#nehushtan

[afaljaarad]

[axia-chan]

[x]

[apenitentialprayer]

[W]e have to empty ourselves of the many small or great idols that we have and in which we take refuge, on which we often seek to base our security. They are idols that we sometimes keep well hidden; they can be ambition, careerism, a taste for success, placing ourselves at the center, the tendency to dominate others, the claim to be the sole masters of our lives, some sins to which we are bound, and many others. This evening I would like a question to resound in the heart of each one of you, and I would like you to answer it honestly: Have I considered which idol lies hidden in my life that prevents me from worshiping the Lord? Worshiping is stripping ourselves of our idols, even the most hidden one, and choosing the Lord as the center, as the highway of our lives.

Pope Francis (2013 Homily for the Third Sunday of Easter)

Cast each false idol from its throne, for Christ is Lord, and Christ alone: to God all praise and glory.

Johann Jakob Schütz (Sing Praise to God Who Reigns Above), trans. Frances Elizabeth Cox

I will sprinkle clean water over you to make you clean; from all your impurities and from all your idols I will cleanse you. I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My spirit within you so that you walk in My statutes, observe My ordinances, and keep them.

the Book of the Prophet Ezekiel (36:25-27)

King Hezekiah orders the destruction of Nehushtan, found in MSS Barb.Lat.613, folio 200r.

[haaaaaaaaaaaave-you-met-ted]

Scourge of the Godclaw - Nehushtan by Davesrightmind

[phillipmedhurst]

Revealed Religion : Benjamin West. 022 of 100 Bible images

022 Moses showing the Brazen Serpent Moses showing the Brazen Serpent. 30 August 1793. Print. Line engraving, engraved by John Hall. Published by Thomas Macklin. 310 mm x 247 mm. Royal Academy of Arts collection.

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[ta-chazei]

Michelangelo's 1508 pendentive image of the Israelites deliverance from the plague of serpents by the creation of the bronze serpent on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.

[neobeamu]

[apenitentialprayer]

Don't tread on me snake anon here. I think you're right in terms of snakes sometimes having positive symbolism in Christianity. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I heard somewhere that while Seraphim can mean burning ones, it can also mean serpent, no? Which means that in the Bible there may be angelic beings that are serpent like.

You’re right, yes. The word ‘saraph’ is used to describe snakes and a particular kind of angel. 

You also have Nehushtan, the Bronze Serpent created by Moses to heal the Israelites from the bites of ‘saraph’ snakes. Nehushtan is explicitly identified as a type of Christ by Jesus Himself in the Gospel of John.

Jesus also tells His followers to be ‘wise as serpents’ even as they are ‘innocent as doves’,

Snake symbolism is largely negative in Christian tradition, but it isn’t exclusively so.