Numbers 21:8 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live.”
Sometimes we have to use unusual ways to get through to people and this was one of those ways where God used a way that seemed odd.
Where do you think the snakes were? They were almost certainly on the ground. Where did people have to look? Up in the air.
God was teaching them to trust Him and not the world; look up at what God has promised and don’t look down at the world.
Just as Peter was OK walking on the water until he looked down at the world. Look up and live!