Talmud zu Könige II 18:4

King Hezekiah decided four things, and his decision was in accordance with the will of the Omnipresent God. He hid the Book of Healing, and his decision was in accordance with the will of the Omnipresent God. He broke apart the copper snake, and his decision was in accordance with the will of the Omnipresent God [as it says in II Kings 18:4, “Until those days, the children of Israel had been burning incense to it, and it was called Nekhushatan (‘the snake god’)”]. He removed the shrines and altars, and his decision was in accordance with the will of the Omnipresent God, as it says (II Chronicles 32:12), “Hezekiah removed His shrines and His altars and spoke to Judah and Jerusalem, and said: Will you bow down before one altar, and burn incense upon it?” He stopped up the waters of Gihon, and his decision was in accordance with the will of the Omnipresent God, as it says (II Chronicles 32:30), “Hezekiah stopped up the spring of the waters of [upper] Gihon, leading it downward, west of the City of David. And Hezekiah was successful in all that he did.”

⁹⁸Babli 43b/44a, Tosephta 3:19. The speaker is R. Yose the Tanna who objects to the statement that the idol has to be dumped into the Dead Sea; he brings examples of disposition of pagan idols in other ways. Rebbi Yose objected to the rabbis, is it not written: your sin which you had made, the calf⁹⁹Deut. 9:21.? They told him, this teaches that he intended to examine them in the way one examines deviant wives: he strewed it on the surface of the water¹⁰⁰Ex. 32:20. As usual, the argument is from the part of the verse which is not quoted, viz., he let the Children of Israel drink. The deviant wife has to drink water mixed with dust from the floor of the Sanctaury, Num. 5:11–31..He said to them, is it not written, and also Maacah, king Asa’s mother, he removed from power¹⁰¹1K. 15:13.? They told him, is there proof from there? Asa cut down¹⁰²Since Asa burned his mother’s Ashera, there is no doubt that burning a wooden statue is as good as bringing it to the Dead Sea. etc. He told them, he beat the bronze serpent to pieces¹⁰³2K. 18:4.. Was this an object of worship? Did not Moses make it? This teaches that Israel was erring after it until Hezekias came and removed it¹⁰⁴Here ends the Genizah fragment G edited by Epstein; on the next line starts one (ג) edited by Ginzberg (pp. 278–279) of which, however, not very much is legible..