 in the biblical book of numbers, the nehushtan (or nohestan) (hebrew: × ×××©×ª× or × ××© ×× ×××©×ª) was a "bronze serpent" on a pole which god told moses to erect to prevent the israelites who saw it of dying from the bites of "fiery serpents" which god had sent to punish them for speaking against god and moses. later in the biblical story, king hezekiah institutes a religious iconoclastic reform and destroys "the brazen serpent that moses had made; for unto those days the children of israel did offer to it; and it was called nehushtan." () ==alternate transliterations== the name is transliterated as "nohestan" in the douay-rheims 1899 american edition,https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+kings+18%3a4&version=dra as "nâchushtan" in the complete jewish biblehttps://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+kings+18%3a4&version=cjb and as "nechushtan" in the orthodox jewish bible.https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+kings+18%3a4&version=ojb ==serpent image==  snake cults had been well established in canaan in the bronze age: archaeologists have uncovered serpent cult objects in bronze age strata at several pre-israelite cities in canaan: two at megiddo,gordon loud, megiddo ii: plates plate 240: 1, 4, from stratum x (dated by loud 1650-1550 bc) and statum viib (dated 1250-1150 bc), noted by joines 1968:245f. one at gezer,r.a.s. macalister, gezer ii, p. 399, fig. 488, noted by joiner 1968:245 note 3, from the high place area, dated late bronze age. one in the kodesh hakodashim (holy of holies) of the area h temple at hazor,yigael yadin et al. hazor iii-iv: plates, pl. 339, 5, 6, dated late bronze age ii (yadiin to joiner, in joiner 1968:245 note 4). and two at shechem.callaway and toombs to joiner (joiner 1968:246 note 5). according to lowell k. handy, the nehushtan may have been the symbol of a minor god of snakebite-cure within the temple.lowell k. handy, the appearance of pantheon in judah, in diana vikander edelman, "the triumph of elohim", 1995, p.41 ==biblical context== {{see also|serpent (bible)#ser
Book_of_Exodus Deities_in_the_Hebrew_Bible Hebrew_Bible_objects Legendary_serpents Midian Moses Supernatural_healing