The Mekhilta draws a direct parallel between Moses' raised hands and another puzzling episode: the bronze serpent in the wilderness. When poisonous snakes attacked the Israelites, God told Moses: "Make for yourself a saraf — a fiery serpent" (Numbers 21:8). Moses fashioned a bronze snake and mounted it on a pole. Anyone who had been bitten could look at it and live.
The Mekhilta asks the same piercing question it asked about Moses' hands: "Does a snake put to death or bring to life?" Obviously not. A metal sculpture has no medical properties. Staring at a bronze figure does not neutralize venom.
The answer follows the same logic. When the bitten Israelites looked up at the serpent on the pole, they were not gazing at the metal. They were looking heavenward. They "affirmed their faith in Him who commanded Moses to do thus." The act of lifting their eyes and trusting in God's instruction — that was what healed them. The Holy One Blessed be He then "wrought healings for them."
The Mekhilta places these two stories side by side to establish a principle. Whether the instrument is a hand or a serpent, the mechanism is identical. God does not embed power in objects. He embeds it in faith. The raised hand and the bronze snake are both devices designed to make people look up — literally and spiritually. The healing and the victory come not from what they see, but from the One they remember when they see it.