Serpents: Often Sent As a Punishment

So the LORD sent venomous snakes among the people, and many of the Israelites were bitten and died.

They will be wasted from hunger and ravaged by pestilence and bitter plague; I will send the fangs of wild beasts against them, with the venom of vipers that slither in the dust.

We should not test Christ, as some of them did, and were killed by snakes.