Nehushtan: Of copper; a brazen thing a name of contempt given to the serpent
Moses had made in the wilderness
(Numbers 21:8) and which Hezekiah
destroyed because the children of Israel began to regard it as an
idol and "burn incense to it." The lapse of nearly one thousand years
had invested the "brazen serpent" with a mysterious sanctity; and in
order to deliver the people from their infatuation, and impress them
with the idea of its worthlessness, Hezekiah called it, in contempt,
"Nehushtan," a brazen thing, a mere piece of brass
(2 Kings 18:4)
