Mole

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.

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 Europœa, 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.’

A small animal, which burrows obscurely in the ground, Isa 2:20 . It is common is some parts of Palestine, and is mentioned as unclean in Lev 11:30 ; or, according to Bochart, in Lev 11:29, in the word translated "weasel."\par

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).

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."

Mole. In Lev 11:30 A. V. the Hebrew word is believed to denote the chameleon. The R. V. reads: "And the gecko, and the land-crocodile, and the lizard, and the sand lizard, and the chameleon." Another word rendered "mole," in Isa 2:20, means "the burrower." As no true moles have been found in Palestine, this term may comprehend the various rats and weasels that burrow about ruins.

1. tinshemeth. An animal classed among the unclean, but it is not known definitely what animal is meant by the Hebrew word. It is probably the chameleon, which is adopted in the R.V. It is placed with the lizard and the snail. Lev 11:30. In two places the same word is translated ’swan.’ Lev 11:18; Deu 14:16.

2. chapharperah. This is by most identified with the mole-rat, the spalax typhlus. It is very like a mole: it burrows under the earth and turns up mounds, but it is of a different order from the true mole. These mole-rats have been found in Palestine; they inhabit ruins and stone-heaps, and come out in the night. They may be well classed with the bats to which the idols will be cast in a future day. Isa 2:20.

By: Emil G. Hirsch, I. M. Casanowicz

Traditional rendering of the Hebrew "ḥaparparah" (Isa. ii. 20). Some give "mole" as the translation also of "ḥoled" (Lev. xi. 29), which is, however, generally assumed to mean Weasel. "Tinshemet," which the Septuagint, the Vulgate, and the Targum take for some kind of mole, is commonly admitted to mean either a lizard (Lev. xi. 3) or some kind of bird (ib. verse 18).

The mole proper (Talpa) does not occur in Palestine. The animal which would answer the description of Isa. ii. 20 is the mole-rat (Spalax typhlus), which is common about ruins, loose débris, and stone-heaps, and which in external appearance resembles the mole.

The Talmud has for the mole the terms "tinshemet" (Ḥul. 63a) and "ishut" (Kelim xxi. 3; comp. Targ. to Lev. xi. 30). The mole is described as having no eyes (comp. Aristotle, "History of Animals," iv. 8, 2, and Pliny, "Historia Naturalis," xi. 37, 52)and as being destructive to grain and plants (M. Ḳ. 6b). In Ber. 57b (comp. Tos. to M. Ḳ. 6b) , which Rashi explains by "talpa," is mentioned alongside of the bat and weasel, whose appearance in dreams is a bad omen.

Bibliography:

Tristram, Nat. Hist. p. 120;

Lewysohn, Z. T, p. 101.

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.

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, p^e’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.

Mole. Palestine has no true moles. The few Bible references to moles probably mean a burrowing rat that resembles a mole. "Mole rats" live underground and feed on roots and bulbs, to the distress of farmers. Their tiny ears and eyes are nearly hidden in their thick coats of fur. Because these mole rats live in darkness, the prophet Isaiah referred to them as symbols of the spiritually blind. The NEB translates "dung-beetles" (Isa 2:20). Also see Weasel.

A mole rat is a small rodent that digs holes underground. It is 15 to 23 centimeters (six to nine inches) long. Its scientific name is Spalax ehrenbergi. Many mole rats live in Israel, especially around Jerusalem. Both Leviticus 11:29–30 and Isaiah 2:20 refer to the mole.

The mole rat has no tail and looks somewhat like other moles, though true moles have never lived in Israel. Its teeth are strong and stick out like a squirrel's teeth. It has a short, thick neck and a round body shaped like a sausage. The legs are short with wide feet and sharp claws that help it dig underground.

The animal is covered in soft, thick, gray fur. Both its very small eyes (no bigger than tiny seeds) and its small ears are hidden under its fur. Some traditional beliefs taught that touching a mole rat would make a person blind.

In winter, when the ground is wet, the mole rat builds large mounds of earth where it has its babies. In summer, it builds simpler mounds for resting. Both types of mounds have complex networks of tunnels underneath them. The mole rat eats parts of plants that grow underground, like roots and bulbs. Because it eats these plants, it often causes serious damage to farmers' crops.

See also Animals.

Aquifer Open Bible Dictionary © 2026 Mission Mutual, an adaptation of the Tyndale Open Bible Dictionary © 2023 Tyndale House Publishers. Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.