan (2 Kings 18:4).

We find a similar importance in the materials chosen by Fantoni. This is no burnished bronze, gleaming brightly in the Middle Eastern sun. Instead, it is burnt, rusted, and oxidized by the relentless elements of the desert. The russet-coloured patina evokes a sense of the physical and spiritual dryness of the wilderness wanderings and may remind us of the suffering of Christ on the cross who in the barrenness of the crucifixion proclaims, ‘I am thirsty’ (John 19:28).

The cruciform motif is Fantoni’s visual interpretation of Christ’s words in John 3:14: ‘And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up’. The artist has carefully blended the sign of the bronze serpent and the healing it symbolizes with the cross of Christ. The two symbols, cross and serpent, here brought together as one, offer a visual reminder of the unity Christians find within the whole of Scripture.

This sixteenth-century Ethiopian processional cross combines the motifs of Moses’s bronze serpent with the crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension of Christ. Cast in bronze, the cross bears a subtle glow, but when fully polished it would gleam brightly in the light.

The large central cross frames an intricately patterned area made up of small interlaced cross motifs. By contrast, the crosses that protrude upwards and to left and right of the central cross, as well as the curved design at its base, incorporate serpentine curls. Though there is no figurative depiction of a serpent here, nevertheless these abstract forms draw our imaginations to Moses’s serpent in the wilderness and the healing it provided.

Though currently housed in the British Museum, this cross was designed for liturgical purposes. The procession of the cross towards the altar at the beginning of the eucharistic liturgy is a sign of Christ’s presence entering the church. Worshippers cast their glance upward to recognize and acknowledge the healing power of Christ who was once lifted up on the cross. This liturgical ritual is a reminder of Christ’s victory over death and the healing and restoration he brings to all creation.

The Israelites, too, may have lifted their eyes to the bronze serpent during worship. In later religious reforms under king Hezekiah, Moses’s bronze serpent (Nehushtan) was destroyed (2 Kings 18:4). It is probable that the religious artifact was erected in the Temple courtyard where daily sacrifices were made. The proximity of the icon to the altar may have led the Israelites to believe they were offering sacrifices to the serpent rather than to YHWH and thus to confuse their true source of healing.

The prophets were also aware of the healing traditions associated with the bronze serpent. According to Isaiah (14:29; 30:6), a seraph was a flying serpent, and it becomes the agent of healing and purification in his Temple vision (Isaiah 6:5–7; Levine 2000: 87). This offers a link to the winged, healing serpent of Moses which the artist alludes to in the Ethiopian processional cross, recalling Christ’s gift of healing to the world.

References

Levine, Baruch. 2000. Numbers 21–36 (New York: Doubleday)