Smith's Bible Dictionary.pdf - Online Christian Library

Smith's Bible Dictionary
(pious), one of the cities of Naphtali, (Joshua 19:38) hitherto totally unknown.
Irpeel
(God heals), one of the cities of Benjamin. (Joshua 18:27) No trace has yet been discovered of
its situation.
Irshemesh
(city of the sun), a city of the Danites (Joshua 19:41) probably identical with Beth-shemesh.
Iru
(watch), the eldest son of the great Caleb son of Jephunneh. (1 Chronicles 4:15) (B.C. 1451.)
Isaac
(laughter), the son whom Sara bore to Abraham, in the hundredth year of his age, at Gerar.
(B.C. 1897.) In his infancy he became the object of Ishmael’s jealousy; and in his youth the victim,
in intention, of Abraham’s great sacrificial act of faith. When forty years old he married Rebekah
his cousin, by whom, when he was sixty, he had two sons, Esau and Jacob. Driven by famine to
Gerar, he acquired great wealth by his flocks but was repeatedly dispossessed by the Philistines of
the wells which he sunk at convenient stations. After the deceit by which Jacob acquired his father’s
blessing Isaac sent his son to seek a wife in Padan-aram; and all that we know of him during the
last forty-three years of his life in that he saw that God, with a large and prosperous family, return
to him at Hebron. (Genesis 36:27) before he died there, at the age of 180 years. He was buried by
his two sons in the cave of Machpelah. In the New Testament reference is made to the offering of
Isaac (Hebrews 11:17; James 2:21) and to his blessing his sons. (Hebrews 11:20) In (Galatians
4:28-31) he is contrasted with Ishmael. In reference to the offering up of Isaac by Abraham, the
primary doctrine taught are those of sacrifice and substitution, as the means appointed by God for
taking away sin; and, as co-ordinate with these, the need of the obedience of faith, on the part of
man, to receive the benefit. (Hebrews 11:17) The animal which God provided and Abraham offered
was in the whole history of sacrifice the recognized type of “the Lamb of God, that taketh away
the sins of the world.” Isaac is the type of humanity itself, devoted to death for sin.
Isaiah
the prophet, son of Amoz. The Hebrew name signifies Salvation of Jahu (a shortened form of
Jehovah), He prophesied concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and
Hezekiah, kings of Judah, (Isaiah 1:1) covering probably 758 to 698 B.C. He was married and had
two sons. Rabbinical tradition says that Isaiah, when 90 years old, was sawn asunder in the trunk
of a carob tree by order of Manasseh, to which it is supposed that reference is made in (Hebrews
11:37)
Isaiah, Book Of
I. Chapters 1-5 contain Isaiah’s prophecies in the reigns of Uzziah and Jotham, foretelling that
the present prosperity of Judah should be destroyed, and that Israel should be brought to desolation.
In chs. 6, 7 he announces the birth of the child Immanuel, which in ch. 9 is more positively predicted.
Chs. 9-12 contain additional prophecies against Israel, chs. (Isaiah 10:5-12) (6) being the most
highly-wrought passages in the whole book. Chs. 13-23 contain chiefly a collection of utterances,
each of which is styled a “burden,” fore-telling the doom of Babylon, Philistia, Moab, Ethiopia,
Egypt and Tyre. The ode of triumph in ch. (Isaiah 14:3-23) is among the most poetical passages in
all literature. Chs. 24-27 form one prophecy, essentially connected with the preceding ten “burdens,”
chs. 13-23, of which it is in effect a general summary. Chs. 23-35 predict the Assyrian invasion,
and chs. 36-39 have reference to this invasion; prophecies that were so soon fulfilled. (2 Kings
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William Smith