Mole
☩Levitical Reference
The mole appears in the list of unclean creeping things: 'The weasel, and the mouse, and the tortoise after his kind, and the ferret, and the chameleon, and the lizard, and the snail, and the mole' (Leviticus 11:29-30). Contact with these creatures made one ceremonially unclean.
☩Identification Uncertainty
The Hebrew terms are difficult to identify precisely. The word translated 'mole' (chaphor peroth in Isaiah 2:20) may refer to a burrowing animal, but could indicate mole-rats or other digging creatures common in Palestine. True moles (family Talpidae) are actually uncommon in the region.
☩Isaiah's Prophecy
Isaiah prophesied: 'In that day a man shall cast his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which they made each one for himself to worship, to the moles and to the bats' (Isaiah 2:20). This imagery suggests throwing precious idols into dark holes and caves—places fit only for creatures of darkness—when the LORD arises to shake the earth.
