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.
This verse describes the religious reforms of King Hezekiah, who ruled the kingdom of Judah around 700 BC. Unlike many kings before him, Hezekiah was deeply devoted to God and took sweeping action to dismantle false worship that had crept into Israelite life over generations. "High places" were elevated shrines used to worship other gods. "Sacred stones" and "Asherah poles" were objects tied to Canaanite fertility worship. But the most striking act was destroying the bronze snake — an object Moses himself had made, centuries earlier, by God's explicit instruction (Numbers 21), to heal Israelites bitten by venomous snakes in the wilderness. It had once been a genuine instrument of God's power. Now the Israelites were burning incense to it. Hezekiah named it "Nehushtan" — essentially "the bronze thing" — and smashed it. Just a piece of metal.
God, give me the courage of Hezekiah — to look honestly at what I'm actually worshipping, even when it's wearing a spiritual disguise. Show me what has become a substitute for You rather than a path to You. I want the real thing. Amen.
There's something quietly brilliant about that name: *Nehushtan*. Just bronze. Just a thing. The snake had started as something genuinely real — a living story of God's mercy and healing, with unmistakable divine fingerprints on it. But stories, over time, have a way of hardening into shrines. The object stays. The living God behind it moves on. And generations later, people are bowing to a relic without really knowing why, except that it's old and it feels holy. The form remains long after the fire has gone out. Most of us aren't burning incense to metal artifacts. But we might be clinging to a version of faith that was vibrant at nineteen and hasn't been honestly examined since. Holding onto practices or traditions that once connected us to something real but have quietly become hollow habits — comforting in their familiarity, empty in their power. Hezekiah's courage wasn't only in tearing down pagan altars. It was in being willing to say: even *this* — this thing with a good story, this thing Moses made — has become a substitute for the real. It's worth asking what in your spiritual life might need a name like Nehushtan.
Why do you think the Israelites ended up worshipping the bronze snake Moses had made — something that had started as a genuine act of God? What does that progression reveal about how humans relate to religious objects and traditions?
Is there a spiritual practice, tradition, or belief in your own life that once felt genuinely alive but may have become more about habit or comfort than real connection with God?
Hezekiah destroyed something with real historical and spiritual significance to Israel — something Moses had made. What does that say about how tightly we should hold onto religious symbols or traditions, even meaningful ones?
How would you help someone you love recognize when their faith has drifted into form without substance — without dismissing what is genuinely meaningful to them?
What might be your own "Nehushtan" — something you need to let go of or honestly reassess in order to connect more directly with God rather than a comfortable substitute?
He removed the high places [of pagan worship], broke down the images (memorial stones) and cut down the Asherim. He also crushed to pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the Israelites had burned incense to it; and it was called Nehushtan [a bronze sculpture].
AMP
He removed the high places and broke the pillars and cut down the Asherah. And he broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the people of Israel had made offerings to it (it was called Nehushtan).
ESV
He removed the high places and broke down the [sacred] pillars and cut down the Asherah. He also broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the sons of Israel burned incense to it; and it was called Nehushtan.
NASB
He removed the high places, smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles. He broke into pieces the bronze snake Moses had made, for up to that time the Israelites had been burning incense to it. (It was called Nehushtan.)
NIV
He removed the high places and broke the sacred pillars, cut down the wooden image and broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made; for until those days the children of Israel burned incense to it, and called it Nehushtan.
NKJV
He removed the pagan shrines, smashed the sacred pillars, and cut down the Asherah poles. He broke up the bronze serpent that Moses had made, because the people of Israel had been offering sacrifices to it. The bronze serpent was called Nehushtan.
NLT
He got rid of the local fertility shrines, smashed the phallic stone monuments, and cut down the sex-and-religion Asherah groves. As a final stroke he pulverized the ancient bronze serpent that Moses had made; at that time the Israelites had taken up the practice of sacrificing to it—they had even dignified it with a name, Nehushtan (The Old Serpent).
MSG