Single lesson

The Bronze Serpent

Numbers 21:4–9

This lesson helps children follow the order of Numbers 21:4–9, notice the people’s choices and outcomes, and think carefully about what the passage shows about speaking against God, admitting sin, and responding to God’s instruction.

6–10 years30 minutes

Before you teach

In this passage, the people travel from Mount Hor by the way to the Red Sea to go around the land of Edom. They become very discouraged because of the journey, speak against God and Moses, and then respond after venomous snakes come among them. God gives Moses a specific instruction about a snake on a pole.

Learning aim

Students will be able to retell the sequence in Numbers 21:4–9 and identify how complaint, confession, prayer, and looking at the bronze serpent relate to the outcome in the passage.

Welcome: Track the journey and mood

5 min

Begin by telling students today’s story starts on a journey. Read Numbers 21:4. Ask them to listen for where the people travel and how they feel. Point out the words ‘very discouraged because of the journey’. Explain that discouraged means feeling worn down or troubled on the way.

Numbers 21:4

Read and explain: What the people said and what happened

7 min

Read Numbers 21:5–6 slowly. Help students hear the complaint clearly: the people spoke against God and against Moses, said they had no bread or water, and said they loathed the food. Then read what followed: Yahweh sent venomous snakes among the people, many were bitten, and many died.

Numbers 21:5, Numbers 21:6

Discuss: Sin, confession, and prayer

6 min

Read Numbers 21:7. Ask students what changed in the people’s words. They said, ‘We have sinned,’ and they asked Moses to pray to Yahweh for them. Explain that confession in this verse means admitting their wrongdoing plainly. Notice too that Moses prayed for the people, as the verse says.

Numbers 21:7

Make and respond: Sequence cards with choices and outcomes

8 min

Children make six simple cards for the six verses, drawing one main action on each card: travelling, complaining, snakes, confession, God’s instruction, and looking and living. After arranging them in order, ask them to match each choice or command with its outcome from the passage.

Numbers 21:4, Numbers 21:5, Numbers 21:6, Numbers 21:7, Numbers 21:8, Numbers 21:9

Closing: God’s instruction and the ending

4 min

Read Numbers 21:8–9 again. Emphasise the exact instruction God gave Moses: make a venomous snake, set it on a pole, and the bitten person who sees it shall live. Finish by having students retell the story in order. Then suggest as an application that God’s instruction should be taken seriously.

Numbers 21:8, Numbers 21:9

Questions to explore

What words in the passage show why the people began to complain?

Look at the journey in Numbers 21:4 and then the complaint in Numbers 21:5 to connect their discouragement with what they said.

Numbers 21:4, Numbers 21:5

How do the people speak differently in verse 7 compared with verse 5?

In Numbers 21:5 they speak against God and Moses, but in Numbers 21:7 they admit, ‘We have sinned,’ and ask for prayer.

Numbers 21:5, Numbers 21:7

What did the bitten person need to do in order to live?

Read the instruction in Numbers 21:8 and the result in Numbers 21:9, noticing the repeated action of seeing or looking.

Numbers 21:8, Numbers 21:9

Make, think or respond

Six-Card Story Sequence

What you’ll need

plain paper or card
pencils or crayons
markers
Bible

Try it together

Give each child six small pieces of paper.
Read Numbers 21:4–9 and have them draw one simple picture for each verse.
Help them place the cards in order from the journey to the final result.
Ask them to point to each card and say the choice, action, or outcome shown in that verse.

This activity helps students follow the order of Numbers 21:4–9 and see how the passage connects complaint, confession, God’s instruction, and the result of looking and living.

Adapt for your group

For younger children, prepare six labelled spaces and let them place picture cards in order before retelling the story with short phrases.
For older or more confident children, ask them to write one sentence under each card explaining the choice or outcome in that verse.

An optional closing prayer

You may pray: ‘God, help us listen carefully to your words, admit our wrong plainly, and learn from what you showed your people in this passage. Amen.’

Read the Bible passage World English Bible Classic

Numbers 21

⁴ They traveled from Mount Hor by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom. The soul of the people was very discouraged because of the journey.

⁵ The people spoke against God and against Moses: “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no bread, there is no water, and our soul loathes this disgusting food!”

⁶ Yahweh sent venomous snakes among the people, and they bit the people. Many people of Israel died.

⁷ The people came to Moses, and said, “We have sinned, because we have spoken against Yahweh and against you. Pray to Yahweh, that he take away the serpents from us.” Moses prayed for the people.

⁸ Yahweh said to Moses, “Make a venomous snake, and set it on a pole. It shall happen that everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.”

⁹ Moses made a serpent of bronze, and set it on the pole. If a serpent had bitten any man, when he looked at the serpent of bronze, he lived.

World English Bible Classic. Public domain.