What is…
Nehushtan
Hebrew: נְחֻשְׁתָּן —transliteration: Nechushtan
Meaning: of copper; a brazen thing
This is a name of contempt given to the bronze serpent Moses had made in the wilderness (Numbers 21:8).
King Hezekiah destroyed it, because the children of Israel began to regard it as an idol and “burn incense to it”
The lapse of hundreds of years had invested the “bronze serpent” with a mysterious sanctity; and in order to deliver the people from their infatuation, and impress them with the idea of its worthlessness, Hezekiah called it, in contempt, “Nehushtan,” a brazen thing, a mere piece of bronze (2 Kings 18:4).
More information