2 Kings 18:4

He removed the high places] cp. 2 Kings 18:22. This was the first attempt to put an end to the provincial shrines which had co-existed with the Temple as seats of worship from the time of Solomon onward: see 1 Kings 14:23; 1 Kings 15:14; 1 Kings 22:43; 2 Kings 12:3; 2 Kings 14:4; 2 Kings 15:4; Though dedicated to the service of the Lord, the rites conducted at them were peculiarly liable to corruption, and the interests of true religion were now seen to require their abolition. But the religious reform here described cannot have been very thorough, for the 'high places' built by Solomon for his foreign wives were not destroyed until the reign of Josiah (2 Kings 23:13); and Isaiah, in prophecies belonging to this reign, alludes to graven and molten images as being still objects of adoration (Isaiah 30:22; Isaiah 31:7). The brasen serpent] see Numbers 21:9. Nothing is recorded of its history since the time of Moses. Nehushtan] It is not clear whether this was the name ('the Brasen') by which it was known when an object of worship, or a term of contempt ('a mere piece of brass') applied to it when marked for destruction.