devotion. We ha

ve here a remnant of idolatry in the Old Testament. We know, however, that this can only be a subsequent insertion, intended to account retroactively for the existence of such an idol in Jerusalem. For the principal fact r

emains that a brazen serp

• ent idol w
• as destroyed by King Hezeki
• ah under the influence of the pro
• phet Isaiah. The prophets fo
• ught most bitterly agains
• t idolatrous cults that enga
• ged in human sac
• rifice and worshipped anima
• ls, and this struggle
• forms the crux of Ori