In the Bible, the term "mouse" appears in several contexts, primarily within the Old Testament. The Hebrew word often translated as "mouse" is "ʿakhbar" (עַכְבָּר), which is generally understood to refer to small rodents, including mice and possibly other similar creatures.

Biblical References:

1. Leviticus 11:29 · In the dietary laws given to the Israelites, the mouse is listed among the creatures that are considered unclean: "Of the animals that move along the ground, these are unclean for you: the weasel, the rat, any kind of great lizard." . The inclusion of the mouse in this list underscores its status as an impure animal, not to be consumed by the Israelites, reflecting the broader Levitical emphasis on holiness and separation from practices deemed unclean.

2. Isaiah 66:17 · The prophet Isaiah speaks against those who engage in idolatrous practices, including the consumption of unclean animals: "Those who consecrate and purify themselves to enter the groves, following after one in the midst of those who eat the flesh of pigs and rats and other abominable things—they will meet their end together with the one they follow," declares the LORD. . Here, the mouse is associated with pagan rituals and abominations, further highlighting its negative connotations within the biblical text.

3. 1 Samuel 6:4-5 · In the narrative concerning the Ark of the Covenant and the Philistines, mice play a symbolic role. After suffering plagues, the Philistines decide to return the Ark to Israel along with a guilt offering: "What guilt offering should we send back to Him?" they asked. "Five gold tumors and five gold rats, according to the number of the Philistine rulers, because the same plague has struck both you and your rulers." . The mice, represented by golden images, symbolize the devastation brought upon the Philistines, possibly indicating a plague of rodents as part of their divine punishment.

Cultural and Theological Significance:

In the biblical context, the mouse is emblematic of uncleanness and is often associated with judgment and divine retribution. Its presence in the dietary laws and prophetic writings serves as a reminder of the Israelites' call to holiness and separation from practices that defile. The mouse's role in the narrative of the Ark and the Philistines further illustrates the theme of God's sovereignty and the consequences of opposing His will.

Theologically, the mouse's depiction in Scripture underscores the importance of obedience to God's commandments and the dangers of idolatry and impurity. It serves as a symbol of the broader biblical theme of the distinction between the holy and the profane, a recurring motif throughout the Old Testament.Mouse

(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.

Mouse

In the Scriptures, is used chiefly of the field mouse, but probably includes various species of these animals, some of which were eaten. Moses, Le 11:29, declared it to be unclean, yet it was sometimes eaten; and Isaiah 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, 1 Samuel 5:6,9,11 6:4-5. The field mice are equally prevalent in those regions at the present day. See HAMATH.

Hebrews `akhbar, "swift digger"1 Samuel 6:4). In Leviticus 11:29, Isaiah 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 Samuel 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.) 1. (n.) Any one of numerous species of small rodents belonging to the genus Mus and various related genera of the family Muridae. The common house mouse (Mus musculus) is found in nearly all countries. The American white-footed, or deer, mouse (Hesperomys leucopus) sometimes lives in houses. See Harvest.

2. (n.) A knob made on a rope with spun yarn or parceling to prevent a running eye from slipping.

3. (n.) Same as Mousing.

4. (n.) A familiar term of endearment.

5. (n.) A dark-colored swelling caused by a blow.

6. (n.) A match used in firing guns or blasting.

7. (v. i.) To watch for and catch mice.

8. (v. i.) To watch for or pursue anything in a sly manner; to pry about, on the lookout for something.

9. (v. t.) To tear, as a cat devours a mouse.

10. (v. t.) To furnish with a mouse; to secure by means of a mousing. See Mouse, n., 2.

MOUSE; MICE

mous, mis (`akhbar; Septuagint mus, "mouse"; compare Arabic `akbar, "jerboa" not 'akbar, "greater"; compare also proper noun, `akhbor, "Achbor" (Genesis 36:38 1 Chronicles 1:49; also 2 Kings 22:12, 14 Jeremiah 26:22; Jeremiah 36:12)): The word occurs in the list of unclean "creeping things" (Leviticus 11:29), in the account of the golden mice and tumors (the King James Version and the American Revised Version margin "emerods") sent by the Philistines (1 Samuel 6:4-18), and in the phrase, "eating swine's flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse" (Isaiah 66:17). The cosmopolitan housemouse, Mus musculus, is doubtless the species referred to. The jerboa or jumping mouse, Arabic yarbu, is eaten by the Arabs of the Syrian desert, Northeast of Damascus. Possibly allied to `akhbar is the Arabic `akbar (generally in plural, `akabir), used for the male of the jerboa.

Alfred Ely Day

3475. Mouses -- Moses, a leader of Isr.
... (mousea) -- 1 Occurrence. (mousei) -- 8 Occurrences. (mouseos) -- 23 Occurrences.
(mouse) -- 1 Occurrence. (mousen) -- 4 Occurrences. (mouses) -- 43 Occurrences ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/3475.htm - 6k5909. akbar -- a mouse
... 5908, 5909. akbar. 5910 . a mouse. Transliteration: akbar Phonetic Spelling:
(ak-bawr') Short Definition: mice. Word Origin ... mouse (1). mouse. ...
/hebrew/5909.htm - 6k

5907. Akbor -- "mouse," an Israelite, also an Edomite
... Akbor or Akbor. 5908 . "mouse," an Israelite, also an Edomite. Transliteration:
Akbor or Akbor Phonetic Spelling: (ak-bore') Short Definition: Achbor. ...
/hebrew/5907.htm - 6k

The Eternal Revolution
... makes no remark on the subject. She does not even say that the cat is
enviable or the mouse pitiable. We think the cat superior ...
//christianbookshelf.org/chesterton/orthodoxy/vii the eternal revolution.htm

Whether the Just Man Alone May Eat Christ Sacramentally?
... Man when he was in honor did not understand; he hath been compared to senseless
beasts, and made like to them." But an irrational animal, such as a mouse or a ...
/...//christianbookshelf.org/aquinas/summa theologica/whether the just man alone.htm

The Heathens Made Gods Like Themselves, Whence Springs all ...
... If a mouse bore through an altar built of clay, and for want of something else gnaw
through an oil flask; if a cock that is being fattened crow in the evening ...
/.../clement/the stromata or miscellanies/chapter iv the heathens made gods.htm

Hence is Also that which Thou Hast Mentioned that they Speak Of...
... Nor is it only in authors of secular letters, as in Horace, [2437] that mouse speaks
to mouse, and weasel to fox, that through a fictitious narration a true ...
//christianbookshelf.org/augustine/against lying/section 28 hence is also.htm

I Shall Explain to You Also How it is that the Soul is Transfused ...
... eaten. If one kills a chicken, [1508] he will be a chicken himself. If
one kills a mouse, he will also become a mouse himself. If ...
/.../the acts of the disputation with the heresiarch manes/9 i shall explain to.htm

The Use of the Symbolic Style by Poets and Philosophers.
... as Pherecydes of Syros relates, sent to Darius, on his passing the Ister in threat
of war, a symbol, instead of a letter, consisting of a mouse, a frog, a bird ...
/.../clement/the stromata or miscellanies/chapter viii the use of the.htm

Off Duty
... When they feel lonely, the prisoners are glad to have the company of even
a little mouse. ... he brought another little mouse with him. ...
/.../carpenter/the angel adjutant of twice born men/xiv off duty.htm

Lessons from Nature
... lofty crags, virgin as yet to human foot, the chamois leaps from ledge to ledge;
and away, where human voice was never heard, the marmot, the mouse, and the ...
/.../spurgeon/spurgeons sermons volume 17 1871/lessons from nature.htm

Barnaba Epistole
... Mouse Mouse, katabethi to tachos, hoti enomesen ho laos sou, ohus exegages ek ges
Aiguptou, kai suneken Mouses kai eripsen tas duo plakas ek ton cheiron autou ...
//christianbookshelf.org/lake/the apostolic fathers/barnaba epistole.htm

Description of the Symbol of the Hands among the Manich??ans.
... larger than a fly. So on to the young of a locust, and to a locust; and
then to the young of a mouse, and to a mouse. And, to cut ...
/.../chapter 17 name of the.htm

Mouse (2 Occurrences)
... The common house mouse (Mus musculus) is found in nearly all countries. The
American ... 9. (vt) To tear, as a cat devours a mouse. 10. (vt) To ...
/m/mouse.htm - 10k

Field-mouse (1 Occurrence)
Field-mouse. Field-fly, Field-mouse. Fields . Multi-Version
Concordance Field-mouse (1 Occurrence). Leviticus 11:29 ...
/f/field-mouse.htm - 6k

Mice (5 Occurrences)
... Noah Webster's Dictionary 1. (n.) pl of Mouse. 2. (n.) Plural of Mouse.
Int. Standard Bible Encyclopedia. MOUSE; MICE. mous, mis ...
/m/mice.htm - 10k

Ferret (1 Occurrence)
... The LXX. translate it by a word meaning "shrew-mouse," of which there are three
species in Palestine. The Rabbinical writers regard it as the hedgehog. ...
/f/ferret.htm - 11k

Lizard (3 Occurrences)
... names, as follows: 1. Names: (1) choledh, English Versions of the Bible "weasel"
(which see); (2) `akhbar, English Versions of the Bible "mouse" (which see); (3 ...
/l/lizard.htm - 16k

Gecko (1 Occurrence)
... gek'-o (the Revised Version (British and American) for 'anaqah, only in Leviticus
11:30; Septuagint mugale, "shrew mouse" or "field mouse"; the King James ...
/g/gecko.htm - 7k

Coney (2 Occurrences)
... The word "hyrax" (hurax) itself means "mouse" or "shrew-mouse" (compare Latin sorex),
so that it seems to have been hard to find a name peculiar to this animal ...
/c/coney.htm - 12k

Achbor (7 Occurrences)
... Easton's Bible Dictionary Gnawing = mouse. (1.) An Edomitish king (Genesis
36:38; 1 Chronicles 1:49). (2.) One of Josiah's officers ...
/a/achbor.htm - 10k

Mole (2 Occurrences)
... Arabic chafar, "to dig," and perah, "mole" or "rat," for pe'erah, from the root
pa'ar, "to dig"; compare Arabic fa'rat, or farat, "rat," "mouse," from the root ...
/m/mole.htm - 12k

Mourns (13 Occurrences)

/m/mourns.htm - 10k

What is Irreducible Complexity? | GotQuestions.org

What does the Bible say about consumerism? | GotQuestions.org

Is it a sin to share, download, or pirate copyrighted material (music, movies, software) on the internet? | GotQuestions.org

Mouse: Dictionary and Thesaurus | Clyx.com

Bible Concordance • Bible Dictionary • Bible Encyclopedia • Topical Bible • Bible Thesuarus