SHREWMICE

[Heb., chaphar·pa·rohthʹ].

Small, mouselike animals covered with fine, short fur. The original-language term is thought to be derived from a root signifying “dig” (Ge 26:15), and therefore a number of scholars have suggested that it may denote any of a variety of burrowing animals, including rats, mice, mole rats, jerboas, and the like. However, according to Koehler and Baumgartner, chaphar·pa·rohthʹ designates “shrewmice.”​—Lexicon in Veteris Testamenti Libros, Leiden, 1958, p. 322.

These creatures have long, slender snouts, tiny eyes, and rounded ears with a rather crumpled appearance. Of enormous appetite, shrewmice can devour more than their own weight in food in a day. They subsist largely on insects and worms, although also feeding on small animals their own size and larger, such as mice. The kind of shrewmouse mentioned in Isaiah 2:20 is identified by I. Aharoni as Crocidura religiosa.​—Osiris, Brugge, 1938, Vol. 5, p. 463.