Serpent

Boyd’s Bible Dictionary:

(creeper). The Hebrew original embraces the entire serpent genus. Serpents numerous and venomous in Bible lands. The word appears in Scripture under various names; adder, supposedly the cerastes (Gen. 49:17); asp, or cobra (Deut. 32:33); cockatrice (Jer. 8:17); viper (Job 20:16). Subtile (Gen. 3:1); wise (Matt. 10:16); poisonous (Prov. 23:32); sharp-tongued (Psa. 140:3); charmed (Psa. 58:5); emblem of wickedness (Matt. 23:33); cruelty (Psa. 58:4); treachery (Gen. 49:17); the devil (Rev. 12:9-15); fiery serpents sent as a punishment (Num. 21:6); sight of “brazen serpent,” an antidote for poison of bite (Num. 21:8-9); “fiery flying serpent,” a probable allusion to dragon (Isa. 14:29).

Concise Bible Dictionary:

The Hebrew word most commonly translated serpent is nachash, agreeing with ὅφις in the New Testament, so called because of its “hissing.” These words are used for the serpent that beguiled Eve (Gen. 3:1-14; 2 Cor. 11:3), and in other passages where Satan is alluded to (Isa. 27:1; Rev. 12:9-15; Rev. 20:2). SERPENT (COBRA).
Satan has succeeded in causing the serpent to be worshipped all over the world. Nachash is also the word for the serpents that bit the Israelites in Numbers 21:6-9. In Numbers 21:8, for the serpent that Moses was told to make, the word is saraph, “FIERY SERPENT,” signifying that the poison burnt like fire, as we say “a burning pain,” though the serpents may also have been of a red color. From the bite of these serpents much people died.
The serpents mentioned in Isaiah 14:29 and Isaiah 30:6, are described as “FIERY FLYING SERPENTS.” There is no known species of serpent that fly: the allusion may be to those which dart short distances from tree to tree; but in both the passages the language is figurative.
Three other words are translated “serpent:” zachal (Deut. 32:24); tannin (Ex. 7:9-12)—to what particular species these refer is not known; and ἑρπετόν (James. 3:7), this word refers to any creeping thing or reptile.
The taming and charming of serpents is alluded to, which shows that it was an ancient practice (Psa. 58:4-5; Eccl. 10:11; Jer. 8:17).
The Lord bade His disciples be as wise as serpents, probably an allusion to Genesis 3:1. The word “subtle” there is translated by the same word in the LXX as used in this passage. It is “prudence.”
King Cobra

From Manners and Customs of the Bible:

Psalm 58:4-5. They are like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear; which will not hearken to the voice of charmers, charming never so wisely.
Serpent charming has from remote times been practiced among Oriental nations. While there is doubtless imposture often associated with the exhibitions of serpent charmers, yet there are many carefully observing travelers who give it as their opinion, from their own observation, that there are men who, in some way, can detect the presence of serpents in houses and old walls, and can draw them out and keep them from doing mischief by the power of shrill musical notes. Since none of the serpent tribe have any external ear, and consequently can only hear very sharp sounds, it is hardly necessary to explain the deafness of the adder as willful, occasioned, as some old travelers have gravely asserted, by putting one ear to the dust and stopping the other with its tail.
Some travelers give it as their opinion that all the serpents exhibited by the charmers have previously had their fangs extracted, while others assert that some of the serpents thus sported with have afterward given unmistakable evidence of still possessing the death-dealing power. Forbes gives a curious illustration of this. He once painted the picture of a cobra de capello, which a Hindu snake charmer kept dancing on the table for a whole hour, while the artist was at his work. During this time he “frequently handled it to observe the beauty of the spots and especially the spectaclos on the hood, not doubting but that its venomous fangs had been previously extracted.” The next morning his servant informed him, very much to his astonishment, that “while purchasing some fruit in the bazar he had observed the man who had been with me on the preceding evening entertaining the country people with his dancing snakes. They, according to their usual custom, sat on the ground around him, when, either from the music stopping too suddenly, or from some other cause irritating the vicious reptile which I had so often handled, it darted at the throat of a young woman, and inflicted a wound of which she died in about half an hour” (Oriental Memoirs, vol.1, p. 44).
Besides the text, reference is made to serpent charming in several other passages. Solomon refers to it in Ecclesiastes 10:11: “Surely the serpent will bite without enchantment; and a babbler is no better.” In the prophecy of Jeremiah, there is allusion made to the same custom: “For, behold, I will send serpents, cockatrices, among you, which will not be charmed, and they shall bite you, saith the Lord” (Jer. 8:17).

Related Books and Articles: