The Brazen Serpent

The story of the Brazen Serpent is given in Numbers chapter 21 beginning with verse 5:

5: "And the people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul loatheth this light bread."

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6: "And the Lord sent fiery serpents (poisonous snakes) among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died." 

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7: Therefore the people came to Moses and said, 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. And Moses prayed for the people.

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8: And the Lord said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole; and it shall come to pass, that everyone that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live.

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9: And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.

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This serpent is significant as it symbolizes healing and salvation, as referenced in John 3:14-15, where Jesus indicates that the bronze serpent foreshadowed His own crucifixion and that His followers "should not perish, but have eternal life".