Brazen Serpent
Nehushtan — "a thing of brass" (a mere piece of bronze)
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. 2 Kings 18:4
The brass serpent Moses lifted up was a type of Christ lifted up on the cross, so that whoever looks to Him lives. Over the centuries Israel began worshipping the object itself, so Hezekiah destroyed it and called it just "a piece of brass." The lesson: a symbol only has power when it points us to the Savior, never as a replacement for Him.
A readingProphecy or typeAn object that is a type of Him
- alludes to Numbers 21:8-9 — Moses makes the serpent of brass; those who looked on it lived.
- a type of what is in John 3:14-15 — Jesus: as Moses lifted up the serpent, so must the Son of Man be lifted up.
- interpreted by Helaman 8:14-15 — Nephi: the serpent was lifted up as a type of the Son of God, and whoever looks on Him with faith shall live.
- interpreted by Alma 33:19-22 — Alma: a type was raised in the wilderness; cast your eyes on the Son of God.