Dict: smith - MOUSE

smith:

MOUSE - M>@ - (the corn-eater). The name of this animal occurs in kjv@Leviticus:11:29; kjv@1Samuel:6:4-5; kjv@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 ( kjv@1Samuel: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.