God is a sardonic humorist.

When the Israelites protested that the poisonous snake had bitten them. How did God respond? He instructed them to erect a totem pole and to dangle a snake from it. Such that people who were bitten may be saved just by glancing at it.

In psychoanalysis, when you repeatedly confront your worst fear, it loses its power over you. The Israelites overcame their phobia of snakes by fixating on them whenever they got bitten.

Of a truth, both God's ways and his sense of humor are incredibly inscrutable!