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Biblical References

The symbol of a snake on a pole first appears in the biblical narrative in 1423 B.C. when God instructed Moses, “Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live.” So, Moses made a bronze serpent, and put it on a pole; and so it was, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived (Numbers 21:8-9, NKJV).

The fiery serpent on a pole remedy was occasioned by the children of Israel’s complaints against God and Moses for their self-assigned journey in the wilderness and the absence of substantial food and water (Numbers 21:4-6). In response to their protests, God sent “fiery serpents” among the people and many died. In response to their repentance, God gave the serpent-on-a-pole instruction to Moses and so death was abated (Numbers 21:7). From the time of its inception in biblical antiquity, the symbol of a serpent on a pole has been associated with medicine, healing, and healthcare.  Michelangelo's image of the serpent on a pole depicting the biblical account on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in 1508.

Although this story passed into Israel’s ancient documented history, the artifact of a serpent on a pole remained an ongoing cultic obsession. Almost 800 years later, in 727 B.C., we find the young King Hezekiah forcibly directing God’s people back to the sole worship of YHWH. “He removed the high places and broke the sacred pillars, cut down the wooden image and broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made; for until those days the children of Israel burned incense to it, and called it Nehushtan” (Hebrew neḥushtān, literally, the bronze thing) (2 Kings 18:4).

The Hebrew Scriptures, also known to Christians as the Old Testament, were translated into the Greek language between the mid-3rd century BCE and the 2nd century BCE in a work called the Septuagint, often abbreviated LXX due to the seventy Hebrew scholars who were thought to have translated it. The Hebrew story of the serpent on a pole thus entered into Greek mythology and became forever entwined with Asclepius, the Greek god of healing and medicine. Jesus made reference to the infamous serpent on the pole in 26 A.D. and drew parallels from its redeeming, healing qualities to his own ministry, stating, “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:14-16).

Today, every region of the world uses the serpent on a pole, or Nehushtan, as King Hezekiah designated it, as the logo representing healing in numerous medical associations and services.