Moses, Hezekiah, Jesus, and the Nehushtan
“The children of Israel burned incense to it and called it Nehushtan.” (2 Kings 18:4)
During the time of the kings in the Old Testament, King Hezekiah of Judah tore down the high places of pagan worship and destroyed the Nehushtan. The king’s actions were long overdue.
Hundreds of years earlier, God miraculously delivered the Israelites from Egypt, but the people soon rebelled. God punished them by forcing them to wander in the desert for forty years. Near the end of this time, they experienced their first victory over the Canaanites (Num 21:1–3). But instead of entering the Promised Land, God told them to head south and go around Edom, sparking widespread grumbling.
The Israelites once again complained about the lack of food and water, but this time, they also complained about God’s manna. Numbers 21 records one of these final moments of complaining and God’s subsequent reprimand.
“And the people spoke against God and against Moses: ‘Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and our soul loathes this worthless bread.’ So the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, and many of the people of Israel died.” (Num 21:5–6)
