1 Samuel 5:6

In 1 Samuel 6 we have a plague of mice as well as of haemorrhoids. Some regard the introduction of this second plague as due to a scribe. On the other hand, LXX inserts a notice of the mice also in 1 Samuel 5:6; 1 Samuel 5:10; 1 Samuel 6:1. Well-hausen thinks that 'mice' are symbolical of misfortune in general, and do not denote a second plague. Herodotus attributes the disaster which overtook Sennacherib's army and the deliverance of Jerusalem in 701 b.c. (2 Kings 19:35) to a host of mice, which destroyed the bowstrings of the Assyrian soldiers: cp. on 1 Samuel 6:5.