Nehushtan was the name assigned to Moses' bronze serpent when Hezekiah destroyed it during his religious reforms. The word is likely a contemptuous pun, meaning 'mere bronze thing' or 'bronze idol.' What had been a legitimate sign of God's healing (Numbers 21) had become an object of idolatrous worship. By naming it dismissively, Hezekiah demoted it from sacred relic to mere metal. The name's exact meaning is debated—whether 'bronze god' or simply 'piece of bronze'—but the action was clear: Israel would not worship created things.