The Bronze Serpent

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A religious reform is attributed to the same King Hezekiah, during which "he also broke into pieces the copper snake that Moses had made, for until that time the Israelites had been offering sacrifices to it; it was called Nehushtan" (2 Kings 18:4). This statement authenticates the antiquity of the story of Moses’ copper snake. Could such a story have been written after Hezekiah’s time—after the copper snake was declared an idolatrous object? It also allows us to conjecture that like other sacred relics from the Mosaic period, for example, the flask of manna (Exod. 16:34) and Aaron’s rod (Num. 17:25), the copper snake was also preserved and treasured. But whereas the above-named relics were kept in the adytum of the Temple, out of people’s sight, the copper snake, on top of its standard, was probably erected in the Temple courtyard where it could be seen and worshiped. Undoubtedly, while the minḥah, the meal offering, was sacrificed on the altar, the offerer would stare at the snake, hoping to repeat the Mosaic miracle of healing. Thus the sacrifice could in effect have been offered to the snake rather than to Israel’s God. Moreover, since the Canaanites regarded the snake as a cultic symbol of renewed life and fertility, it may have become over time a bridge to pagan worship within the Temple itself. Hence, Hezekiah destroyed it. The fear of associating autonomous power with the snake is reflected in the following mishnah: "Could the snake slay or the serpent keep alive? It is, rather, to teach you that whenever the Israelites directed their thoughts on high and kept their hearts in subjection to their Father in heaven, they were healed; otherwise they pined away"(Mish. RH 3:8).

Milgrom, Jacob. Numbers. The JPS Torah Commentary. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1990.