We continue with 2 Kings after the dispersal of the Northern Kingdom. Hezekiah takes the throne of Judah and is off to a good start, including something I’d forgotten even though I just wrote about it in March!

In the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, Hezekiah son of Ahaz began his rule over Judah. He was twenty-five years old when he became king and he ruled for twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Abijah daughter of Zechariah. In GOD’s opinion he was a good king; he kept to the standards of his ancestor David. 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). Hezekiah put his whole trust in the GOD of Israel. There was no king quite like him, either before or after. (2 Kings 18.1 – 5, MSG)

Hezekiah destroyed the bronze serpent from Moses’ day. During the wilderness wanderings, the people started complaining, and “the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people…” When they confessed their sin, God gave this instruction:

And the LORD said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.” So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live. (Numbers 21.8, 9, ESV)

It was such a significant event that even Jesus used it to explain to Nicodemus what was going to happen:

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. (John 3.14, 15, ESV)

So here’s a God-ordained cure: a bronze serpent on a pole. “Look and live!” A lovely picture of the cross. However, by Hezekiah’s time, it had become an idol. Not unlike the Israelites in Eli’s day who wanted the Ark of the Covenant on the battlefield:

“Why has the LORD defeated us today before the Philistines? Let us bring the ark of the covenant of the LORD here from Shiloh, that it may come among us and save us from the power of our enemies.” (1 Samuel 4.2, 3, ESV)

“It” doesn’t save – whether it’s the Ark of the Covenant or the bronze serpent. Sometimes, things that were once a symbol used for good must be destroyed whether it’s a serpent on a pole, a once-beloved church program or tradition, even (gasp!) materials and methods that were once effective but are no longer.

Little children, keep yourselves from idols. (1 John 5.21, ESV)