Bible Dictionary
Mouse
The mouse in Scripture generally denotes a small destructive rodent, especially a field-mouse or similar animal. It was considered unclean, and field-mice were associated with devastation among the Philistines.
Definition
The mouse in Scripture denotes a small, swift, destructive rodent, especially a field-mouse or similar animal. The Hebrew term is probably generic and may include several destructive rodents such as rats, hamsters, and jerboas.
Biblical Usage
Mice were classed among unclean animals. Field-mice were associated with the devastation suffered by the Philistines and with the expression “the mice that mar the land.”
Historical Background
Many species of the group occur in Palestine. Short-tailed field-mice were especially destructive to the grain lands of Syria and could produce effects compared with those of locusts.
Scripture References
Historical Bible Dictionaries
Easton's Bible Dictionary
Heb. ‘akhbar, “swift digger”), properly the dormouse, the field-mouse (1 Sam. 6:4). In Lev. 11:29, Isa. 66:17 this word is used generically, and includes the jerboa (Mus jaculus), rat, hamster (Cricetus), which, though declared to be unclean animals, were eaten by the Arabs, and are still eaten by the Bedouins. It is said that no fewer than twenty-three species of this group (‘akhbar=Arab. ferah) of animals inhabit Palestine. God “laid waste” the people of Ashdod by the terrible visitation of field-mice, which are like locusts in their destructive effects (1 Sam. 6:4, 11, 18). Herodotus, the Greek historian, accounts for the destruction of the army of Sennacherib (2 Kings 19:35) by saying that in the night thousands of mice invaded the camp and gnawed through the bow-strings, quivers, and shields, and thus left the Assyrians helpless. (See SENNACHERIB.)
Smith's Bible Dictionary
(the corn-eater). The name of this animal occurs in (Leviticus 11:29; 1 Samuel 6:4,5; Isaiah 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 (1 Samuel 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.