The middle of Parshas Chukas contains the story of the serpents. The pasuk says that the people complained that there was no bread or water, and that they were sick and tired of eating just mann. As a punishment, Hashem made nechashim (poisonous snakes) attack and bite them, causing many of Bnei Yisrael to die. Of course, at that point the people repented. Hashem told Moshe to construct a saraf (serpent) and post it on a flagpole. In Hebrew, there is a difference between nachash, saraf, and akrav – all of which refer to snakes. Here the mitzvah was to specifically make a saraf, hang it on a high flagpole so that anyone bitten by the snakes could stare at it and be healed.
However, when describing what Moshe actually does, the Torah says that he made a nachash hanechoshes (copper snake) and placed it on a pole. Notice carefully what transpired: The plague involved nechashim. Hashem told Moshe to construct a saraf but Moshe actually constructed a nachash nechoshes! Moshe apparently did not follow the words of Hashem here! What happened? Why did Hashem specify a saraf? And if Hashem told Moshe to make a saraf, why did Moshe make a nachash?
The Rishonim (the Riva, the Rosh, etc.) ask this question. Listen to how Rabbeinu Efraim (one of the Baalei haTosfos and a disciple of Rabbeinu Tam) answers this question, and ponder the lesson we may derive from it:
Moshe Rabbeinu thinks to himself, “We are being attacked by nechashim; Hashem told me to make a saraf. Consider for a minute... When Hashem first appeared to me at the burning bush and He was displeased that I first hesitated to accept His mission, He told me to throw down my staff and turned it into a nachash.
Again, when I was supposed to circumcise my child and I didn’t, He sent a nachash to swallow me up! Also, now when the people complained, He sent nechashim.” Moshe reasoned that every time he or the people slipped up, Hashem sends nechashim as a warning/punishment. Therefore, Hashem is now telling me to make a saraf, because had he said make a nachash, I would be frightened that He is coming to remind me of my past aveiros. In other words, Moshe felt that Hashem really wanted him to make a nachash, but He used the word saraf as a type of euphemism for the word nachash, inasmuch as the latter word evoked painful memories for Moshe. He knows that I am sensitive to that word and He doesn’t want to make me feel bad.
On the basis of this assumption, Moshe Rabbeinu changed what Hashem told him and made a nachash rather than a saraf. Why? Because Hashem acts with sensitivity. Hashem would even avoid saying a word which might make someone feel badly. The practical lesson of all this is simple: There is a mitzvas aseh (positive Biblical command) of “Hevi domeh lo” – to emulate the ways of Hashem. If the Ribono shel Olam acts with such sensitivity to human beings, how much more so do we need to act that way to each other.
