Heb. tinshameth (Lev. 11:30), probably signifies some species of
lizard (rendered in R.V., "chameleon"). In Lev. 11:18, Deut.
14:16, it is rendered, in Authorized Version, "swan" (R.V.,
"horned owl").
The Heb. holed (Lev. 11:29), rendered "weasel," was probably
the mole-rat. The true mole (Talpa Europoea) is not found in
Israel. 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 Isa. 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."
Mole
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