Rabbi Jannay and the Serpent Sent on a Mission

Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Chukat 1:2

Rabbi Jannay was sitting as a judge at the gate of his city, when he saw a serpent darting and coming toward the city. When they would block it off in one place, it would go to another. He said: It seems to me that this serpent is going to carry out its mission. When it entered the city, a report spread through the city: So-and-so son of So-and-so was bitten by a serpent and died.

Themes

Biblical References