Nehushtan: a mere "piece of brass." So Hezekiah named the brazen serpent. He was bent on the work of national reformation. He saw that incense was being burnt to this brazen serpent; that was enough for him. Whatever it might have been to the people in the past, it was clearly a curse now, and had better be destroyed at once.
Observe:
I. A blind veneration for the past is always an obstacle in the path of progress. There are multitudes who cling with unintelligent grasp to institutions and customs simply because they have come down to them from their fathers. If there be a tendency to worship the brazen serpent instead of the living God, then the truest wisdom is to grind it to powder.
II. Even that which has been ordained by God Himself for a blessing may be so misused as to become a curse. We see this in the case (1) of art and science; (2) of the weekly day of rest; (3) of the Bible; (4) of our sanctuaries.
III. Every symbol loses its significance and value in proportion as it is converted into an idol. The brazen serpent was a material token of the pitying mercy of God, a symbol of the Divine power, a reminder of the Divine holiness. But when the Jews began to worship it, its worth departed. And so it always is. (1) Every creedis a symbol, an attempt to express the truth of God in the words of man. Such words are valuable only as pointing to that which is more valuable than themselves. The claim of God is that we honour Him and truth, and burn no incense to mere confessions of faith. (2) The Sacraments also are symbols. Whenever they begin to be idolised, they lose much of their significance and value. (3) The Crossis the grandest symbol in all history. But it is not intended that we should rest in the outward circumstances of the Crucifixion. The looking tothe Cross which brings salvation is a looking throughthe Cross to that which it reveals.
T. C. Finlayson, Contemporary Pulpit,vol. iv., p. 160.
References: 2 Kings 18:4. W. Lindsay Alexander, Sermons,p. 260; T. R. Stevenson, Christian World Pulpit,vol. xi., p. 236; W. Walters, Ibid.,vol. xx., p. 237. 2 Kings 18:4; 2 Kings 18:5. Spurgeon, Sermons,vol. xvi., No. 960. 2 Kings 18:5. Weekly Pulpit,vol. i., p. 3.