Deconstructing Nehushtan

Sharing Options

“There is another sense in which we can ‘burn incense’ to a work of art. We can overmystify it, ascribing to it supernatural or religious functions The passage on the destruction of the serpent image says that ‘it was called Nehushtan.’ The Hebrew is rather ambiguous here, but the King James Version, in what scholars agree is a legitimate reading, translates the passage ‘and he [that is, Hezekiah] called it Nehushtan,” which means a piece of brass. Hezekiah’s reform, in other words, was not only to destroy the image but to demystify it. He broke the image and said that it was nothing more than a piece of brass. One way to defeat idolatry is to demystify the idol.” [Gene Veith, State of the Arts (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 1991), pp. 225]

Subscribe
Notify of
guest
0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments