Nehushtan

Nehushtan is the name given to the bronze serpent fashioned by Moses in the wilderness, which Hezekiah destroyed centuries later when Israel had turned it into an object of worship. The arc of the object spans deliverance, idolatry, and reform, and it is taken up again as a figure of the Son of Man's lifting up.

The Bronze Serpent in the Wilderness

The object originates with Moses' response to a plague of fiery serpents in the wilderness: "And Moses made a serpent of bronze, and set it on the standard: and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he looked to the serpent of bronze, he lived" (Nu 21:9). The serpent on the standard is the appointed sign of life — a bitten Israelite recovers by looking at it.

A Figure of the Son of Man Lifted Up

The wilderness sign reappears in the discourse to Nicodemus, where Moses' act becomes a typological pointer: "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up;" (John 3:14). The lifting of the serpent prefigures the lifting up of the Son of Man, carrying the wilderness deliverance forward.

Hezekiah's Destruction and the Naming

Centuries later the same object had become a focus of unauthorized devotion, and Hezekiah's reform sweeps it away with the high places, pillars, and Asherah: "He removed the high places, and broke the pillars, and cut down the Asherah: and he broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made; for in those days the sons of Israel burned incense to it; and he called it Nehushtan" (2Ki 18:4). The name appears here for the first and only time. It is given as Hezekiah breaks the serpent in pieces — the labeled name marks the point where what was once a sign of healing has hardened into an idol receiving incense, and is therefore removed.