mi

was built, cheres, 'sun' {so Symm., Vulg., and some Heb. MSS), being the original reading, which was altered after-wards by the Jews of Palestine into heres, ' destruction,' in order to obtain a condemnation of the Egyptian temple, and by the Jews of Egypt into tsedek, ' nghteo\isness (LXX), in order to make the prophecy more distinctly f avour-abletoit. (3)Cheyne(/?i(rod.io/s.pp. 102-110)and Skinner, understanding V." C thereshall be five cities,' etcj, not (as is done upon the ordinary view)of the conversion of Egyp. cities to the worship of J", but of Jewish colonies in Egyp. maintain-ing their national language and religion, suppose w."-^ to nave been written in the latter years of the first Ptolemy (Lagi), c. B.C. 290, when there were undoubtedly many Jewish settlements in Egypt: the original reading, these scholars suppose with Diilmann, was ' city of the sun,' the meaning being that one of these colonies, preserving loyally the faith of their fathers, should flourish even in Heliopolis, the city of the sun-god; the reading was altered afterwards, when the Jews of Palestine began to show hostility towards the Egyptian temple, by the Jews of Egypt into ' city of righteousness' (LXX) , and then further, by the Jews of Pales- tine, as a counter-blow, into 'city of destruction' (Heb. text).

It may be doubted whether there are sufficient reasons for departing from the ordinary explanation of the passage. S. R. Driver.

IRI.— See Ir.

IRIJAH. — A captain who arrested Jeremiah on the charge of intending to desert to the Chaldseans (Jer 37"- ").

IB-NAHASH.— A city of Judah (1 Ch 4"). The site is uncertain.

IRON. — 1. A city of Naphtali, in the mountains, Jos 193S. It is probably the modern YarUn. 2. See Mining and Metals.

IRPEEL.— A city of Benjamin (Jos 18"); possibly the ruin Rafat, N. of d-Jib (Gibeon).

IRRIGATION.— Owing to the lack of a sufficient rain-fall, Babylonia and Egypt have to be supplied with water from their respective rivers. This is conveyed over the country by canals. The water is conducted along these canals by various mechanical devices, and at a cost of great labour. In Palestine the need for artificial Irrigation is not so great, as is indicated by the contrast with Egypt in Dt 11'°. As a rule the winter rainfall is sufficient for the ordinary cereal crops, and no special irrigation is necessary. The case is different, however, in vegetable and fruit-gardens, which would be destroyed by the long summer droughts. They are always established near natural supplies of water, which is made to flow from the source (either directly, or raised, when necessary, by a sakiyeh or endless chain of buckets worked by a horse, ox, or donkey) into little channels ramifying through the garden. When the channels are, as often, simply dug in the earth, they can be stopped or diverted with the foot, as in the passage quoted. Artificial water-pools for gardens are referred to in Ec 2'. A storage-pool is an almost universal feature in such gardens. R. A. S. Macalister.

IR-SHEMESH.— See Beth-Shemesh, No. 1.

IRU.— The eldest son of Caleb (1 Ch 4"). The cor-rect name is probably Ir, the -u being simply the con-junction ' and ' coupling it with the^oUowing name Elah.

ISAAO, — Son of Abraham and Sarah. The meaning of the name is 'he laugheth,' and several reasons for bestowing it are suggested (Gn 17" IS'* 21»). The narrative as it occurs in Scripture was derived from three principal sources. J suppUed Gn 18'-" 21'-' 24 25»- " 26 and the bulk of 27; to E may be attributed 22'-n with 27'"- '"• 20-22; while P was responsible for 25m. 2« 27«-289 SS"-'". Apparent discrepancies in the story, such as that Isaac, on his deathbed (27'- "), blessed Jacob, and yet did not die until many years afterwards (35^'), are evidently due to original differ-ences of tradition, which later editors were not careful to remove. Viewed as coming from independent witnesses, they present no serious difficulty, and do

ISAIAH

not destroy the verisimilitude of the story. In outline the narrative describes Isaac as circumcised when eight days old (21<), and as spending his early youth with his father at Beersheba. 'Thence he was taken to ' the land of Moriah,' to be offered up as a burnt-offering at the bidding of God; and if Abraham's unquestioning faith is the primary lesson taught (22'^ 26^, He 11'™), Isaac's child-Uke confidence in his father is yet con-spicuous, with the associated sense of security. His mother died when he was thirty-six years of age; and Abraham sent a servant to fetch a wife for Isaac from amongst his kindred in Mesopotamia, according to Gn 24, where the religious spirit is as noticeable as the idyllic tone. For many years the couple were childless; but at length Isaac's prayers were heard, and Rebekah I gave birth to the twins, Esau and Jacob. Famine and drought made it necessary for Isaac to shift his encamp-ment to Gerar (26'), where a story similar to that of Abraham's repudiation of Sarah is told of him (ch. 20; cf. 12'i'-2»). The tradition was evidently a popular one, and may have found currency in several versions, though there is no actual impossibility in the imitation by the son of the father's device. Isaac's prosperity aroused the envy of the Philistine herdsmen (262"') amongst whom he dwelt, and eventually he withdrew again to Beersheba (2623). He appears next as a decrepit and dying man (27'- "), whose blessing, intended for Esau (252' 27*), was diverted by Rebekah upon Jacob. When the old man discovered the mistake, he was agitated at the deception practised upon him, but was unable to do more than predict for Esau a wild and independent career. To protect Jacob from his brother's resentment Isaac sent him away to obtain a wife from his mother's kindred in Paddan-aram (282), and repeated the bene-diction. The next record belongs to a period twenty- one years later, unless the paragraph (352'-29) relates to a visit Jacob made to his home in the interval. It states that Isaac died at Hebron at the age of 180. He was buried by his sons in the cave of Machpelah (49"). Isaac is a less striking personality than his father. Deficient in the heroic qualities, he suffered in disposition from an excess of mildness and the love of quiet. His passion for 'savoury meat' (252' 27*) was probably a tribal failing. He was rather shifty and timid in his relations with Abimelech (26'-22), too easily imposed upon, and not a good ruler of his household, — a gracious and kindly but not a strong man. In 26' he is subordi-nated to Abraham, and blessed for his sake; but the two are more frequently classed together (Ex 22* 3*, Mt 8" 22^2, Ac 3'* et al.), and in Am 7°- " 'Isaac' is used as a synonym for Israel. If therefore the glory of Isaac was partly derived from the memory of his greater father, the impression made upon posterity by his almost instinctive trust in God (Gn 22'- *) and by the prevailing strength of his devotion {252') was deep and abiding. Jacob considered piety and reverent awe as specially characteristic of his father (31*2- 63_ where 'the Fear of Isaac' means the God tremblingly adored by him). The submission of Isaac plays a part, although a less important one than the faith of Abraham, in the NT references (He 11"'-, Ja 221). R. W. Mobs.

ISAIAH. — Of the four prophets of the 8th cent, e.g., some of whose prophecies are preserved in the OT, Isaiah appeared third in the order of time — some twenty years after Amos preached at Bethel, and a few years after Hosea had begun, but before he had ceased, to prophesy. Isaiah's prophetic career apparently began before, but closed after, that of Micah. Hosea was a native of the Northern Kingdom, and addressed himself mainly, if not exclusively, to his own people. Amos was a native of Judah, but prophesied in and to Israel; and thus Isaiah is the earliest of these four prophets who addressed himself primarily to Judah, and even he in his earlier years, like his fellow-countryman Amos, prophesied also against Israel (see Is Q'-IO" S""-'" 17'-").

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