The mystery of the nechushtan. Why did the king Hezekiah of Judah destroy the bronze serpent that Moses had fashined to protect the Israelite?

In this archaeologist’s review, we have a lot of scripture that is pointing us to the answer, that is being look for and in fact the big question is in the heading of the review. “Why did king Hezekiah of Judah Destroy the Bronze serpent that Moses had Fashioned to Protect the Israelite?” in the very intro to the review we some to this “2 kings 18:4 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” so what is it that he did? Did he think that it was a false worship that the people of Israel were baring to as god? Did he think that it was going against what was given to Moses him self on mount. Sinai, were God had give them the Ten Commandments and were in the top five of them was Exodus 20:3-5: “You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me.” (ESV) or was it some a another reason that he had done this, as I go on in this review of this “mystery” we will see if it was because of the ten commandments that the king had done this or if it was for some other reason that he had done this.

The word itself, nechushtan (נחש ), means “serpent or snake”. In the times of Hezekiah there is a part of the well-known religious reform aimed at centralizing worship in the Jerusalem temple. The snake in the temple, what is it doing there what does the snake have to do with protection? If we go back to genesis, we see that the snake has a bad taste to the name. But does it have a good meaning here In later scripture? Well I would say yes it does we see in the exile of the Jews from the pharaoh and his captive, they were complaining about there not being food for them and God had sent the snake upon them (as a just sing of there compiling to him) but then God has Moses make a bronze snake just as he used one to bite them he used one to heal them if they looked at the snake (he used the snake in a good way in this part of the scripture). This comes from Numbers 21:4-9: “From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edam. And the people became impatient on the way. And the people spoke against God and against Moses, ‘Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food.’ Then the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. And the people came to Moses and said, "We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD and against you. Pray to the LORD, that he take away the serpents from us." So Moses prayed for the people. 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.” (ESV).

So to get to what we have as the big question in this whole thing, what was the reason for King Hezekiah to destroy the bronze snake? Well the answer comes from both the review but not as well as it does from scripture, so in this we will see them both. But we need to find the whole reason why it was there in the first place, and what was ask from God, in the first place of the Jews apron there coming to the city he had made a covenant with his people, and when they came to the land, God told them to do as follows. (Deuteronomy 7:5 “But thus shall you deal with them: you shall break down their altars and dash in pieces their pillars and chop down their Ashram and burn their carved images with fire.” (ESV) and in Deuteronomy 13:3 “You shall tear down their altars and dash in pieces their pillars and burn their Ashram with fire. You shall chop down the carved images of their gods and destroy their name out of that place.” (ESV) So God has told them to first take and bring down the ideals of the heathen altars that were in the city. But then in 2 Kings the heathen altars were rebuilt them by Manasseh who is the son of Hezekiah Who we know was the one to bring them down, there are many scriptures to use for this (e.g., Judges 3:7; 6:25 2 Kings 3:2;10:26-27;23:4) so by looking at the scripture there seems to be this like father son thing with the two on who there God is, and if it should be there. But that is not what the whole thing is on, but only why did he do it?

I think that it was from the politics of the time that it was destroyed, at the time of the late eighth century B.C.E. Hezekiah was a vassal of Assyria, who was the superpower in that part of time. Hezekiah, had joined a rebellion against this power and the Assyria had then invaded, Judah and in this he (Assyria) was able to conquered 46 fortified Judahite cities. The bible backs this in 2 Kings 18:13. In this he took, 200,150 Israelites, alone with horses, mules, camels and cattle alone with the Israelite. And after all this he said that we would take on any burden that was put apron him, and this lead to what professor Swanson, says that is why the snake was destroyed, and not because it was in his mind, going against Exodus 20:3-5, and in this all I have seen that this is something that is yet to be found to be one way or another in this matter on why it was destroyed.

sin, what is it that sin does and were it comes from.

SIN

what is sin, were did it come from, what is the punishment for it? Well before I answer the question at hand I need to say this. The evangelic church today has let sin leave the church and the poet, this is a thing that beings worry and concerned to me. Why might you ask well because the sheep still need to hear about sin and what God does to these who sin. With the state of the church on sin as it is many sheep have not worried about there sin, and what it could do to them. Many pastes today don't want to heart someones felling for make them fell like there a bad person, when in fact that is what they are. The bible says that there is no not one that is good, we see in Rom 3:10 it says “as it is written: "None is righteous, no, not one;” so sin is on all man, 1Co 15:22 “For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.” so what did Adam do to have all die? What is the word die meaning ? Well this is answered In the first book of the bible, Genesis. Gen 3:1-7 “Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God actually say, 'You shall not eat of any tree in the garden'?" And the woman said to the serpent, "We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, 'You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.'" But the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die. But the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.” we see the first sin of man here the fall, and this is were all man died In Adam, when Adam ate of the tree, he had broken the law of God and he had bright sin in to the world. So now ever man after this is born of sin not born in sin. When someone is born in sin that is saying that they are born in to a world that has sin but they are not a sinner, but we see this is not true. In fact that view of being born in to sin is called Pelagianisam, were they believe that we are without sin until we have sinned for the first time, but we know it is not true. When Adam ate of the fruit, he had fallen from the grace and purer state he was in, before he fell from the fruit he had ate. Well this has answered part of one and most of two, but lets keep with what is sin. ( http://dictionary.reference.com/ transgression of divine law: the sin of Adam. any act regarded as such a transgression, esp. a willful or deliberate violation of some religious or moral principle. any reprehensible or regrettable action, behavior, lapse, etc.; great fault or offense: It's a sin to waste time.) so this is from a dictionary, what does the wcf or the lbc or 1689? the lbc says this “ They being the root, and by God's appointment, standing in the room and stead of all mankind, the guilt of the sin was imputed, and corrupted nature conveyed, to all their posterity descending from them by ordinary generation, being now conceived in sin, and by nature children of wrath, the servants of sin, the subjects of death, and all other miseries, spiritual, temporal, and eternal, unless the Lord Jesus set them free.” so we see that sin is not something that we chosse to do but something that we are bron of. a.w. Pink has this to say about sin "Sin is more than an act or a series of acts; it is a man’s make-up." the prince of preachers had this to say “Sin is a deliberate treason against the majesty of God, an assault upon His crown, an insult offered to His throne. Charles h. spurgeon” pink also had this to say about sin “What is sin? Sin is a species of rebellion against God. It is self-pleasing: it is the utter ignoring of God’s claims: being completely indifferent whether my conduct pleases or displeases Him.” Augustine had this to say “Sin comes when we take a perfectly natural desire or longing or ambition and try desperately to fulfill it without God. Not only is it sin, it is a perverse distortion of the image of the Creator in us. All these good things, and all our security, are rightly found only and completely in Him.” so we see throw out the church age sin was in the popet and not cased out. So that is what sin is, but were does man get it well like we saw in genisens “Gen 3:1-3 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God actually say, 'You shall not eat of any tree in the garden'?" And the woman said to the serpent, "We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, 'You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.'" so adam now has taken the heart that we had, wich was peur and not sinful, to a state of sin that was not a state of God but a state that no matter what it was going to sin. This is called total depravity by the reformed Christians, now I must say that not all think that we are totally depraved in are state with God before regeneration form God. What is total depravity? We total depravity is this that man in the state that they are In are utterly and totally sinful. They have no good in them. Some will say that we are not as bad as we could be, but I find this to be against what is in the word of God. Man has been sinful from the start of time we see in the fall (genesis chapter 3, the fall of man) with this fall we have now be put in to a world of sin, and amity with God, that has no right standing with him. We see with the fall that we have now become dead in are sins and trespassers, that man can not get out of with out the help of God, so the big thing is how is sin going to affect us with God and what has to be done to change it.

So what is sin going to do to us with God? Well the fall is the starting point of this whole thing, ( Gen 3:1-24 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God actually say, 'You shall not eat of any tree in the garden'?" And the woman said to the serpent, "We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, 'You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.'"But the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. But the LORD God called to the man and said to him, "Where are you?" And he said, "I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself." He said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?" The man said, "The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate." then the LORD God said to the woman, "What is this that you have done?" The woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate." The LORD God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel." To the woman he said, "I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you." And to Adam he said, "Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, 'You shall not eat of it,' cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return." The man called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all living. And the LORD God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them. Then the LORD God said, "Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever--" therefore the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.) what do we see here, we see how and not only how but why we are like what we are now (a life of sin) but is there a point were we have to say that sin is not something we are born with but that we must do? Well I say this to that what does the word say? Does it say that we are born sinless ( without any sin what so ever) or does it say we are born of sin (the word of that I use there is one that is used because when many say in sin they would be saying that we are born with out sin but in a sinful world) we see in (Psa 51:5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.) so are not born in a sinful mother that was of the same nature was in Adam after the fall? Well what else can we find to back the thinking that we are born with sin in are heart, well lets stay in the old testament for now ( Jer 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?) now this is showing us that we wont know are heart is like this, we see it asks us who can understand it, God does but what about man can man know there own heart? Well if God can and we are all siners with out the help of christ, then what are we? Well the bible say that we are a fool (Psa 14:1 The fool says in his heart, "There is no God." They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds, there is none who does good.) so if we say there is no God and we are a fool then can we know what are hearts are? Well I would hold to say no. the man out of regeneration can not know that his heart is wicked. But that is the old testament what does the new testament say about are hearts, and the sin that we have? (Mat 15:18-20 But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone." ) so what is Christ saying well just look at it, he is saying that what every comes from the mouth is from the heart. When someone says I hate you that is not just them saying it but there heart. There heart is were the sin lies it comes from the heart. The heart is with out a doubt the thing that leads us in to sin. But I think there is yet more to being seen here, what does the sinful act do were is it in the relationship to the cross? Well that can be answered with the verse as well lets look first at were does it come from the sinful act that is. It all goes back to the fall. So then what has happened? Well man is bead in there sins. (Eph 2:1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins ) but with that does it come to all are dead in there sins well yes (1Co 15:22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.) now we are just going to look at the first part, the part that has to do with Adam, as we see that the fall after all is the key to sin, so in Adam all die, meaning what well meaning this, after the fall Adam was now a sinner, but wait I thought we were a sinner from birth, well we are but with Adam he was in the right standing with God with out a atonement for sin because there was no sin to atone for. But after the fall there was. So we all died in Adams fall or sin of eating the fruit. So how can one be in sin because of one man, well that is something that is called when he had kids they were of the same heart and so on and so forth. Now does sin do to us is there a punishment for it? Well again I will go to the bible and see what it says, lets go to the heart of the problem what is the punishment of sin? Well what does the bible say, it says that the punishment for sin is hell, we see this all over the place, the bible gives us a clear pitcher of what will happen if we do not repent of the sins, so the sin that we hold is what kills us? For is it the way of life that we have death? Well lets go to the bible, first I want to say that when we see the word dead in the bible when it is in context to sin like in (1Co 15:22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive) this is in the right standing we have with God not that we are dead in the flesh, now we have a dead spirit of God that makes the flesh sin. The heart is what will bring on to hell the state of the heart with God is what kills, not the dissection that man makes “the chose for God is one that cant be made with out regeneration” that is free will and with that we have the chose to sin or do good but I have showed you that we don't have a say if we sin your not. With sin we are in total bondage to the sin we live in. so what I have showed here to day? Well I have showed that we are in sin all the time and that we have no way out but through Christ and his death on the cross. Now before I end this I would like to say this.

What I have said here in this writing is not one that has come from my own accord but from the heart of the word of God, I put the writings here for you all to get to know the heart of the man before he has the grace of God in him and I wish that we take this as a, reminder of what we are in Christ and what others are on the outside of Christ, I did not bring the writings to you for any other means then to help you know and understand what the sin that he hold is and what it cant do to us. I pray that all have the writings I put out there in this that they do not think I am putting them to shame but only, to bring the light of what man is in everyday of his life to light for all of us the unsaved and the saved. May the gory go to God and God only with the writings I have done.

Soli deo Gloria

may God bring the grace that I have gotten to your hearts today and for ever more, amen.

Gal 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.