“And G-d sent the poisonous snakes against the nation” (Bamidbar 21:6). “And G-d said to Moshe, ‘make for yourself a viper” (21:8). “And Moshe made a snake of copper” (21:9). Among the questions asked by the commentators is why Moshe made a snake (“nachash”) to put on a post for the nation to look at and be healed if G-d had asked him to make a viper (“saraf”). Even though vipers are poisonous snakes, so even if Moshe made a viper it could be called a snake, why does the Torah change the way this snake is described?

Some (e.g. Kli Yakar) say that a “nachach” and a “saraf” are not the same thing, and two different creatures attacked. [See D’varim 8:15, where they are listed as two separate entities, as opposed to Bamidbar 21:6, where the word for “vipers” could be an adjective describing the kind of snakes that attacked (which is how I translated it above). These commentators would treat this expression as if there is a connecting “vuv” between the two words, translating it as “snakes and vipers.”] Although saying that “n’chashim” and “s’rafim” refer to two different creatures strengthens the question (as it means that Moshe made a totally different creature than G-d had told him to make), an answer is widely provided (Rosh, Tur, Riva, Bartenura, R’ Chaim Paltiel, Moshav Z’keinim, Toldos Yitzchok). However, it doesn’t really answer the question and/or it raises issues of its own.

The basic scenario described by these commentators (with very slight variations) is that the two creatures attacked because of two separate sins. For complaining about G-d, He sent the snakes, and for complaining about Moshe He sent the vipers. After the nation recognized their sins (“for we have spoken against G-d and against you”), they were confident that Moshe would forgive them, so only asked him to intercede on their behalf regarding the snakes (see 21:7), which had attacked because of their rebellion against G-d, but didn’t think they needed any further help regarding the vipers. G-d told Moshe to make a viper, for although He forgave them (so making a “snake“ was unnecessary), he wasn’t going to let them get away with what they had done to Moshe. Moshe, who had forgiven the nation, saw no need to make a viper on his behalf, but wasn’t willing to let them get away with what they had done to G-d, so made a snake. But how could Moshe deviate from G-d’s instructions? If G-d had specifically told him to make a viper, how could he decide, on his own, to make a snake instead? We may now know why Moshe would want to do things differently than G-d had asked him to, but this doesn’t explain how he could have defied G-d’s orders. Additionally, if both G-d and Moshe were willing to forgive the nation to the extent that Moshe thought there was no longer a need to make a viper, and G-d thought (and had told Moshe) that there was no need to make a snake, why was it necessary to make anything at all? Why did Moshe dismiss G-d’s forgiveness, thinking a snake was still necessary, if he felt that his own forgiveness was satisfactory as far as not needing a viper? Did he question the level of G-d’s forgiveness? And since G-d’s own forgiveness was enough to take care of needing to make a snake, and He knew that Moshe’s forgiveness was complete and sincere, why wasn’t it good enough to make a viper unnecessary too?

Interestingly, some of the commentators who seem to understand “snakes” and “vipers” as two separate creatures, also indicate that they were one and the same. For example, even though Or Hachayim (21:6) says that the nation’s sin “brought about two things, the nachash and the saraf,” and specifies that “the snakes were [sent] because they spoke against Moshe “ and “the vipers were [sent] because they spoke against G-d” (which is the opposite of how the other commentators assign each, but that is irrelevant for this point), he also says that they were “snakes that did two things; they killed the person and burned his life-force.” The Tur (21:9), before describing the above scenario with G-d asking for a viper to defend Moshe’s honor and Moshe making a snake to defend G-d’s honor, quotes the Ramban’s commentary, where the viper is described as a specific type of snake (“one with red eyes and a wide mouth whose body has an appearance similar to copper”), which can be best represented if made from copper (see also S’fornu). It therefore seems that even the scenario described by these commentators does not preclude the “snake” Moshe made from also being considered a “viper.” It is only how it is described that changes, not what is being described. The scenario is meant to explain why the description changes.

There are snakes that aren’t poisonous, and some that are, and the two different kinds of snakes are being described in D’varim (8:15), since the desert contains both. It’s possible that both kinds of snakes attacked after the nation spoke against G-d and against Moshe, with each being a separate punishment for the separate sins (the non-poisonous snakes for speaking against G-d and the poisonous ones, the “vipers,” for speaking against Moshe), or it’s possible that G-d would have only sent non-poisonous snakes had they only spoke against Him, but since they also spoke against Moshe, the snakes he sent were poisonous ones.

The nation may have known this, and because they were confident that Moshe had forgiven them, they only asked him to ask G-d to remove the “snakes,” referring either to the non-poisonous snakes, or to the aspect of the snakes that were sent because of their sin against G-d. [It is also possible that they were referring to the species as a whole rather than to the specific kind or kinds of snakes that had attacked them, asking that G-d remove all of them.]

G-d asked Moshe to make a poisonous snake (a viper), because it corresponded to the nation’s sin against Moshe. [It’s impossible to make a “poisonous snake” without it being a snake, so there was no way to avoid the “snake“ part. But G-d specified that it was “for you,” i.e. because of what they had done to you, to indicate that He wanted it made specifically because of what they had done to Moshe.]

Moshe didn’t want the nation to be punished on his behalf, but didn’t want to disobey G-d’s instructions either. Therefore, he made a “copper snake,” which resembles a poisonous snake (because it’s made out of copper), thereby fulfilling what G-d had told him to do. Nevertheless, he called it a “snake” not a viper because he wanted it to correspond to what the nation had done to G-d, not to what they had done to him.

Despite being forgiven by both G-d and Moshe, it was important for there to be a reminder about what happened, so the “copper snake” had to be made. G-d wanted the nation to focus on what they had done to Moshe, so wanted it to be a “viper” (which it was, since it was made out of copper), and Moshe wanted them to focus on what they had done to G-d, so called it a “snake.” It was both (since a viper is a kind of snake), and Moshe did exactly what G-d had asked of him, with each showing more concern for the other’s honor than for their own.