Alma further strengthens his scriptural case for the Atoning Messiah by interpreting an episode from Moses that has become a clear Messianic symbol, but which would not have been understood as such prior to the crucifixion of the Savior. Alma is referencing Numbers, but this association may have been suggested because Zenos also references the Son being “lifted up” (1 Nephi 19:10).
Numbers 21:5-9
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.
The essential elements of this incident are: the affliction with poisonous serpents; the raising of an image of a poisonous serpent raised on a pole; the healing of all who would look. What is interesting is the different ways in which these essential pieces of information are interpreted in Alma and later by John. Both John and Alma use this incident as a foreshadowing of Christ. Notice how the story appears in John:
John 3:14-15
14 ¶ And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:
15 That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
In John the highlighted element is the “lifted up.” This is directly related to “even so must the Son of man be lifted up.” For John, the essential fact of Jesus’ crucifixion was the most important connection to the incident in Moses. The story of the raising of the serpent image on the pole becomes a foreshadowing of the raising of the body of Christ on the cross. While modern Christianity has long accepted the cross as a symbol of the atoning sacrifice of the Savior, and placed the symbol prominently in worship, the ancient context of the cross was anything but worshipful. In John’s time, the cross was shameful, and the Christian use of the cross was a defiant exaltation of this symbol from shame to glory through the sacrifice of just one who died on that foul instrument. In John, the tremendous irony of the Son of God dying on a shameful cross was the most important image, and his reference to Moses indicated that out of an evil may come a good. In John’s context, the essential symbolism in both “raising ups” was the contrast between the apparently evil symbol and the good that came from it.
Moses raised up the image of the serpent that had been afflicting his people. That would not have been a popular image, it would have been a fearful reminder of the plague they were experiencing. Nevertheless, good came from it when they looked upon the image of that evil on the pole. In the case of Christ, the cross is the evil, not the image upon it, of course. However, the notion is the same. The crucifixion of the Savior would not have been a popular image, but rather the fearful reminder of the power of the Romans over the people of Israel. Nevertheless, out of this fearful and shameful symbol, good came when they “looked upon it.”
Alma’s use of Moses is similar in the emphasis on the healing by looking upon the symbol. What is missing in Alma is the emphasis on the “raising up.” While Nephite prophets had a prophetic knowledge of the future crucifixion of the Savior (1 Nephi 19:13; 2 Nephi 6:9; 2 Nephi 10:3; 2 Nephi 25:13; Mosiah 3:9), they did not have direct experience with the crucifixion nor its social implications, as did John. In the case of this farmer clan listening to Alma, their reliance on the brass plates meant that they did not have even that prophetic understanding of the future importance of the “raising up.” For this reason, that symbolic association which is so important for John is entirely missing in Alma’s analysis.