Why Moses Made the Bronze Serpent to Turn Israel to Repentance

"And Moses made a serpent of brass" (Numbers 21:9). But did not the Holy One, blessed be He, not tell him to make a serpent? Rather, Moses said: I will make one of brass, so that all Israel may look upon it and remember what the primordial serpent did, and what befell him, and immediately they will return in repentance. And this is what is said, "and he beheld the serpent of brass, and lived" (Numbers 21:9). But does a serpent kill and give life? Rather, when the one who has been bitten looks upward and directs his heart to Heaven and remembers the deed of the serpent and repents, immediately he is healed, and he does not waste away in his sickness.