More specifically, if the snakes were the punishment for bringing forth evil speech, this was far from the first time that they brought forth evil speech. Several examples: In Parshas Bahaaloscha they complained about the Mahn, saying:
“But now, our life is parched, there is nothing; we have nothing before our eyes but the Mahn.” No punishment of snakes there. Then there were the spies who brought forth evil speech against the Land, as it says:
They brought forth to Bnei Yisrael an evil report on the land... Here, too, no punishment of snakes. Similarly, Korach and his assembly brought forth evil speech against Mosheh and Aharon, saying:
Why do you exalt yourselves over the congregation of Hashem? Once again, no snakes. So why were they punished with snakes specifically here?
Q4
Dogs and Donkeys Also Bit Them
According to Rashi, Anyone who was bitten includes those who were bitten by dogs and donkeys in the cure of the burning one on the pole. The implication is that he is not referring to random bites, but to bites as a result of speaking against the Mahn, much as the bites of snakes. If so, however, why aren’t the bites of dogs and donkeys mentioned explicitly, as the bites of the snakes are mentioned?
Q5
Animals Attack Man When He Appears to Be An Animal
All these questions can be answered based on a Gemara that says:
Wild animals have no dominion over man, unless he appears to them as an animal, as it says:
[Man] nimshal kabehemos nidmu. The word nimshal can mean dominated (as well as likened), and the word nidmu can mean compared to (as well as silenced). Thus, if a man is dominated by animals, it can be assumed that he was comparable to an animal.
The essential difference between man and animal is the ability of man to reason, As Rashi writes on the possuk:
And man became a living soul – Animal and beast, too, were called, “a living soul,” but man is the most alive of them all, for there was added in him reasoning and speech. It thus follows that so long as man makes use of his powers of reasoning, wild animals do not see him as an animal. When he loses his powers of reasoning, however, the wild animal sees an animal in front of him and can then dominate and harm the “man”.
