2 Kings 18:1-8: a reflection

1Now in the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, Hezekiah the son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign. 2He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Abi the daughter of Zechariah. 3He did that which was right in the LORD’s eyes, according to all that David his father had done. 4He removed the high places, broke the pillars, and cut down the Asherah. He also broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, because in those days the children of Israel burned incense to it; and he called it Nehushtan. 5He trusted in the LORD, the God of Israel, so that after him was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, nor among them that were before him. 6For he joined with the LORD. He didn’t depart from following him, but kept his commandments, which the LORD commanded Moses. 7The LORD was with him. Wherever he went, he prospered. He rebelled against the king of Assyria, and didn’t serve him. 8He struck the Philistines to Gaza and its borders, from the tower of the watchmen to the fortified city.

Hezekiah is one of Judah's finest kings, and among his reforms is a striking one: he broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made. Centuries earlier, God had told Moses to make that bronze serpent, and it had been an instrument of healing and grace in the wilderness. But over time the people had turned it into an idol, burning incense to it, worshiping the object itself. And so Hezekiah, though it was a genuine relic of God's own working, smashed it, and called it Nehushtan, just a piece of bronze.

Notice the courage and clarity of that act. The bronze serpent was not a pagan idol; it was a good thing, a genuine gift and instrument of God, tied to a real moment of his grace. But even a good thing, a real gift of God, had become an idol when the people gave it the worship due to God alone. And Hezekiah saw that its history did not matter; if it had become an object of worship, it had to go, however venerable its origins. He would not let even a good, God-given thing rival God himself.

That is a searching principle. It is not only obviously bad things that become idols; often it is good things, even good gifts of God, blessings, relationships, ministries, traditions, past experiences of God, that we begin to cling to, venerate, or depend on in place of God himself. And the fact that they are good, even God-given, makes them harder to let go. Hezekiah's courage is the model: when even a good thing has become an idol, it must go. Ask whether some good gift has taken the place in your heart that belongs to God alone, and have the courage to break the Nehushtan.

Lord, Hezekiah broke even the bronze serpent, a genuine gift of your grace, because the people had made it an idol. Show me where good things, even your own gifts, blessings, relationships, ministries, past experiences, have taken the place in my heart that belongs to you alone. Give me Hezekiah's courage to deal with them, however good or venerable, when they have become idols. Keep me from letting even your good gifts rival you. You alone deserve my worship.