Nehushtan

The Nehushtan (or Nehustan, Hebrew: נחושתן or נחש הנחושת) is a sacred object in the form of a bronze snake upon a pole. It is most well known for its mention in the Bible where it was used by Moses to save the Israelites from snake bites. The Bible also records that it was worshipped for a period of time in the Kingdom of Judah and incense was offered to it. It was therefore destroyed by King Hezekiah as idolatrous.
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(n.)
A thing of brass; -- the name under which the Israelites worshiped the brazen serpent made by Moses.
  

Nehushtan (Hebrew) [from nahash to whisper, practice divination] A serpent, both actual and mystical, especially the brazen or brass serpent; Hezekiah "brake the images, and cut down the groves, and brake in pieces the brazen serpent that Moses had made: . . . and he called it Nehushtan" (2 Kings 28:4). Both the verbal root and its derivative nouns involve the meaning, not only of an omen or augury, but also enchantment, magic, incantation.

a trifling thing of brass
  

(a thing of brass), the name by which the brazen serpent made by Moses in the wilderness, (Numbers 21:9) was worshipped in the time of Hezekiah. (2 Kings 18:4) It is evident that our translators by their rendering "and he called it Nehushtan" understood that the subject of the sentence is Hezekiah and that when he destroyed the brazen serpent he gave it the name Nehushtan "a brazen thing" in token of his utter contempt. But it is better to understand the Hebrew as referring to the name by which the serpent was generally known, the subject of the verb being indefinite- "and one called it 'Nehushtan.'"