And so people grumbled away. And as they did, people started questioning whether Moses knew what he was doing. Sure, he used to hear God, but had he forgotten how? Actually I'm not sure people were that generous. You'd have thought Moses brought us here just to laugh at us while we died. A mood like that spreads quickly. It was at the end of a particularly tiring day that it happened. It was like everything that the people had been storing up was let out, and it fed on itself. People went from mild complaining to outright anger in a frighteningly short period of time. Those who were nearest to Moses turned to argue with him, and the movement of the people came to a chaotic halt. No sooner had that happened than a fresh wave of confusion spread over the people. But this wasn't anger or discontent, no it was panic, terror that was spreading. People tried to fight their way through the crowd, but that just made it worse. Trying to work out what was going on wasn't easy, until I caught the dread word. Snakes. We always took great care about snakes. Once bitten by a desert snake you could be dead within ten minutes. What was happening now was something we had never seen - snakes in large numbers. We must have disturbed them in the sand, and now they were wreaking a terrible revenge. Thousands of people with their escape route blocked. Some started to die in the crush, never mind the snakes. It was a horrible sight. Now the people weren't complaining at Moses. No, they were pleading with him to do something. So what did Moses do? Well, what do you expect? This is the man who instinctively hit a rock and produced water. What action now? He prayed. You could see the tension in those around him. "People are dying. You can't just pray, do something." Then he rose, and pronounced. "We must make a bronze serpent." A what? What good will that do? And it will take time. Hastily the tools were assembled, and the bronze serpent was made. People crowded round anxiously urging more haste. Finally it was finished, and Moses asked for it to be set up on a pole. Then he said, "If you are bitten, look at the bronze serpent, and you will live." I could scarcely contain myself when I heard this, but rushed into the area where snakes were still biting people. It was a horrific sight, like a battlefield but without the blood. "Go to Moses and look at the serpent on the pole," I urged, desperately trying to spread the message. Gradually, a passage was cleared, and people who were bitten were helped towards Moses and the bronze serpent. I couldn't see it, but I could hear reports coming back. People who should be dead were alive, and very few people were still being bitten. Did I get careless at this point or what? Anyway, that's when I felt it. The searing pain of the bite, and the horrible knowledge that I only had ten minutes left to live. All of a sudden, the fact that others had been healed meant nothing to me. Some people around me rushed to help me, dragging me towards where Moses was. I can still remember it. The severe, yet, serene, and somehow comforting look on his face. I found myself staring at Moses, but he was saying, "No, look at the serpent!" I did, and as soon as I did, the pain eased, just like the others. We should have been dead, but we lived. Many did die of course. But many lived too. Mind you, it was a harsh lesson to learn. Those who complained that they would die in the desert, did indeed die. But those who believed Moses could hear God`s voice, lived. I never understood why looking at the bronze serpent healed us, when once, Moses had angrily destroyed Aaron's bronze idols. But I believe that Moses did so because it was what God had told him to do, and I've never forgotten the way that he prayed so earnestly, as though on a mountain by himself, when he was surrounded by a crowd of panicking people.