THE FIGURATIVE SIMILARITY OF COVID-19 AND ISRAELITE SERPENT EXPERIENCE

by: Norberto Betita

Covid-19 may well be a figurative equivalent of poisonous serpents which the lord placed in the midst of the Israelites during their exodus from Egypt to the Promised Land. Originally, all that were bitten died. The people requested Moses “pray unto the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us.” (Numbers 21:7.) Yet, despite Moses’ pleadings, the Lord did not take the serpents out of them nor even reduce its number. He knew that the problem was not about the snakes, but their lack of faith and their attitude of perpetually complaining and blaming Moses and his leadership in relation to their difficulties, notwithstanding the Lord’s continued support. Hence, many of them died, not because of hunger from insufficient supplies, but because of greed and lust even with the great abundance which the Lord provided, and their continued bickering against their leaders.

Instead, the Lord commanded Moses to make a brazen serpent and attached it on a long stick and let it stood on a place where people could easily see and look at it. Then the Lord promised: "Everyone that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live." (Numbers 21:8.)  As it was, the poisonous snakes remained in number of abundance, revealing the Lord’s way of teaching the people to deal with the actual problem. The solution He offered was to remind them that the snake was not actually the problem, but their attitude. He wanted to teach them to be thankful, to trust and to have faith in Him and His appointed leader.

However, still many of them died, not because the Lord’s solution was ineffective, but rather because they failed to look at the suggested cure. “…the labor they had to perform was to look; and because of the simpleness of the way, or because of the easiness of it, there were many who perished.” (1 Nephi 17:41).  

So it is with our COVID-19 experience at this time. We are all seriously threatened by this worldwide pandemic. As it was with Israel, all were exposed to the serpents’ poisonous bites, the same way that we are all exposed to the ill effects of this highly contagious disease.

Likewise, as with Israel, we should not focus too much of our attention on the effects of the Covid-19 in our present circumstances. We need to focus on our attitudes and have faith to follow the directions of our government leaders and health care professionals for our safety and protection. The instructions are simple and easy---staying at home, taking a bath, washing hands with soap and water, using alcohol, wearing mask and physical and social distancing. And easy as simply looking at the brass serpent to be healed, these directions requires not much effort for us to be saved from the pandemic.   

COVID-19, is not like typhoon Yolanda which affected only a portion of the Philippine Archipelago and in a day concluded its fury; that from day one we can already start rebuilding. As a Filipino nation and as a people, we are all subjected to the creeping danger of this desolating sickness, and the threat takes time to be contained, such as was the threat of the serpents in Israel’s time. However, our government is not taking this threatening plague with neglect and desertion. It has done so much and is doing its best to face this pandemic in the strength of our national capabilities and available resources. We sure can win this battle if we only follow the suggested simple cure and prevention from our appointed leaders. However, if we desire to choose our own solution, walk the path we intend to go, and violate preventive restrictions, we surely will end up to the place we never would want to be.  

The present commotion for need of food and foodstuffs are just the common cry of people when there is a crisis, such as was with the Israelite during their exodus. But if the people will only be patient, it will soon be provided by the government or other charitable organizations and generous citizens. It may not be the kind of abundance which the Lord did to the Israelite. But it will sustain. And if only we will not focus in waiting for the government’s assistance, and instead unite and help each other, we can find other ways by which we can provide for ourselves.  

I am quite certain that President Duterte is chosen of God to lead our country in these crucial times of our history, by inspiring the Filipino people to vote for an unlikely President with all his limitations and frailties, just like when Moses was called by the Lord in his weakness and imperfections to lead Israel in the exodus. Let us, therefore, be united in supporting his most honest efforts, or we suffer as the Israelites of old, who because of their greed and lust, were found dead, even before they could chew the quails. And because of their continued opposition to Moses’ leadership, Miriam was stricken with Leprosy and as punishment to the tribes of Levi and Reuben, “the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, and their houses, and all the men that appertained unto Korah, and all their goods. They, and all that appertained to them, went down alive into the pit, and the earth closed upon them: and they perished from among the congregation. And all Israel that were round about them fled at the cry of them: for they said, Lest the earth swallow us up also. And there came out a fire from the LORD, and consumed the two hundred and fifty men that offered incense.” (Num. 16:32-35).

We should understand that the pandemic contagion of Covid-19 and the physical wrestle that we encountered both as victims, front liners and all who were subjected to the required temporary isolations, are our spiritual reminder that no matter the hardships that we have to face, God is always in control. 

The brass serpent which the Israelites were instructed to look in order to live, was later taught as a symbol of Christ’s Atonement.  John wrote: “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:14-16). Therefore, it becomes our spiritual imperative to look to God for our salvation from this pandemic, as did the Israelites looked to the brass serpent to live.

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland recently explained: “The Spirit is not blocked by a virus or by national boundaries or by medical forecasts.” There are “gifts from heaven that are not limited by trouble in the land or illness in the air. …

“He who created this marvelous world in which we live can say to any of the elements in it: ‘This far and no farther.’ That is what He will say to this blight we are facing. In the presence of His majesty, even subatomic-sized creations must bend — if only figuratively — and each in its own way ‘confess’ that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, the great Redeemer of all. Under the direction of His Father, the Savior is in charge of the destiny of this world. We are in very sure and loving hands.” (Jeffrey R. Holland)

Very soon, President Rodrigo Roa Duterte will be deciding on whether to lift or extend the lock down after April 30.  He is probably turned between two very serious concerns---lift the lockdown and spread the virus or extend the lock down and destroy the economy, leaving the people to go hungry. We hope and pray that his decision will redound to the betterment of the greater majority. We trust that with our collective prayers he will be guided by the Lord in his decision.

The history of the world is replete with accounts of great and dreadful calamities, such as, wars; earthquakes; hurricanes and typhoons; plagues and pestilences; famine and hunger; tsunamis and floods and other catastrophes which resulted in the extermination of unaccounted millions of life, unparalleled cost of money and resources; and unprecedented suffering and anguish among the people.

But this has always been a part of the progressive trajectory of earth life. Before the present challenges of Covid-19 came to existence, the earth, in its timeless orbit, has been constantly burdened and weighed down by unending monstrous blight and scourge. Yet, throughout history, the world continues to grow and develop notwithstanding the overloads of calamities, plagues and economic depressions that swarms in matchless proportions over continents and nations. Therefore, I am highly optimistic that the world will eventually win, and we as a Filipino Nation will ultimately overcome this fight against an unseen enemy and we will soar back from our physical, emotional and economic setbacks as it has always been before.

Let us, therefore, unite and raise our combined voices high in earnest pleadings and prayers to our Father in heaven, to guide President Rodrigo Roa Duterte in his most crucial decision as regards our shared perilous encounter with COVID-19. Let us look, no longer to the brazen serpent, but to the living God and live!