Mole

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MOLE.—1. tinshemeth, Lev_11:30 (AV [Note: Authorized Version.] ‘mole,’ RV [Note: Revised Version.] ‘chameleon’; but same word is in Lev_11:18 and Deu_14:18 tr. [Note: translate or translation.] AV [Note: Authorized Version.] ‘swan,’ RV [Note: Revised Version.] ‘horned owl’). See Chameleon.
2. chaphôr-pçrôth (?‘burrowing animals’), Isa_2:20, may apply to rats, mice, jerboas, etc., as well as ‘moles.’ The true insectivorous mole does not occur in Palestine, but the rodent Spalax typhlus, the mole rat, is very common. It lives entirely underground, has most rudimentary eyes, and makes very long burrows. It is gregarious, and large areas are sometimes covered thick with its hillocks.
E. W. G. Masterman.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
Edited by James Hastings, D.D. Published in 1909


tinshemeth. Rather "chameleon", the inflating animal, as it inflates its body; from nasham "to breathe."(See CHAMELEON.) The lung when filled with air renders its body semi-transparent; from its power of abstinence it was fabled to live on air (Lev_11:30). In Lev_11:18 it is "the ibis," an unclean bird. Of the tree lizard, Dendrosaura, tribe. In Isa_2:20, chephor perot, "moles in KJV, literally, "continual diggers," mice or rats, which bore in deserted places. Mole rats in Syria and Mesopotamia frequent cultivated lands. The ruins of Babylon are perforated on all sides with holes, the abode of "doleful creatures."
Fausset's Bible Dictionary
By Andrew Robert Fausset, co-Author of Jamieson, Fausset and Brown's 1888.


Mole.
1. Tinshemeth. Lev_11:30. It is probable that the animals mentioned with the tinshemeth, in the above passage denote different kinds of lizards; perhaps, therefore, the chameleon is the animal intended.
2. Chephor peroth is rendered "moles" in Isa_2:20. (The word means burrowers, hole-diggers, and may designate any of the small animals, as rats and weasels, which burrow among ruins.
Many scholars, according to McClintock and Strong's "Cyclopedia," consider that the Greek aspalax is the animal intended, by both the words translated mole. It is not the European mole, but is a kind of blind mole-rat, from 8 to 12 inches long, feeding on vegetables, and burrowing like a mole, but on a larger scale. It is very common in Russia, and Hasselquiest says it is abundant on the plains of Sharon in Palestine. — Editor).
Smith's Bible Dictionary
By Dr. William Smith.Published in 1863


This word, in our version of Lev_11:30, answers to the word תנשמת , which Bochart has shown to be the cameleon; but he conjectures, with great propriety, that הלד , translated “weasel,” in the preceding verse, is the true word for the mole. The present name for the mole in the east is khuld, which is undeniably the same word as the Hebrew choled. The import of the Hebrew word is, “to creep into,” and the same Syriac word implies, “to creep underneath,” to creep into by burrowing; which are well known characteristics of the mole.
Biblical and Theological Dictionary by Richard Watson
PRINTER 1849.


mōl ((1) תּנשׁמת, tinshemeth, the King James Version ?mole,? the Revised Version (British and American) ?chameleon?; Septuagint ἀσπάλαξ, aspálax = σπάλαξ, spálax, ?mole,? Vulgate (Jerome's Latin Bible, 390-405 A.D.) talpa, ?mole? (Lev_11:30); (2) חלר, ḥōledh, English Versions of the Bible ?weasel?; Septuagint γαλῆ, galḗ, ?weasel? or ?pole-cat?; compare Arabic khuld, ?mole-rat? (Lev_11:29); (3) חפרפּרות, ḥāphar-pērōth, English Versions of the Bible ?moles?; from חפר, ḥāphar, ?to dig?; compare Arabic ḥafar, ?to dig,? and פּרה, pērāh, ?mole? or ?rat,? for פּארה, pe'ērāh, from the root פּאר, pā'ar, ?to dig?; compare Arabic fa'rat, or fârat, ?rat,? ?mouse,? from the root fa'ar, ?to dig?; Septuagint τοῖς ματαίοις, toı́s mataı́ois, ?vain, idle, or profane persons? (Isa_2:20)): (1) Tinshemeth is the last of 8 unclean ?creeping things? in Lev_11:29, Lev_11:30. The word occurs also in Lev_11:18 and Deu_14:16, translated the King James Version ?swan,? the Revised Version (British and American) ?horned owl,? Septuagint πορφυρίων, porphurı́ōn, ?coot? or ?heron.? See CHAMELEON. (2) Ḥōledh is the first in the same list. The word occurs nowhere else, and is translated ?weasel? in English Versions of the Bible, but comparison with the Arabic khuld has led to the suggestion that ?mole-rat? would be a better translation. See WEASEL. (3) In Isa_2:20, ?In that day men shall cast away their idols ... to the moles and to the bats,? ḥăphar-pērōth, variously written as one word or two, is translated ?moles? in English Versions of the Bible, but has given rise to much conjecture.
The European ?mole,? Talpa europea, is extensively distributed in the temperate parts of Europe and Asia, but is absent from Syria and Palestine, its place being taken by the mole-rat, Spalax typhlus. The true mole belongs to the Insectivora, and feeds on earth-worms and insect larvae, but in making its tunnels and nests, it incidentally injures gardens and lawns. The mole-rat belongs to the Rodentia, and has teeth of the same general type as those of a rat or squirrel, large, chisel-shaped incisors behind which is a large vacant space, no canines, and praemolars and molars with grinding surfaces. It is larger than the mole, but of the same color, and, like the mole, is blind. It makes tunnels much like those of the mole. It is herbivorous and has been observed to seize growing plants and draw them down into its hole. In one of its burrows a central chamber has been found filled with entire plants of the ḥummuṣ or chick-pea, and two side chambers containing pods plucked from the plants in the central chamber. While the mole digs with its powerful and peculiarly shaped front feet, the mole-rat digs with its nose, its feet being normal in shape. See LIZARD.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
PRINTER 1915.


Mole (choled, Lev_11:29, in our version 'weasel'). Although the similarity of sound in names is an unsafe ground to depend upon when it is applied to specific animals, still, the Hebrew and Syriac appearing likewise to imply creeping into, creeping underneath by burrowing?characteristics most obvious in moles?and the Arabic denomination being undoubted, choled may be assumed to indicate the above animal. This conclusion is the more to be relied on as the animal is rather common in Syria, and in some places abundant. Zoologists have considered the particular species to be the Talpa Europ?a, which, under the name of the common mole, is so well known as not to require a more particular description. The ancients represented the mole to have no eyes: which assertion later scientific writers believed they had disproved by showing our species to be possessed of these organs, though exceedingly small. Nevertheless, recent observations have proved that a species, in other respects scarcely, if at all, to be distinguished from the common, is totally destitute of eyes. It is to be found in Italy, and probably extends to the East, instead of the Europea. Moles must not, however, be considered as forming a part of the Rodent order, whereof all the families and genera are provided with strong incisor teeth, like rats and squirrels, and therefore intended for subsisting chiefly on grain and nuts: they are on the contrary supplied with a great number of small teeth, to the extent of twenty-two in each jaw?indicating a partial regimen; for they feed on worms, larvae, and underground insects, as well as on roots, and thus belong to the insectivorous order: which brings the application of the name somewhat nearer to carnivora and its received interpretation 'weasel.'




The Popular Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature
by John Kitto.


Mole
is the rendering in the Auth. Vers. of the Heb. תַּנְשֶׁמֶת, tinshe'meth, in Lev_11:30, where, however, it probably signifies some species of the lizard tribe; but in Lev_11:18; Deu_14:16, it is rendered “swan,” where it evidently refers to some kind of bird. It thus appears to denote two very different kinds of animal, but in neither case the mole. SEE CHAMELEON; SEE SWAN. The mole is thought to be represented by the Heb. חֹלֶד, cho'led, rendered “weasel” in Lev_11:29. This is an animal very abundant in Palestine. SEE WEASEL. The word elsewhere occurs only in the difficult expression, Isa_2:20, לִחְפֹּר פֵּרוֹת, lachphor' peroth' (if regarded as two words, perhaps, to the hole of the rats or burrowers, Sept. τοῖς ματαίοις,Vulg. talpas, Auth. Vers. “to the moles”), which Gesenius (Comment. ad loc.) thinks should be pointed as one word, לִחֲפִרְפֵּרוֹה, lachapharperoth', indicating an animal, חֲפִרְפֵּרָה, chapharperah', so called from digging into the walls of houses, probably the rat, a creature common in every habitable part of the world.
Many scholars “consider the ἀσπάλαξ of the Greeks to be the creature intended by at least the first of the above Hebrew words. Whether this was what modern zoologists would call a mole is, however, rather doubtful Aristotle, in his history of the aspalax, evidently derived from personal and careful examination, describes it as absolutely blind. Now the eyes of our common mole (Talpa Europea), though they are very minute, and so imbedded in the fur as to be readily overlooked by a cursory examiner, are distinctly open, and could not escape the detection of so accurate a physiologist as Aristotle Hence it has been supposed that the aspalax could not have been a Talpa; and another animal has been found to inhabit the east of Europe and west of Asia, which, while possessing much of the form, and even the peculiar structure of the moles, together with their burrowing powers, is absolutely and totally void of sight, the eyes, which are rudimentary specks, being completely covered by the skin of the face, which is quite imperforate. For a while it seemed certain that this was the creature intended; and accordingly the genus was technically named Aspalax by Olivier, the species receiving the appellation of typhlus..
But still more recently a species of true mole, now called Talpa cceca, has been discovered inhabiting Greece, in which the eves are as minute, and as useless, because as completely covered by the skin, as in the aspalax. As the aspalax is larger and more conspicuous than the blind talpa, which, moreover, appears to be rare, on the assumption that the former is the tinshemeth we here devote a few words to its appearance and habits. It belongs to the family Muridce among the Rodents, and is in fact a rat under the guise of a mole. Hence it has been called the mole-rat. The animal is from eight inches to a foot in length, with a great round head, no external ears or eyes, the nostrils opening beneath, the limbs very short, with strong nails formed for digging; the body clothed with a short, thick, soft fur of an ashy hue, and the naked skin of the muzzle, white. It is particularly abundant in the south of Russia, excavating the surface of the vast steppes or level plains, and forming long burrows beneath the turf, with many lateral ramifications. The object of its pursuit is not earthworms or subterraneous larvae, which form. the prey of the true mole; for the mole- rat is exclusively a vegetable feeder, and it drives its runs solely for bulbs and roots, especially for the fleshy root of an umbelliferous plant, the chorophyllum. At frequent intervals the burrow comes to the surface of the soil, and here hillocks are cast up a couple of yards in circumference, and of proportionate height. Altogether its work closely imitates that of the mole, but on a somewhat larger scale. It is said to work energetically and rapidly, and on the approach of an enemy, of which it is warned probably by an acute sense of smell, it instantly turns downward and penetrates the earth perpendicularly.
It is said to devour corn, and to gather large quantities, which it lays up in its deeper galleries for winter supply, in this respect agreeing with many other of the Muridce. Like the mole, it can proceed forward or backward in its burrow with equal celerity. During the early hours of the day a pair may often be seen near the entrance of a hole, basking in the sun, but instantly disappearing on alarm. The least noise excites it; though it cannot see, it lifts its head to listen, in a menacing attitude, and if its retreat is cut off, it becomes animated with rage and ferocity, snorting and gnashing its teeth, and biting severely, yet uttering no cry, even when wounded. The superstitious peasants of the Ukraine believe that miraculous healing powers are communicated to the hand which has suffocated one of these creatures. The specimens which have been brought from Syria are smaller, and may possibly possess specific distinctness. Hasselquist testifies to their abundance on the plains of Sharon. He had never seen any ground so cast up by moles as in the region between Ramah and Jaffa. The molehills were scarcely a yard apart (Trav., page 120).
“The other term, chaphorperoth, rendered ‘moles' in Isa_2:20, is rather a descriptive periphrase than an appellative. It might be literally rendered ‘the digholes.' The Sept. has adopted a different construction: ‘his idols... which he had made for the purpose of bowing down to the vanities, to the bats.' Perhaps the words may be taken generically, of any creatures which burrow in ruined and desolate places. Travellers describe the ruins of Babylon ‘as perforated throughout with cavities which are inhabited by doleful creatures.' Buckingham speaks of the ‘dens of wild beasts,' the ‘quantities of porcupine quills' in the cavities, and the numbers of bats and owls (Trav. 2:30). ‘These souterrains,' observes Sir Robert Ker Porter, ‘are now the refuge of jackals and other savage animals' (Trav. 2:342). ‘The mound,' says major Keppel, ‘was full of large holes... strewed with the carcasses and skeletons of animals recently killed' (Nar. 1:180). The total and final degradation of idols, and their removal out of sight and remembrance, we may understand by the phrases employed.”

CYCLOPEDIA OF BIBLICAL, THEOLOGICAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL
press 1895.





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