1883 Haydock Douay Rheims Bible

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Numbers 21:9 *Moses therefore made a brazen serpent, and set it up for a sign: which when they that were bitten looked upon, they were healed.

John 3:14.
A brazen serpent. This was a figure of Christ crucified, and of the efficacy of a lively faith in him, against the bites of the hellish serpent, John 3:14. (Challoner) (St. Ambrose; Apol. 1:3.) As the old serpent infected the whole human race, Jesus Christ gives life to those that look at him with entire confidence. (Theodoret, q. 38.) The brazen serpent was destitute of poison, though it resembled a most noxious animal; so Jesus Christ assumed our nature, yet without sin. (Calmet)