עבבר, in Chaldee _acalbar_, probably the same with the _aliarbui_
of the Arabians or the _jerboa_, Leviticus xi, 29; 1 Samuel vi, 4, 5,
11, 18; Isaiah xlvi, 17. All interpreters acknowledge that the Hebrew
word _achbar_ signifies a mouse,” and more especially a field mouse.”
Moses declares it to be unclean, which insinuates that it was sometimes
eaten; and, indeed, it is affirmed that the Jews were so oppressed with
famine during the siege of Jerusalem by the Romans, that,
notwithstanding this prohibition, they were compelled to eat dogs, mice,
and rats. Isaiah, lxvi, 17, justly reproaches the Jews with eating the
flesh of mice and other things that were impure and abominable. It is
known what spoil was made by mice in the fields of the Philistines, 1
Sam. vi, 5, 6, &c, after this people had brought into the country the
ark of the Lord; so that they were obliged to take the resolution to
send it back, accompanied with mice and emerods of gold, as an atonement
for the irreverence they had committed, and to avert from their land the
vengeance that pursued them. Judea has suffered by these animals in
other times. William, archbishop of Tyre, records, that in the beginning
of the twelfth century a penitential council was held at Naplouse, where
five and twenty canons were framed for the correction of the manners of
the inhabitants of the Christian kingdom of Jerusalem, who, they
apprehended, had provoked God to bring upon them the calamities of
earthquakes, war, and famine. This last the archbishop ascribes to
locusts and devouring mice, which had for four years together so
destroyed the fruits of the earth, as seemed to cause almost a total
failure in their crops. Bochart has collected many curious accounts
relative to the terrible devastation made by these animals.
of the Arabians or the _jerboa_, Leviticus xi, 29; 1 Samuel vi, 4, 5,
11, 18; Isaiah xlvi, 17. All interpreters acknowledge that the Hebrew
word _achbar_ signifies a mouse,” and more especially a field mouse.”
Moses declares it to be unclean, which insinuates that it was sometimes
eaten; and, indeed, it is affirmed that the Jews were so oppressed with
famine during the siege of Jerusalem by the Romans, that,
notwithstanding this prohibition, they were compelled to eat dogs, mice,
and rats. Isaiah, lxvi, 17, justly reproaches the Jews with eating the
flesh of mice and other things that were impure and abominable. It is
known what spoil was made by mice in the fields of the Philistines, 1
Sam. vi, 5, 6, &c, after this people had brought into the country the
ark of the Lord; so that they were obliged to take the resolution to
send it back, accompanied with mice and emerods of gold, as an atonement
for the irreverence they had committed, and to avert from their land the
vengeance that pursued them. Judea has suffered by these animals in
other times. William, archbishop of Tyre, records, that in the beginning
of the twelfth century a penitential council was held at Naplouse, where
five and twenty canons were framed for the correction of the manners of
the inhabitants of the Christian kingdom of Jerusalem, who, they
apprehended, had provoked God to bring upon them the calamities of
earthquakes, war, and famine. This last the archbishop ascribes to
locusts and devouring mice, which had for four years together so
destroyed the fruits of the earth, as seemed to cause almost a total
failure in their crops. Bochart has collected many curious accounts
relative to the terrible devastation made by these animals.