Nehushtan Totally Explained

Everything about The Nehushtan totally explained

The Nehushtan (or Nehustan, Hebrew: נחושתן or נחש הנחושת) was a sacred object in the form of a bronze snake upon a pole. In the seventh century BC, King Hezekiah instituted a religious iconoclastic reform and destroyed the Nehustan.(2 Kings). It is identified with the bronze snake mentioned in the biblical Book of Numbers, which was used by Moses to cure the Israelites from snake bites.

Origin

The creation of a bronze snake (the Nehustan) is attributed to Moses in the Book of Numbers.

21.6. And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died.
21.7. Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, for we've 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.
21.8. And the Lord said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it'll come to pass, that every one that's bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live.
21.9. 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.

The documentary hypothesis attributes these passages to the Elohist source recounting a folk tradition concerning a northern cult image.
Archaeological excavations at sites associated with Midianite ware at the ruins of Seti II's temple to Hathor at Timna, in Edomite Seir, have unearthed copper statues of serpents. Whether these were cult images similar to the Nehushtan is unknown.

Destruction

Nehushtan was possibly set up in Jerusalem by Ahaz. The biblical book of 2 Kings says that King Hezekiah destroyed the Nehustan. The destruction of the Nehustan was encouraged by the priests of the first temple who favoured a centralised monotheistic religion and didn't entertain other religious places. The name "Nehushtan" may indicate that Hezekiah meant to disparage the image as a brazen thing, a mere piece of brass (2 Kings 18:4). This, however, may be a subtle play on words: heb. נחש (nachash) means "serpent" while נחשת (nachoshet) means "brass" or "bronze".
When the king came to the throne of Judah in the late 8th century BC:

ť "He removed the high places, and brake the images, and cut down the groves, and brake in pieces the brasen serpent that Moses had made: for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it: and he called it Nehushtan." 2 Kings 18:4

The dual -an ending might signify that the idol was actually of two snakes upon the pole, leading some to see a similarity with the familiar entwined snakes on the staff that survived in Hermes' caduceus and the single snake on the Rod of Asclepius.
According to historical criticism the destruction would have been a blow to those originally from the northern kingdom, where Moses was considered a hero. Many who greatly respected Moses' heroism and cherished Hebrew history and tradition regarded Hezekiah's destruction of the bronze serpent, through which their God Yahweh performed a saving miracle, as an attack on the unique history and heritage of the Hebrews. They felt that idolatry and incense burning to the bronze serpent could have been deterred without destroying it.
The Aaronid priesthood reacted differently toward the bronze serpent's destruction. The Aaronid priests, seeing the bronze serpent as a constant reminder of Moses' ascendency over Aaron, were not unhappy at its destruction.
It has also been suggested that Hezekiah's destruction of the Nehushtan was a result of the balance of power moving towards Assyria, which permitted him to remain on the throne of Judah as a puppet ruler. Hezekiah demonstrated his loyalty to the new regime by the destruction of an important symbol with Egyptian associations.

"Nehushtan" in Milan

In the Basilica of Sant'Ambrogio, on the inside of the third pier on the left stands a short column topped by a bronze serpent, a 10th-century Byzantine work. Popular imagination connects it with Nehushtan.

Significance to Christianity

In the Gospel of John Jesus compared himself to Nehushtan. Jesus said "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him shouldn't perish but have eternal life".
Among conservative Christians and Jews, the healing isn't attributed to the snake itself. The snake is thought to have been a representation of the punishment and the repentance of the Children of Israel.

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