Notice, then right in that crucial moment, serpents had come in among the people and were biting them. And Moses was taught in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and they were boasting positions, far beyond in many things, than what we are today. Had our doctors skinned by hundreds of miles. But Dr. Moses had no cure for that snakebite. Nothing could be done. There they was, way in the wilderness. And Moses prayed and God came to him and told him the remedy for it. I like that. What is He? God, Jehovah-jireh, the Lord will provide, make a way. I love it. Notice, then God told Moses, in this type or symbol; said, “Go make a serpent out of brass and put it on a pole.” Now, the serpent, in a symbol, meant sin. The serpent represented the serpent from the garden of Eden already judged: snake turned from a—a animal. Now, he wasn’t a reptile. The Bible said he was the most subtle of all the beasts of the field. He wasn’t a reptile; he was a beast. And he turned to a serpent on his belly. And that snake represented sin judged. And made out of brass meant Divine judgment. Brass means Divine judgment in the Bible. See, the people were sinning because they didn’t believe the prophet. They were chiding against him and against God. They had sinned, and because of sin, serpents had bit them, and they were dying.

An Ensign, 1953-06-06, Connersville, IN, §13