I disagree with you. The Jewish religion existed long before Jesus of Nazareth and Paul. Stephen's stoning in the Temple gives a clue as to how Jewish people felt about Greek Christians using prophecy improperly. For example, somehow I came upon a Jewish explanation of the 2k3rd Psalm. It is about temple worship, not Jesus. Christians need to be aware that we filter history through Christian tinted glasses. Western culture is heavily identified with Christian thought so anyone raised in Western culture has a hard time encountering the truth.
The reference is obscure. Would Christ use such an example to teach or a more basic teaching? It is not fulfillment of prophecy. This is so clear. Ask any Hindy or Buddhist if they see fulfilled prophecy. If the Logos identification was complete, the Christology debates and wars that killed many thousands would not occur. If one starts from a neutral source, Jesus' deity is not in the NT. There are intriguing hints but the academic verdit has long been available.
It reminds me of the Paul is Dead mania. I knew he was not. He was so identifiable and the news so hot that morgue shots would appear in the New York Post as the paper put Elvis and Lennon morgue shots on the front page and triggered more suicides. Yet we had fun with emergency meetings, pulling out albums and finding the clues that others referenced for ourselves. It was big news for about two weeks. Finally, Paul had to come out of seclusion at his farm. Life magazine put the photo on its cover. The back of the page contaiined a full page color photograph of a car. Paul supposedly died in a bad car crash. Anyway, people were glad that Paul was alive. A few people always believe that he died and the Beatles substituted a look-alike. Would George and a fake Paul have fought and reconciled so much?
When I read the serpent story with Moses, I see a fragment of earlier Jewish belief. It smacks clearly of idolatry. This view might make sense b/c there are many household idols of Jehovah and his wife throughout Israel. They date before monotheism was believed. Yes, perhaps jewish people understood the reference. Jesus preached to Jews, however. Paul brought the faith to Gentile God-fearers.
As an informed Christian, I would love to see propehcy fulfilled. It just does not happen. I believe Bart Ehrman explained that Roman pax culture was open to powerful, foreign gods. The Ceasar's arranged for Temple sacirfices to the Jewish God. The most prestigious religions in the area had long histories. Judaism was one of the oldest. The concpetion of the gospels and Pauls letters are markedly different from the Old Testament conceptions. As Christianities became more and more popular within Roman culture, identification with Judaism established credentials of legitimacy for an upstart new religion with little status.
It was long ago but I studied every slight reference that believers link Jesus with God. I am a lawyer by training so I paid strict attention to the text. My conclusion was that academics are correct. The record concerning the Trinity or even Jesus' acknowledgement of messianic stature is not present. Christians are programmed to find these links, whether they exist or not.