{"id":64310,"date":"2019-10-13T18:08:31","date_gmt":"2019-10-13T15:08:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=64310"},"modified":"2023-05-07T09:36:40","modified_gmt":"2023-05-07T06:36:40","slug":"nehushtan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/nehushtan\/","title":{"rendered":"Nehushtan"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In our chapter we are told that Hezekiah, King of Judah, \u201cbroke into pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had set up on a standard, for the Israelites had been offering idolatrous sacrifices to it. It was called Nehushtan\u201d (II Kings 18:4). It will be recalled that the Israelites had ungratefully complained to God and to Moses about having nothing to eat in the desert except the miraculous manna. In punishment, God sent seraph<\/em> serpents that bit the people causing many to die. When the Israelites repented and begged for Moses to intercede, at God\u2019s instruction, Moses made the bronze serpent that he mounted on a standard. Anyone bitten by a serpent would look at the bronze serpent and be healed (Numbers 21:5-9).<\/span><\/p>\n

Talmud Bavli Berakhot 10b records that the people approved of Hekeziah\u2019s breaking up of the bronze serpent, recognizing it had come to be used as an object of idolatry. The Midrash (Yalqut Shimoni 1:764) relates the unique word Nehushtan to the slightly more frequent word Nehushtayim, a dual form of Nehoshet (copper, bronze). In Judges 16:2, Nehushtayim refer to the \u201cfetters of bronze\u201d which the Philistines used to bind Samson. Clearly, both Nehushtan and Nehushtayim have derogatory implications.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Midrash goes on to relate Nehushtan to Nahash, the biblical word for snake: Whoever dies by snakebite dies in this life but may still be reborn in the world to come. But whoever burns incense to a snake-god in this world will have no life in the world to come. Therefore, it was best that the Nehushtan bronze serpent should have been ground to dust in this world by Hezekiah. The \u201cbronze serpent\u201d that Moses made in the Desert seems to have been mistakenly worshipped by the Israelites as a kind of snake-god (see Metzudat David to II Kings 18:4). Indeed, snake worship was widespread in the Ancient Near East and elsewhere.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Significantly, the Midrash (Tanhuma Buber Huqqat 45 and parallels) connects the serpent with the sin of leshon ha-ra<\/em> (the evil use of speech, slander): The serpent in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:1-14) was the first to engage in leshon ha-ra<\/em> , by inciting Eve to cause Adam to sin. And so, the serpent was punished by eating only dust until the end of time (Genesis 3:14, Isaiah 65:25) Indeed, the Israelites who spoke wickedly against Moses when they had only Manna to eat were punished with \u201cthe fiery serpents\u201d (ha-nahashim ha-seraphim<\/em>) that the Lord sent against them. The same Midrash interprets the word \u201cseraphim<\/em>\u201d (fiery) to teach a moral lesson. The \u201cfiery serpents consume the soul\u201d, suggesting that Leshon Ha-Ra is spiritually destructive for whoever engages in this transgression.<\/span><\/p>\n

Based on Biblical sources and classical iconography, a serpent on a standard, as an internationally recognized symbol of the medical profession, has been incorporated into the logo of the United Nations World Health Organization.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":64311,"id":64311,"title":"2kings18-who","filename":"2kings18-who.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/2kings18-who.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/nehushtan\/2kings18-who\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"2kings18-who","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":64310,"date":"2019-10-13 15:08:14","modified":"2019-10-13 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