Bible Dictionary
SERPENT WORSHIP
Serpent worship refers to the proposed veneration of serpents as religious objects. Scripture records that Hezekiah destroyed the bronze serpent when it had become an object of idolatrous honor, but the claim that Israel practiced a formal serpent cult is uncertain.
Biblical Usage
The bronze serpent narrative is the principal biblical evidence used in arguments for serpent worship in Israel. Hezekiah’s destruction of the object shows that it had become an occasion of idolatrous honor. The material does not establish that a formal serpent cult existed in Israel.