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Sunday, July 6th, 2025
the Week of Proper 9 / Ordinary 14
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Bahasa Indonesia Sehari-hari

2 Raja-raja 18:4

Dialah yang menjauhkan bukit-bukit pengorbanan dan yang meremukkan tugu-tugu berhala dan yang menebang tiang-tiang berhala dan yang menghancurkan ular tembaga yang dibuat Musa, sebab sampai pada masa itu orang Israel memang masih membakar korban bagi ular itu yang namanya disebut Nehustan.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Brazen Serpent;   Groves;   Hezekiah;   High Places;   Iconoclasm;   Idolatry;   Israel, Prophecies Concerning;   Nehushtan;   Religion;   Revivals;   Scofield Reference Index - Times of the Gentiles;   Thompson Chain Reference - Awakenings and Religious Reforms;   Brazen Serpent;   False;   Groves;   Hezekiah;   High Places;   Iconoclasm;   Idolatry;   Places;   Serpent, Brazen;   Worship, False;   Worship, True and False;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Brass, or Copper;   Groves;   High Places;   Kings;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Brazen Serpent;   Eliakim;   Nehushtan;   Sennacherib;   Temple;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Ahaz;   Baal;   Hezekiah;   Idol, idolatry;   Judah, tribe and kingdom;   King;   Snake;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - King, Kingship;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Brass;   Hezekiah;   Nehushtan;   Serpent, Fiery;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Baal (1);   Grove;   Hezekiah;   High Places;   Idol;   Nehushtan;   Pentateuch;   Seraphim;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Asherah;   Bronze Serpent;   High Place;   Idol;   Kings, 1 and 2;   Nehushtan;   Pilgrimage;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Asherah;   Hezekiah;   Idolatry;   Isaiah, Book of;   Israel;   Philistines;   Rab-Shakeh;   Serpent, Brazen;   Text, Versions, and Languages of Ot;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Serpent;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Nehushtan ;   Serpent of Brass;   The Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary - Hezekiah;   Nehushtan;   Serpent;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Hezekiah;   Kehushtan;   Smith Bible Dictionary - Nehush'tan;   Serpent;   Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types - Rove;   Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary - Nimrod;   Serpent, Brazen;  

Encyclopedias:

- Condensed Biblical Cyclopedia - Kingdom of Judah;   International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Deuteronomy;   Hezekiah (2);   High Place;   Images;   Isaiah;   King;   Nehushtan;   Serpent;   Serpent Worship;   Temple;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Anthropomorphism;   Brazen Serpent;   Copper;   Metals;  

Parallel Translations

Alkitab Terjemahan Baru
Dialah yang menjauhkan bukit-bukit pengorbanan dan yang meremukkan tugu-tugu berhala dan yang menebang tiang-tiang berhala dan yang menghancurkan ular tembaga yang dibuat Musa, sebab sampai pada masa itu orang Israel memang masih membakar korban bagi ular itu yang namanya disebut Nehustan.
Alkitab Terjemahan Lama
Maka dilalukannya segala panggung dan dipecahkannya segala patung yang terdiri dan ditebangnya segala hutan-hutan dan dihancurluluhkannya ular tembaga, perbuatan Musa itu, sebab sampai kepada hari itu bani Israelpun membakar dupa baginya, maka dinamai baginda akan dia Nehustan.

Contextual Overview

1 In the thirde yere of Hosea sonne of Ela king of Israel, it came to passe that Hezekia ye sonne of Ahaz king of Iuda did raigne. 2 Twentie and fyue yeres olde was he when he began to raigne, and raigned twentie and nine yeres in Hierusalem: His mothers name also was Abi, ye daughter of Zacharia. 3 And he dyd that whiche is right in the sight of the Lord, according to al as did Dauid his father. 4 He put away the high places, & brake the images, and cut downe the groues, and all to brake the brasen serpent that Moyses had made: For vnto those dayes the children of Israel dyd burne sacrifice to it: and he called it Nehustan. 5 He trusted in the Lorde God of Israel, so that after him was none lyke him among all the kinges of Iuda, neither were there any such before him. 6 For he claue to the Lorde, and departed not from him: but kept his commaundementes, which the Lorde commaunded Moyses. 7 And the Lorde was with him, so that he prospered in all thinges whiche he toke in hande: And he rebelled against the king of Assyria, and serued him not. 8 He smote the Philistines euen vnto Azza & the coastes therof, both castels where they kept watches, and strong cities.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

removed: 2 Kings 12:3, 2 Kings 14:4, 2 Kings 15:4, 2 Kings 15:35, Leviticus 26:30, 1 Kings 3:2, 1 Kings 3:3, 1 Kings 15:14, 1 Kings 22:43, Psalms 78:58, Ezekiel 20:28, Ezekiel 20:29

brake: 2 Kings 23:4, Deuteronomy 7:5, Deuteronomy 12:2, Deuteronomy 12:3, Judges 6:25, Judges 6:28, 1 Kings 15:12, 1 Kings 15:13, 2 Chronicles 19:3, 2 Chronicles 31:1, 2 Chronicles 33:3

images: Heb. statues

the brazen serpent: Numbers 21:8, Numbers 21:9, John 3:14, John 3:15

unto those days: 2 Kings 16:15

Nehushtan: That is, a piece of brass.

Reciprocal: Exodus 34:13 - ye shall Leviticus 14:45 - break down 2 Kings 10:27 - brake down the image 2 Kings 11:18 - went 2 Kings 13:6 - and there remained 2 Kings 18:22 - whose high places 2 Kings 21:3 - the high places 2 Chronicles 14:3 - cut down 2 Chronicles 23:17 - the house of Baal 2 Chronicles 32:12 - Hath not 2 Chronicles 34:3 - General Isaiah 36:7 - is it not Hosea 11:12 - Judah

Cross-References

Genesis 18:5
And I wyll fet a morsell of bread to comfort your heartes withall, and then shall you go your wayes: for euen therefore are ye come to your seruaunt. And they sayde: do euen so as thou hast sayde.
Genesis 18:15
The Sara denied it, saying: I laughed not: for she was afrayde. And he sayde: it is not so, but thou laughedst.
Genesis 19:2
And he sayde: Oh my Lordes, turne in I praye you, into your seruauntes house, and tary all nyght, and washe your feete, and ye shall ryse vp early to go in your wayes. Whiche sayde, nay: but we wyll byde in the streates all nyght.
Genesis 24:32
And then the ma came into the house, and he vnharnessed the Camelles, and brought lytter and prouender for the Camelles, and water to wash his feete, & the mens feete that were with him.
Genesis 43:24
And the man led them into Iosephes house, and gaue them water to washe their feete, & gaue their asses prouender.
1 Samuel 25:41
And she arose, & bowed her selfe on her face to the earth, and saide: Beholde, let thy handmayd be a seruaunt, to washe the feete of the seruauntes of my lorde.
Luke 7:44
And he turned to the woman, & sayde vnto Simon: Seest thou this woman? I entred into thyne house, thou gauest me no water for my feete, but she hath wasshed my feete with teares, & wyped them with the heeres of her head.
1 Timothy 5:10
And well reported of in good workes, yf she haue brought vp chyldren, yf she haue lodged straungers, yf she haue wasshed the saintes feete, yf she haue ministred vnto them that were in aduersitie, yf she haue ben continually geuen to euery good worke.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

He removed the high places,.... Which the best of the kings of Judah never attempted, and which is observed of them to their discredit:

and broke the images, and cut down the groves; the idols his father set up and served, 2 Kings 16:4, groves and idols in them, were early instances of idolatry; 2 Kings 16:4- :, and their use for temples are still continued, not only among some Indian nations l, but among some Christians in the northern parts of Europe m;

and brake in pieces the brazen serpent that Moses had made; which he made in the wilderness, and which was brought by the children of Israel with them into the land of Canaan, and was kept as a memorial of the miracle wrought by looking to it, being laid up in some proper place where it had been preserved to this day:

for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it not from the time it was brought into Canaan, nor even in later times, in the days of Asa and Jehoshaphat, who would never have suffered it; very probably this piece of idolatry began in the times of Ahaz, who encouraged everything of that kind: for this serpent they had a great veneration, being made by Moses, and a means in his time of healing the Israelites; and they imagined it might be of some service to them, in a way of mediation to God; and worthy of worship, having some degree of divinity, as Kimchi and Ben Gersom; but Laniado n excuses them from all show of idolatry, and supposes what they did was for the honour of God only; hence sprung the heresy of the Ophites, according to Theodoret:

and he called it Nehushtan; perceiving they were ensnared by it, and drawn into idolatry to it, by way of contempt he called it by this name, which signifies "brass"; suggesting that it was only a mere piece of brass, had no divinity in it, and could be of no service to them in divine things; and, that it might no longer be a snare to them, he broke it into pieces; and, as the Jews o say, ground it to powder, and scattered it to every wind, that there might be no remains of it.

l See Dampier's Voyage, vol. 1. p. 411. m Vid. Fabritii Bibliograph. Antiqu. c. 9. sect. 11. n Cli Yaker, fol. 538. 2. o T. Bab. Avodah Zarah, fol. 44. 1.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

He removed the high places - This religious reformation was effected in a violent and tumultuous manner (marginal reference). The “high places,” though forbidden in the Law (Deuteronomy 12:2-4, Deuteronomy 12:11-14; compare Leviticus 26:30), had practically received the sanction of Samuel 1Sa 7:10; 1 Samuel 9:12-14, David 2 Samuel 15:32, Solomon 1 Kings 3:4, and others, and had long been the favorite resorts of the mass of the people (see 1 Kings 3:2 note). They were the rural centers for the worship of Yahweh, standing in the place of the later synagogue;, and had hitherto been winked at, or rather regarded as legitimate, even by the best kings. Hezekiah’s desecration of these time-honored sanctuaries must have been a rude shock to the feelings of numbers; and indications of the popular discontent may be traced in the appeal of Rab-shakeh 2 Kings 18:22, and in the strength of the reaction under Manasseh 2 Kings 21:2-9; 2 Chronicles 33:3-17.

The brasen serpent - See the marginal reference. Its history from the time when it was set up to the date of Hezekiah’s reformation is a blank. The present passage favors the supposition that it had been brought by Solomon from Gibeon and placed in the temple, for it implies a long continued worship of the serpent by the Israelites generally, and not a mere recent worship of it by the Jews.

And he called it Nehushtan - Rather, “And it was called Nehushtan.” The people called it, not “the serpent” נחשׁ nāchâsh, but “the brass,” or “the brass thing” נחשׁתן nechûshtān. Probably they did not like to call it “the serpent,” on account of the dark associations which were attached to that reptile (Genesis 3:1-15; Isaiah 27:1; Psalms 91:13; etc.).

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 2 Kings 18:4. Brake in pieces the brazen serpent. — The history of this may be seen in Numbers 21:8; Numbers 21:9; see the notes there.

We find that this brazen serpent had become an object of idolatry, and no doubt was supposed to possess, as a telesm or amulet, extraordinary virtues, and that incense was burnt before it which should have been burnt before the true God.

And he called it Nehushtan. — נהשתן. Not one of the versions has attempted to translate this word. Jarchi says, "He called it Nechustan, through contempt, which is as much as to say, a brazen serpent." Some have supposed that the word is compounded of נחש nachash, to divine, and תן tan, a serpent, so it signifies the divining serpent; and the Targum states that it was the people, not Hezekiah, that gave it this name. נחש nachash signifies to view, eye attentively, observe, to search, inquire accurately, c. and hence is used to express divination, augury. As a noun it signifies brass or copper, filth, verdigris, and some sea animal, Amos 9:3; see also Job 26:13, and Isaiah 26:1. It is also frequently used for a serpent; and most probably for an animal of the genus Simia, in Genesis 3:1, where see the notes. This has been contested by some, ridiculed by a few, and believed by many. The objectors, because it signifies a serpent sometimes, suppose it must have the same signification always! And one to express his contempt and show his sense, has said, "Did Moses hang up an ape on a pole?" I answer, No, no more than he hanged up you, who ask the contemptible question. But this is of a piece with the conduct of the people of Milan, who show you to this day the brazen serpent which Moses hung up in the wilderness, and which Hezekiah broke in pieces two thousand five hundred years ago!

Of serpents there is a great variety. Allowing that נחש nachash signifies a serpent, I may ask in my turn, What kind of a serpent was it that tempted Eve? Of what species was that which Moses hung up on the pole, and which Hezekiah broke to pieces? Who of the wise men can answer these questions? Till this is done I assert, that the word, Genesis 3:1, c., does not signify a serpent of any kind and that with a creature of the genus Simia the whole account best agrees.


 
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