Nehushtan

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Moses lifts up the brass snake, curing the Isrealites from Snake Bites. Hezekiah called the snake Nehushtan

The Nehushtan (or Nehustan, Hebrew: נחושתן or נחש הנחושת) is a sacred object in the form of a bronze snake upon a pole. It is most well known for its mention in the Bible where it was used by Moses to save the Israelites from snake bites. The Bible also records that it was worshipped for a period of time in the Kingdom of Judah and incense was offered to it. It was therefore destroyed by King Hezekiah as idolatrous.

1 Origin
2 Destruction
3 Significance to Christianity
4 Miscellaneous
5 See also
6 External links

[edit] Origin

According to sources, in the Torah, the creation of a bronze snake (the Nehustan) is attributed to Moses. It states that the Israelites were complaining about their problems in the desert somewhere near Punon. God, angered at their lack of faith and ungratefulness, sent poisonous snakes among them as punishment. It then goes on to describe Moses, who had prayed in order to intercede on their behalf, being told by God to make a brass snake so that the Israelites merely had to look upon it to be cured from the snake bites. (Numbers 21:4–9) The Book of Numbers provides an origin for an archaic bronze serpent associated with Moses, with the following account:

"21.6. And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died. 7. Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, for we have 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. 8. And the Lord said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live. 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 object.

[edit] Destruction

Later, however, the Bible says that King Hezekiah instituted a religious iconoclastic reform, and destroyed the Nehustan. The destruction of the Nehustan was encouraged by the priests of the first temple who favoured a centralised monotheistic religion, and did not entertain other religious places. Its worshippers were called Naassian, and Hezekiah called the snake, in contempt, "Nehushtan", 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 young reforming king came to the throne of Judah in the late 8th century BC:

"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 specifies that the idol was of two snakes upon the pole, the familiar entwined snakes on the staff that survived in Hermes' caduceus and the single snake on the staff of Aesclepias."

According to historical criticism, the destruction would have been a blow to those originally from the northern kingdom, where Moses was considered a hero. Equally, the Aaronid priests seeing it as a constant reminder of Moses' ascendency over Aaron, would not exactly be unhappy at its destruction. Archaeological excavations at Midianite sites such as Timna have unearthed copper statues of serpents. Whether these were cult objects similar to the Nehushtan is unknown.

[edit] Significance to Christianity

Michelangelo's depiction of the serpent staff on the Sistine Chapel ceiling

In the Bible Jesus compared His own person and the crucifixion to Nehushtan, probably to show how he would sacrifice Himself for the world. Referring to his forthcoming crucifixion, 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 should not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:14-15). Amongst conservative Christians and Jews, the healing is not attributed to the snake itself. The snake is thought to have been a representative of the punishment and the repentance of the Children of Israel.

[edit] Miscellaneous

Nehustan also played a role in one of Tim LaHaye's latest books, Babylon Rising, a story about a modern-day archaeologist who sets out to search for the three long-forgotten pieces of the snake.