THis sounds like what God did to the people on the way from Egypt to Canaan. When they complained, he sent poisonous snakes among them. When Moses disappeared for a month, they decided to make a golden calf. then GOd killed a whole bunch more. there is at least a coulpe more of these. God was doing some serious moral culling along the way. I'm afraid it's shocking to the average reader.

I think the #3s  can become #1 s randomly like popcorn. So it's hard to devise a flytrap. and by doing so #1s  would become #3s . The #1s  would go from being  "Wise as serpents and harmless as doves" to just "wise serpents".

I think as #3s  come into contact with the forged-in-the-fire #1s,  expecting them to be #2s ,  they either shatter and reform as #1s  or they self-destruct. 

 This is a how my mind looks at it. Thank you for putting it this way. I wouldn't have been able to. As you show, it depends