Num 21:8-9, 8 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live.
God in His anger sent serpents to the Israelites for speaking against Him and His servant Moses. It was an act of judgment and many died having been bit by snakes. It is at their point of repentance that, “8… the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live.” This was a spectacular miracle, a picture of Christ dying on the cross to give life to those bit by sin. Jesus alludes to it in John 3:13-15. It was for a time, for a season with significance not to be repeated but retained for remembrance not worship.
In 2Kin 18:4 the brazen serpent had been carefully preserved, as a memorial of God’s goodness to their fathers in the wilderness. That was the way it should have been but then Hezekiah destroyed it because what was to be a memorial had been turned into an idol people worshiped, 2Kin 18:4. What was a means had been turned into an object of worship. It was considered more precious than the giver. To be continued…