Israel, like a rebellious child, chose suffering as her school and bitter experience as her schoolmaster. Nephi recounted to his brothers the manner in which their forefathers had spoken against God and his prophet Moses during their wilderness wanderings. The Lord responded to their complaining spirit with fiery serpents which bit and killed many. Recognizing this as an evil that they had brought upon themselves, a repentant Israel came to Moses saying:
“We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord, and against thee; pray unto the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us.” In response to his prayer, Moses was instructed to fashion a pole with the figure of a serpent on it. This was to be set before the people with the promise that those who were bitten by the snakes could, by looking upon the pole, be healed. (Numbers 21:6-9.) In his commentary on the story, Nephi told us that many in Israel still died, refusing to look upon the pole because of the “simpleness of the way.”
(See also 2 Kings 5:8-14.)