Mouse

עכבר , in Chaldee acalbar, probably the same with the aliarbui of the Arabians, or the jerboa, Lev 11:29; 1Sa 6:4-5; 1Sa 6:11; 1Sa 6:18; Isaiah 46:17. All interpreters acknowledge that the Hebrew word achbar signifies a “mouse,” and more especially a “field mouse.” Moses declares it to be unclean, which insinuates that it was sometimes eaten; and, indeed, it is affirmed that the Jews were so oppressed with famine during the siege of Jerusalem by the Romans, that, notwithstanding this prohibition, they were compelled to eat dogs, mice, and rats. Isa 66:17, justly reproaches the Jews with eating the flesh of mice and other things that were impure and abominable. It is known what spoil was made by mice in the fields of the Philistines, 1Sa 6:5-6, &c, after this people had brought into the country the ark of the Lord; so that they were obliged to take the resolution to send it back, accompanied with mice and emerods of gold, as an atonement for the irreverence they had committed, and to avert from their land the vengeance that pursued them. Judea has suffered by these animals in other times. William, archbishop of Tyre, records, that in the beginning of the twelfth century a penitential council was held at Naplouse, where five and twenty canons were framed for the correction of the manners of the inhabitants of the Christian kingdom of Jerusalem, who, they apprehended, had provoked God to bring upon them the calamities of earthquakes, war, and famine. This last the archbishop ascribes to locusts and devouring mice, which had for four years together so destroyed the fruits of the earth, as seemed to cause almost a total failure in their crops. Bochart has collected many curious accounts relative to the terrible devastation made by these animals.

The word occurs where, it seems, the nomenclature in modern zoology would point out two species of distinct genera (Lev 11:29; 1Sa 6:4-5; 1Sa 6:11; 1Sa 6:18; Isa 66:17). It is likely that the Hebrews extended the acceptation of the word achbar, in the same manner as was the familiar custom of the Greeks, and still more of the Romans, who included within their term mus several species, such as shrews, stoats, etc. In the above texts, all in 1 Samuel 6 apparently refer to the short-tailed field mouse, which is still the most destructive animal to the harvests of Syria, and is most likely the species noticed in antiquity and during the crusades; for had they been jerboas in shape and resembled miniature kangaroos, we would expect William of Tyre to have mentioned the peculiar form of the destroyers, which was then unknown to Western Europe; whereas, they being of species or appearance common to the Latin nations, no particulars were required. But in Leviticus and Isaiah, where the mouse is declared an unclean animal, the species most accessible and likely to invite the appetite of nations who, like the Arabs, were apt to covet all kinds of animals, even when expressly forbidden, were, no doubt, the hamster and the dormouse; and both are still eaten in common with the jerboa, by the Bedouins, who are but too often driven to extremity by actual want of food.

In the Scriptures, is used chiefly of the field mouse, but probably includes various species of these animals, some of which were eaten. Moses, Lev 11:29, declared it to be unclean, yet it was sometimes eaten; and Isa 66:17, reproaches the Jews with this practice. The hamster and the dormouse, as well as the jerboa, are sometimes used for food by the modern Arabs. Mice made great havoc in the fields of the Philistines, after that people had taken the ark of the Lord; which induced them to send it back with mice and emerods of gold, 1Sa 5:6,9,11 6:4-5. The field mice are equally prevalent in those regions at the present day. See HAMATH.\par

Mouse. (the corn-eater). The name of this animal occurs in Lev 11:29; 1Sa 6:4-5; Isa 66:17. The Hebrew word is in all probability, generic, and is not intended to denote any particular species of mouse. The original word denotes a field-ravager, and may, therefore, comprehend any destructive rodent. Tristram found twenty-three species of mice in Palestine. It is probable that in 1Sa 6:5, the expression, "the mice that mar the land," includes, and, more particularly, refers to the short-tailed field-mice (Arvicola agrestis, Flem.), which cause great destruction to the corn-lands of Syria.

’akbar. The "jumping mouse," Dipus jaculus Egyptius (Gesenius); or as the Arabic farah, any small rodent (Tristram); the field mouse or vole, with larger head, shorter ears and tail, and stouter form, than the house mouse; and the long-tailed field mouse, Mus sylvaticus. The ravages of these rodents among grain, etc., made the Philistines propitiate with "golden mice" (five answering to their five political divisions and lords) the God whose instrument of "marring the land" they were (1 Samuel 6). The scourges on them were humiliating to their pride, the tiny mouse and hemorrhoids in the back, where for a warrior to be smitten is a shame (Psa 78:66). So Sminthian Apollo was worshipped in Crete and the Troad; derived from smintha, Cretan for "mouse"; Apollo was represented with one foot upon a mouse. The Egyptian account of Sennacherib’s discomfiture was that the gods sent mice which gnawed his archers’ bowstrings, in his expedition to Egypt. The mouse was legally unclean (Isa 66:67).

Mouse. Tristram found 23 species of mice in Palestine. In Lev 11:29, and Isa 66:17 this word is doubtless used generically, including as unclean even the larger rat, jerboa, dormouse, and sand-rat. They made great havoc in the fields of the Philistines after that people had taken the ark of the Lord. 1Sa 6:4-5.

akbar. The Hebrew word refers to some species of rodent, and the word may include the field mouse, the hamster, and the jerboa, all of which are found in Palestine, and are very destructive to the crops. They were forbidden for food as unclean. Lev 11:29; Isa 66:17. When the Philistines returned the ark, they sent as a trespass offering images of their emerods, and images of the mice that ’marred the land.’ 1Sa 6:4-18.

(Hebr. "'akbar"):

By: Solomon Schechter, I. M. Casanowicz

An animal enumerated among the unclean "creeping things" in Lev. xi. 29. In I Sam. vi., where the reference is to the mice sent as a plague upon the Philistines to ravage their fields, "'akbar" may denote specifically the field-mouse, while elsewhere the term probably includes the whole family of small rodents, as the rat, marmot, jerboa, etc. In Isa. lxvi. 17 eating the mouse is placed in the same category with eating swine's flesh. For the legendary action of mice in the destruction of Sennacherib's army see Herodotus, ii. 141.

In the Talmud the term "'akbar" apparently includes also the rat (comp. B. M. 97a, where the case is mentioned of a cat being killed by 'akbarim). A distinction is made between house-, field-, and watermice (Ḥul. 126b, 127a, and parallels), as also between black, gray, and white ones (Pes. 10b). The mouse is an object of disgust (Suk. 36b). It is of malicious nature, since it causes destruction (to cloth and wood) without any profit to itself (Hor. 13a). Even a human corpse is not safe from it (Shab. 151b and parallels). Hence its many enemies, e.g., the cat, the fox, the hedgehog, the weasel, and man (B. Ḳ. 80a). But no mouse robs another one (Pes. 10b). Eating of anything which a mouse has gnawed weakens the memory; hence the cat, which eats the mice themselves, does not recognize its master (Hor. 13a). Mice often carry away bright objects, as coins, rings, etc.; and a miser who buries his money is called a "mouse lying upon its denarii" (Sanh. 29b). Another proverb which is cited in connection with the mouse is: "Not the mouse is the thief, but the hole" (i.e., the receiver of stolen goods; 'Er. 30a).

Bibliography:

Tristram, Nat. Hist. p. 122;

Lewysohn, Z. T. pp. 105, 269.

MOUSE (‘akbâr).—Probably a generic term including field-mice, hamsters, dormice, and even jerboas. The male of the last named is called ‘akbâr by the Arabs. All these small rodents are exceedingly plentiful in Palestine. The hamster (Cricetus phœus) and the jerboa, of which three varieties have been found in the land, are eaten by the Arabs (cf. Isa 66:17). Metal mice as amulets have been found in the Palestine plain (cf. 1Sa 6:4-5). The mouse was forbidden food to the Israelites (Lev 11:28).

E. W. G. Masterman.

Mouse. About 40 kinds of mice are found in the Holy Land. These include house and field mice, moles, small rats, jerboas, and even hamsters. Arabs ate hamsters, but the Hebrew people considered all rodents unclean (Lev 11:29; Isa 66:17).

In spite of its small size, the mouse is one of the most destructive animals in the world. Swarms of mice threatened grain crops in ancient times. When the Philistines stole the ARK OF THE COVENANT, God punished them by sending a swarm of mice which infected them with a disease (1Sa 6:4-5; 1Sa 6:11; 1Sa 6:18); (rats, NKJV).