MICE >> Falsities of the Sensual Man >> Avarice

The other form of Jewish avarice which has been referred to (under “Swine”) is that represented by mice. It is a love of pilfering and hoarding, not so much for the sake of  greatness and power, as for the sake of an indolent and luxurious life.  There is in it an utter want of trust in Providence, which is replaced by trust in one’s own acquisitions.  There is also an aversion to productive industry, and a disposition to beg and steal and hoard. I think we feel the same sort of shudder at the idea of petty thieves around as we do at mice and rats.    

This sort of avarice applies as well to knowledge as to property, and an idle love of reading for the sake of possessing much knowledge is represented by mice, (Arcana Coelestia #938.   Spiritual Diary #385. )

Also the love of sly indulgence of appetite, which we should be ashamed to have exposed; and, again, the pilfering of affection from others by sly insinuations and flattery are forms of the avarice represented by mice.  

Because this avarice is a common Jewish vice, therefore it is said of them, “They that sanctify themselves . . . eating swine’s flesh and the abomination and the mouse, shall be consumed together” (Isaiah 66:17). 

When the Ark of the Testimony was taken by the Philistines, and carried down to their country, wherever it went it caused plagues of emerods and mice. The Philistines represent those who believe themselves saved by their faith, and freed from the obligation to attend to their lives.  The presence of the Ark represents the power of the truth of the Word to show their real quality.  And the mice are the sly habits of self-indulgence, thus exposed.   

 Author: JOHN WORCESTER 1875