It always takes a number of people to die before questions, answers and antidote/antivenom are found. The recent scourge of ebola is one point of reference. "Many Israelites/Hebrew people died" (v. 6c) before suitable action was found. This was a kind of snake they had not before encountered. "Bronze" was the identification of it. As they looked at 'the bronze snake on a stick', they could identify it as the variety which had bitten them and know what measure(s) to take. By looking at the symbol, they were also looking beyond it -- to God and Moses about and to whom they had blamed and complained all along. As they had blamed God and Moses for lack of food, or presence of 'detestable' food/manna they had been not enjoying for almost 40 years (cf. v. 5), little wonder that they had come to the conclusion that God and Moses were in collusion to get rid of them, just as had happened with countless Egyptians and Egyptian army. Why trust God and Moses. Now, looking at the snake on a stick, they could look beyond it to a greater confidence in God and Moses (who had prayed for them at their behest, v. 7).

Between the time lapse between many dying and crafting the metalwork snake symbol, would not have there been a search among people of the wider area to see what they did as an aantidote? Had not Moses been a shepherd in this wilderness area for 40 years? Had he not encountered snakes there and learned as much about them from his father-in-law and others? He had discovered other things about the area in that 40 year shepherding experience -- God's preparation for him to be a shepherd to the freed Hebrew slaves! He had learned about manna, about quail migrations, about water pockets in desert sandstone/limestone caves and crevices. There were, indeed, long-time residents in the general area of this 'fiery snake' area; they were in along the border of the Edomites. What we have here in scripture is a concise summary of the whole account and would always do well to take any account as only part of its larger scripture context and its wider historical/ geographical context.

It always takes a number of people to die before questions, answers and antidote/antivenom are found. The recent scourge of ebola is one point of reference. "Many Israelites/Hebrew people died" (v. 6c) before suitable action was found. This was a kind of snake they had not before encountered. "Bronze" was the identification of it. As they looked at 'the bronze snake on a stick', they could identify it as the variety which had bitten them and know what measure(s) to take. By looking at the symbol, they were also looking beyond it -- to God and Moses about and to whom they had blamed and complained all along. As they had blamed God and Moses for lack of food, or presence of 'detestable' food/manna they had been not enjoying for almost 40 years (cf. v. 5), little wonder that they had come to the conclusion that God and Moses were in collusion to get rid of them, just as had happened with countless Egyptians and the Egyptian army. Why trust God and Moses! Now, looking at the snake on a stick, they could look beyond it to a greater confidence in God and Moses (who had prayed for them at their behest, v. 7).

During the time lapse between many dying and the crafting of the metalwork snake symbol, would not there have been a search among people of the wider area to see what they did as an antidote? Had not Moses been a shepherd in this wilderness area for 40 years? Had he not encountered snakes there and learned as much about them from his father-in-law and others? He had discovered other things about the area in that 40 year shepherding apprenticeship -- God's preparation for him to be a shepherd to the freed Hebrew slaves! He had learned about manna, about quail migrations, about water pockets in desert sandstone/limestone caves and crevices. There were, indeed, long-time residents in the general area of this 'fiery snake' infestation; they were travelling along the border of the Edomites. What we have here in scripture is a concise summary of the whole account and we would always do well to take any account as only part of its larger scripture context and its wider historical/geographical context.