2 Kings 18:4
[Hezekiah] removed the high places, and broke the pillars, and cut down the Asherah. And he broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the people of Israel had burned incense to it; it was called Nehushtan.
Hezekiah was a great reforming king of the Old Testament period. After a long period of decline in which Israel drifted into more and more idolatry, Hezekiah purged the land of idols. Notable among those idols was the very same bronze snake God himself had ordered Moses to make way back in Numbers 21:8-9. Among other things, this demonstrates that we can even take something God himself has given and pervert its use till it stands against God. Indeed, any good gift which God has given remains a good gift only as long as we love it less than the Giver. Today, thank God for his good gifts and use them well. But love God above all things.
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