|
“Wherefore ye shall make images of…your mice that mar the land; and ye shall give glory unto the God of Israel: peradventure He will lighten His hand from off you, and from off your gods, and from off your land” (1 Samuel 6:5).
When Israel sinned against the Lord, the Lord allowed the ark of the covenant, the tabernacle, to be captured by the Philistines. But then the Philistines attributed the victory to their heathen god Dagon, and because of this, the Lord allowed a plague of mice to overrun the land of the Philistines.
Mice multiple very quickly. One female can produce a new litter every 3-4 weeks, all her life, and each litter can have as many as 6-8 little mice. If the conditions were perfect, one pair of mice could multiply into more than 5,000 mice in one year. Can you imagine that many mice? They are sometimes rather interesting little creatures, and they are a major part of the diet of birds like hawks and owls. Coyotes and wolves also eat them. but most people do not like them, for they tend to invade our homes, and cause a lot of trouble. About this time of year, when the weather is getting colder, they often look for a warmer place to live, and end up in garages, or even in our houses.
Eventually the Philistines sent the ark of the covenant back to the land of Israel, together with some golden mice in it, as a present to the Lord. They hoped that then the Lord would stop the plague of mice that were running all over the land of the Philistines.
|
