The Nehushtan

The Nehushtan is the name of a bronze serpent made by Moses in the wilderness and placed on a pole to cure the Israelites of the venomous bites of the fiery serpent. According to the story, the people of Israel sinned and spoke against God and against Moses. God deiced to punish them by sending venomous snakes among them. The people of Israel came to Moses and asked him to pray that God will take the snakes away from them.God commanded Moses to make a bronze snake.

The people that were bitten, were murkily cured just by looking at the Nehushtan as mentioned in The Book of Numbers 21:8-9-

" וַיֹּאמֶר יְהוָה אֶל-מֹשֶׁה, עֲשֵׂה לְךָ שָׂרָף, וְשִׂים אֹתוֹ, עַל-נֵס; וְהָיָה, כָּל-הַנָּשׁוּךְ, וְרָאָה אֹתוֹ, וָחָי. וַיַּעַשׂ מֹשֶׁה נְחַשׁ נְחֹשֶׁת, וַיְשִׂמֵהוּ עַל-הַנֵּס; וְהָיָה, אִם-נָשַׁךְ הַנָּחָשׁ אֶת-אִישׁ--וְהִבִּיט אֶל-נְחַשׁ הַנְּחֹשֶׁת, וָחָי."

" 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 seeth it, shall live.' And Moses made a serpent of brass, and set it upon the pole; and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he looked unto the serpent of brass, he lived."

In 2 Kings, we can find another reference to the Nehustan. King Hezekiah destroyed the Nehushtan because the people of Israel began to regard it as an idol:

" הוּא הֵסִיר אֶת-הַבָּמוֹת, וְשִׁבַּר אֶת-הַמַּצֵּבֹת, וְכָרַת, אֶת-הָאֲשֵׁרָה; וְכִתַּת נְחַשׁ הַנְּחֹשֶׁת אֲשֶׁר-עָשָׂה מֹשֶׁה, כִּי עַד-הַיָּמִים הָהֵמָּה הָיוּ בְנֵי-יִשְׂרָאֵל מְקַטְּרִים לוֹ, וַיִּקְרָא-לוֹ, נְחֻשְׁתָּן."

" He removed the high places, and broke the pillars, and cut down the Asherah; and he broke in pieces the brazen serpent that Moses had made; for unto those days the children of Israel did offer to it; and it was called Nehushtan"-2 Kings 18:4

Our sages wonder how it can be possible that Hezekiah destroyed the Nehustan after God asked Moses to create it. Also, if the Nehushtan was such a negative force why it took so long to destroy it?
The answer to these 2 questions is that in every generation the people of Israel suppose to serve God with more commitment than the previous generation. For example, Noah was a righteous in his time, but if he was living in the time of Abraham he wouldn't be considered so righteous.

Main phrases of the post + transcription + translation

Hebrew     Transcription    Translation
בַּמִּדְבָּר        bammidbār     Numbers
נְחֹשֶׁת        nehôšet         Copper
חָזָק             hāzāq          Strong
צַדִּיק           tsaddîq          Righteous
אַרְסִי           'arsî             Venomous
אֲשֵׁרָה         'ăšērāh          Astarte
נֵס               nēs             Flag

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