THE MOUSE
Hebrew Dictionary.- “akbar”; prob. From the same as “akkabiysh” from an unused root in the lit. sense of entangling; a spider (as weaving a network), in the second sense of attacking; a mouse (as nibbling).
The Mouse.- In ancient Israel the small rodents (an unclean “swarming thing” often infesting dwellings) were deemed unclean for food while living, and defiling to the touch when dead. The concern was evidently a hygienic one, since infectious disease could be spread by contaminated containers or polluted food, and perhaps also caused agricultural problems.
The rodent mention as part of the diet of those indulging in idolatrous cultic rites was probably a small animal, perhaps the size of a hamster. In ancient Egyptian therapeutics, a freshly killed, skinned mouse was sometimes forced down the throat of a moribund (dying) person (on his last legs) in an attempt to prolong life.
(Web Source): It is certain that stories of mice gnawing the bowstrings of warriors occurs frequently as an explanation of mouse-worship. “One of the Trojan ‘mouse-stories’ ran- that emigrants had set out in prehistoric times from Crete. The oracle advised them to settle ‘wherever they were attacked by the children of the soil.’ At Hamaxitus in the Troad, they were assailed in the night by mice, which ate all that was edible of their armor and bowstrings. The colonists made up their mind that these mice were ‘the children of the soil,’ settled there, and adorned the mouse Apollo (meaning "assembly").
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