why cure the snake bites with the nehushtan

Question

In Bemidbar 21, How come Gd cured the Israelites snake bites with the nehushtan? Why cure them that way? Why not just send the snakes away (as the people had asked)?

Answer 1

The reason that Moses was told to effect a cure is that people had already been bitten, and simply sending the snakes away would have been insufficient to stem the rate at which people were dying. But if you look closely at the language in 21:7, what the people were really asking Moses for was forgiveness (cf: Rashi and Or haChayim on that verse). As Or haChayim points out, forgiveness has to come before the effects of that forgiveness can come, which is why Moses needs to build a serpent for people to look at before the rest of the snakes can be taken away.

As for how the bronze serpent provided a cure, you might be interested to look at Ramban, whose interpretation is reminiscent of 19th century homeopathy (!), or consider the following passage from the Mishna:

כיוצא בדבר אתה אומר עשה לך שרף ושים אתו על נס והיה כל הנשוך וראה אתו וחי. וכי נחש ממית או נחש מחיה? אלא בזמן שישראל מסתכלין כלפי מעלה ומשעבדין את לבם לאביהם שבשמים היו מתרפאים ואם לאו היו נמוקים

Similarly [to the example brought in the first half of the mishna], "Make a fiery [serpent] and place it upon a standard so that all who are bitten may look at it and live" (Numbers 21:8). Can a [bronze] serpent kill or bring to life? Rather, whenever Israel looked upwards and humbled their hearts to their father in heaven they were healed, and if not their condition worsened.

• Mishna, Rosh haShana 3:8