Mole: Heb. tinshameth
(Leviticus 11:30) probably signifies some species of lizard
(rendered in R.V., "chameleon"). In
(Leviticus 11:18; Deuteronomy 14:16) it is
rendered, in Authorized Version, "swan" (R.V., "horned owl"). The
Heb. holed
(Leviticus 11:29) rendered "weasel," was probably the mole-rat.
The true mole (Talpa Europoea) is not found in Palestine. The
mole-rat (Spalax typhlus) "is twice the size of our mole, with no
external eyes, and with only faint traces within of the rudimentary
organ; no apparent ears, but, like the mole, with great internal
organs of hearing; a strong, bare snout, and with large gnawing
teeth; its colour a pale slate; its feet short, and provided with
strong nails; its tail only rudimentary." In
(Isaiah 2:20) this word is
the rendering of two words haphar peroth, which are rendered by
Gesenius "into the digging of rats", i.e., rats' holes. But these two
Hebrew words ought probably to be combined into one (lahporperoth)
and translated "to the moles", i.e., the rat-moles. This animal
"lives in underground communities, making large subterranean chambers
for its young and for storehouses, with many runs connected with
them, and is decidedly partial to the loose debris among ruins and
stone-heaps, where it can form its chambers with least trouble."
