2 Kings 18:4

4 He removed the high places, smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles. He broke into pieces the bronze snake Moses had made, for up to that time the Israelites had been burning incense to it. (It was called Nehushtan.^[a] )

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2 Kings 18:4 in Other Translations

KJV

4 He removed the high places, and brake the images, and cut down the groves, and brake in pieces the brasen serpent that Moses had made: for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it: and he called it Nehushtan.

ESV

4 He 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 made offerings to it (it was called Nehushtan).

NLT

4 He removed the pagan shrines, smashed the sacred pillars, and cut down the Asherah poles. He broke up the bronze serpent that Moses had made, because the people of Israel had been offering sacrifices to it. The bronze serpent was called Nehushtan.

MSG

4 He got rid of the local fertility shrines, smashed the phallic stone monuments, and cut down the sex-and-religion Asherah groves. As a final stroke he pulverized the ancient bronze serpent that Moses had made; at that time the Israelites had taken up the practice of sacrificing to it - they had even dignified it with a name, Nehushtan (The Old Serpent).

CSB

4 He removed the high places and shattered the sacred pillars and cut down the Asherah [poles]. He broke into pieces the bronze snake that Moses made, for the Israelites burned incense to it up to that time. He called it Nehushtan.

2 Kings 18:4 Meaning and Commentary

2 Kings 18:4

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 ) ( 2 Chronicles 28:24 2 Chronicles 28:26 ) , groves and idols in them, were early instances of idolatry; (See Gill on Judges 3:7), and their use for temples are still continued, not only among some Indian nations ^F12, but among some Christians in the northern parts of Europe ^F13;

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 ^F14 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 ^F15 say, ground it to powder, and scattered it to every wind, that there might be no remains of it.

FOOTNOTES:

F12 See Dampier's Voyage, vol. 1. p. 411.
F13 Vid. Fabritii Bibliograph. Antiqu. c. 9. sect. 11.
F14 Cli Yaker, fol. 538. 2.
F15 T. Bab. Avodah Zarah, fol. 44. 1.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

2 Kings 18:4 In-Context

2 He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-nine years. His mother’s name was Abijah daughter of Zechariah.

3 He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, just as his father David had done.

5 Hezekiah trusted in the LORD, the God of Israel. There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before him or after him.

6 He held fast to the LORD and did not stop following him; he kept the commands the LORD had given Moses.

Cross References 4

1. 2 Chronicles 31:1; Isaiah 36:7
2. 2 Kings 12:3; 2 Kings 21:3
3. S Exodus 23:24
4. Numbers 21:9

Footnotes 1

[a]. "Nehushtan" sounds like the Hebrew for both "bronze" and "snake" .