Ira Citizen; wakeful. (1.) A Tekoite, one of David's thirty warriors (Sa2 23:26). (2.) An Ithrite, also one of David's heroes (Sa2 23:38). (3.) A Jairite and priest, a royal chaplain (Sa2 20:26) or confidential adviser (compare Sa2 8:18; Ch1 18:17).
Irad Runner; wild ass, one of the antediluvian patriarchs, the father of Mehujael (Gen 4:18), and grandson of Cain.
Iram Citizen, chief of an Edomite tribe in Mount Seir (Gen 36:43).
Irha-heres According to some MSS., meaning "city of destruction." Other MSS. read 'Irhahares ; rendered "city of the sun", Isa 19:18, where alone the word occurs. This name may probably refer to Heliopolis. The prophecy here points to a time when the Jews would so increase in number there as that the city would fall under their influence. This might be in the time of the Ptolemies. (See ON.)
Iron Tubal-Cain is the first-mentioned worker in iron (Gen 4:22). The Egyptians wrought it at Sinai before the Exodus. David prepared it in great abundance for the temple (Ch1 22:3; Ch1 29:7). The merchants of Dan and Javan brought it to the market of Tyre (Eze 27:19). Various instruments are mentioned as made of iron (Deu 27:5; Deu 19:5; Jos 17:16, Jos 17:18; Sa1 17:7; Sa2 12:31; Kg2 6:5, Kg2 6:6; Ch1 22:3; Isa 10:34). Figuratively, a yoke of iron (Deu 28:48) denotes hard service; a rod of iron (Psa 2:9), a stern government; a pillar of iron (Jer 1:18), a strong support; a furnace of iron (Deu 4:20), severe labour; a bar of iron (Job 40:18), strength; fetters of iron (Psa 107:10), affliction; giving silver for iron (Isa 60:17), prosperity.
Irrigation As streams were few in Palestine, water was generally stored up in winter in reservoirs, and distributed through gardens in numerous rills, which could easily be turned or diverted by the foot (Deu 11:10). For purposes of irrigation, water was raised from streams or pools by waterwheels, or by a shaduf, commonly used on the banks of the Nile to the present day.
Isaac Laughter. (1.) Israel, or the kingdom of the ten tribes (Amo 7:9, Amo 7:16). (2.) The only son of Abraham by Sarah. He was the longest lived of the three patriarchs (Gen 21:1). He was circumcised when eight days old (Gen 21:4); and when he was probably two years old a great feast was held in connection with his being weaned. The next memorable event in his life is that connected with the command of God given to Abraham to offer him up as a sacrifice on a mountain in the land of Moriah (Gen. 22). (See ABRAHAM.) When he was forty years of age Rebekah was chosen for his wife (Gen. 24). After the death and burial of his father he took up his residence at Beer-lahai-roi (Gen 25:7), where his two sons, Esau and Jacob, were born (Gen 25:21), the former of whom seems to have been his favourite son (Gen 25:27, Gen 25:28). In consequence of a famine (Gen 26:1) Isaac went to Gerar, where he practiced deception as to his relation to Rebekah, imitating the conduct of his father in Egypt (Gen 12:12) and in Gerar (Gen 20:2). The Philistine king rebuked him for his prevarication. After sojourning for some time in the land of the Philistines, he returned to Beersheba, where God gave him fresh assurance of covenant blessing, and where Abimelech entered into a covenant of peace with him. The next chief event in his life was the blessing of his sons (Gen 27:1). He died at Mamre, "being old and full of days" (Gen 35:27), one hundred and eighty years old, and was buried in the cave of Machpelah. In the New Testament reference is made to his having been "offered up" by his father (Heb 11:17; Jam 2:21), and to his blessing his sons (Heb 11:20). As the child of promise, he is contrasted with Ishmael (Rom 9:7, Rom 9:10; Gal 4:28; Heb 11:18). Isaac is "at once a counterpart of his father in simple devoutness and purity of life, and a contrast in his passive weakness of character, which in part, at least, may have sprung from his relations to his mother and wife. After the expulsion of Ishmael and Hagar, Isaac had no competitor, and grew up in the shade of Sarah's tent, moulded into feminine softness by habitual submission to her strong, loving will." His life was so quiet and uneventful that it was spent "within the circle of a few miles; so guileless that he let Jacob overreach him rather than disbelieve his assurance; so tender that his mother's death was the poignant sorrow of years; so patient and gentle that peace with his neighbours was dearer than even such a coveted possession as a well of living water dug by his own men; so grandly obedient that he put his life at his father's disposal; so firm in his reliance on God that his greatest concern through life was to honour the divine promise given to his race." Geikie's Hours, etc.
Isaiah (Heb. Yeshyahu , i.e., "the salvation of Jehovah"). (1.) The son of Amoz (Isa 1:1; Isa 2:1), who was apparently a man of humble rank. His wife was called "the prophetess" (Isa 8:3), either because she was endowed with the prophetic gift, like Deborah (Jdg 4:4) and Huldah (Kg2 22:14), or simply because she was the wife of "the prophet" (Isa 38:1). He had two sons, who bore symbolical names. He exercised the functions of his office during the reigns of Uzziah (or Azariah), Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah (Isa 1:1). Uzziah reigned fifty-two years (810-759 B.C.), and Isaiah must have begun his career a few years before Uzziah's death, probably 762 B.C.. He lived till the fourteenth year of Hezekiah, and in all likelihood outlived that monarch (who died 698 B.C.), and may have been contemporary for some years with Manasseh. Thus Isaiah may have prophesied for the long period of at least sixty-four years. His first call to the prophetical office is not recorded. A second call came to him "in the year that King Uzziah died" (Isa 6:1). He exercised his ministry in a spirit of uncompromising firmness and boldness in regard to all that bore on the interests of religion. He conceals nothing and keeps nothing back from fear of man. He was also noted for his spirituality and for his deep-toned reverence toward " the holy One of Israel." In early youth Isaiah must have been moved by the invasion of Israel by the Assyrian monarch Pul (q.v.), Kg2 15:19; and again, twenty years later, when he had already entered on his office, by the invasion of Tiglath-pileser and his career of conquest. Ahaz, king of Judah, at this crisis refused to co-operate with the kings of Israel and Syria in opposition to the Assyrians, and was on that account attacked and defeated by Rezin of Damascus and Pekah of Samaria (Kg2 16:5; Ch2 28:5, Ch2 28:6). Ahaz, thus humbled, sided with Assyria, and sought the aid of Tiglathpileser against Israel and Syria. The consequence was that Rezin and Pekah were conquered and many of the people carried captive to Assyria (Kg2 15:29; Kg2 16:9; Ch1 5:26). Soon after this Shalmaneser determined wholly to subdue the kingdom of Israel. Samaria was taken and destroyed (722 B.C.). So long as Ahaz reigned, the kingdom of Judah was unmolested by the Assyrian power; but on his accession to the throne, Hezekiah (726 B.C.), who "rebelled against the king of Assyria" (Kg2 18:7), in which he was encouraged by Isaiah, who exhorted the people to place all their dependence on Jehovah (Isa 10:24; Isa 37:6), entered into an alliance with the king of Egypt (Isa 30:2). This led the king of Assyria to threaten the king of Judah, and at length to invade the land. Sennacherib (701 B.C.) led a powerful army into Palestine. Hezekiah was reduced to despair, and submitted to the Assyrians (Kg2 18:14). But after a brief interval war broke out again, and again Sennacherib (q.v.) led an army into Palestine, one detachment of which threatened Jerusalem (Isa. 36:2-22; Isa 37:8). Isaiah on that occasion encouraged Hezekiah to resist the Assyrians (Isa 37:1), whereupon Sennacherib sent a threatening letter to Hezekiah, which he "spread before the Lord" (Isa 37:14). The judgment of God now fell on the Assyrian host. "Like Xerxes in Greece, Sennacherib never recovered from the shock of the disaster in Judah. He made no more expeditions against either Southern Palestine or Egypt." The remaining years of Hezekiah's reign were peaceful (Ch2 32:23, Ch2 32:27). Isaiah probably lived to its close, and possibly into the reign of Manasseh, but the time and manner of his death are unknown. There is a tradition that he suffered martyrdom in the heathen reaction in the time of Manasseh (q.v.). (2.) One of the heads of the singers in the time of David (Ch1 25:3, Ch1 25:15, "Jeshaiah"). (3.) A Levite (Ch1 26:25). (4.) Ezr 8:7. (5.) Neh 11:7.
Isaiah, The Book of Consists of prophecies delivered (Isa. 1) (1.) in the reign of Uzziah (Isa. 1 - 5), (2.) of Jotham (Isa 6:1), (3.) Ahaz (Isa. 7 - 14:28), (4.) the first half of Hezekiah's reign (Isa. 14:28 - 35), (5.) the second half of Hezekiah's reign (Isa. 36 - 66). Thus, counting from the fourth year before Uzziah's death (762 B.C.) to the last year of Hezekiah (698 B.C.), Isaiah's ministry extended over a period of sixty-four years. He may, however, have survived Hezekiah, and may have perished in the way indicated above. The book, as a whole, has been divided into three main parts: (1.) The first thirty-five chapters, almost wholly prophetic, Israel's enemy Assyria, present the Messiah as a mighty Ruler and King. (2.) Four chapters are historical (Isa. 36 - 39), relating to the times of Hezekiah. (3.) Prophetical (Isa. 40 - 66), Israel's enemy Babylon, describing the Messiah as a suffering victim, meek and lowly. The genuineness of the section Isa. 40 - 66 has been keenly opposed by able critics. They assert that it must be the production of a deutero-Isaiah, who lived toward the close of the Babylonian captivity. This theory was originated by Koppe, a German writer at the close of the last century. There are other portions of the book also (e.g., Isa. 13; 24 - 27; and certain verses in Isa. 14 and Isa. 21) which they attribute to some other prophet than Isaiah. Thus they say that some five or seven, or even more, unknown prophets had a hand in the production of this book. The considerations which have led to such a result are various: (1.) They cannot, as some say, conceive it possible that Isaiah, living in 700 B.C., could foretell the appearance and the exploits of a prince called Cyrus, who would set the Jews free from captivity one hundred and seventy years after. (2.) It is alleged that the prophet takes the time of the Captivity as his standpoint, and speaks of it as then present; and (3.) that there is such a difference between the style and language of the closing section (Isa. 40 - 66) and those of the preceding chapters as to necessitate a different authorship, and lead to the conclusion that there were at least two Isaiahs. But even granting the fact of a great diversity of style and language, this will not necessitate the conclusion attempted to be drawn from it. The diversity of subjects treated of and the peculiarities of the prophet's position at the time the prophecies were uttered will sufficiently account for this. The arguments in favour of the unity of the book are quite conclusive. When the LXX. version was made (about 250 B.C.) the entire contents of the book were ascribed to Isaiah, the son of Amoz. It is not called in question, moreover, that in the time of our Lord the book existed in the form in which we now have it. Many prophecies in the disputed portions are quoted in the New Testament as the words of Isaiah (Mat 3:3; Luk 3:4; 4:16-41; Joh 12:38; Act 8:28; Rom 10:16). Universal and persistent tradition has ascribed the whole book to one author. Besides this, the internal evidence, the similarity in the language and style, in the thoughts and images and rhetorical ornaments, all points to the same conclusion; and its local colouring and allusions show that it is obviously of Palestinian origin. The theory therefore of a double authorship of the book, much less of a manifold authorship, cannot be maintained. The book, with all the diversity of its contents, is one, and is, we believe, the production of the great prophet whose name it bears.
Iscah Spy, the daughter of Haran and sister of Milcah and Lot (Gen 11:29, Gen 11:31).