(8) Kiinig (Einl. p. 8G) treats the clause as a late Palestinian gloss, written originally on the margin, in condemnation of the temjile at Leontopolis ('city of destruction,' with allusion to Aer&y ' of the sun ').
It is evident that most of these views are merely hypotheses. At the same time, tlie diversity of reading makes it clear that arbitrary alterations, iipon one side or the other, were introduced into the text ; and as po.sitive information upon the matter fails us, it becomes necessary to resort to hypotheses in order to e.xplain the facts. The only question is, what hyjjothesis e.xplains them best? If the words are Isaiah's, the objections to ' city of the sun ' being the original reading have been already stated: if the words were written after the foundation of the temple at Leontopolis, the objections to the same being the original read- ing are, 1. that the temple was not at Ileliopolis, and 2. (as remarked by Cheyne) that a passage interpolated by an Egyptian Jew in tlie interests of that temple should have made its way into the Palestinian text of Is.-iiah. If 'city of the sun' were the original reading, the most reasonable explanation of it is Cheyne's (7), though that im- plies that the pa.s.sage is not Isaiah's, and also involves an interpretation of vv.'*-", which is, at least, not the obvious one. The present writer must own that the view which seems to him to be the least open to objection is(l): the diHicullies which have been found in this do not (as indicated above) seem to him as serious as has been some- times maintained ; and here.^, ' sun,' — whether an intentional or accidental alteration of /teres, ' de- struction,'— though unsuitable, if used in the first instance with reference to Lemitopolis, couM readily enough heajiplieil to it, if found, as upon this view of the case it would be found, in the text of an ancient prophecy.* S. K. Driver.
IRI.— See IR.
IRIJAH (Tix-i; ' J'sceth '). — A captain who, during the siege of Jerus., arrested Jercniiah on the charge of intending to desert to the Chald;cans(Jer 37"- ").
IR-NAHASH (s'ljj vy).— A city of Judah, 1 Ch 4". The site ia uncertain.
• In connexion with the views which see tn the pivyw^re an &llu!(i<>n to the t^-mple at I^eontoimhn, It Is at Ir-owt rfiimrk;il»Io that, OS U. N'AvUle ohservi'S {pp. I'J, 2'), 21). in ttie Urvat Harris PapyrviH, which descriU-s at len^'tti Ute t>ui](lln^ of Itiinises ill. (c. I'JIH) it.c), mention is liuMle of *thc abtxlo of ]tanisi>s III., in thf /wtue ot lid (the flVin-no<l) o» thf north of On,'— a name which would fairly correspond to ' citv of the sun,' arnl wliicli M. Naville is strongly diwjHiswl to consider was the socrvil iianio of the city burietl now under Tell el-Yuhudiyeh : the close con- nexion of this place with On is also implied by the further state- ment in the Papyrus that * all that helonire*! to the abode of Ronises In the house of Ito. north of On, the buildings as well as the cattle, was under the authority of the priests of On lor their yearly tribute.' v6l_ ". — X\
mox
481
IRON (fK->r, I'lVon).— A city of NaphUli, in the mount.iins, Jos 1!)«. It is probably the modem Ytiritn. See HW'P vol. L sheet iv., and Baedeker- Socin, Pal* p. 261.
IRON in the English Bible almost always stands for ^j-i; (in I)n Aram, 'jn;) in OT, and for (rMijpot or the adj. triSiipovs in Apocr. and NT [Exceptions : — In Job 4r ' barbed irons' is the rendering of ni;f, and in 1 Ti 4' ' seared (as) with a hot iron ' is a para- phrase of KCKavaTT)pi.aan{vo%]. Conversely, Spj and its Or. equivalents are usually translated by 'iron ' [Exceptions:— In Ut I0\ 2 K 6' i\-\i is rendered '(ax-) head,' and in Is 44" Spj v-ij} is siniplv 'smith ' ; aliripot is tr'' 'sword' in Jth 6" 9*. 4 Mac W].
LXX is less consistent. It has r^pts lor D^in (swortlX Job .'.-"' 152i 3oa, tor jn; (axe), Dt 20i», for n-nz (razor), Jg 1S» 10^
1 K I'l, and nxrao riiiipm for EniJ (smith), 1 3 ISl". On Uie other hand, it renders ^n; by fAix"/M, Is 10*1, by riUfin, Dt IIP.
2 K (550, Ec 101", and elsewhere by ».Jb/ki( or nJ^/wSt. Evidently both in Hcb, .ind t:r. 'iron' was a term used somewhat jfcneraHV to describe both the metal and instruments of various kindis made from it.
This well-known metal is one of the so-called element.ary substances. From its abundance, the ease with whicli it can be separated from its ores, and its many useful properties, it ia the most im- l)ortant of all the metals. Ordinary iron is not a pure element, but always contains a small amount of carbon, the proportion of which greatly atlects its qualities. When the quantity of carbon is small (from 0'15 to 0-5 per cent.) we have u'rought iron, which is extremely difficult to melt, but is tough, and can be weldetl at white heat, \\hen the percentage of carbon is from 3 to 6 we have cast iron, which is brittle, and cannot be welded, but which can be melted and cast in mould. The intermediate variety, containing from 06 to 2 per cent, of carbon, is steel, which can be tnith cast and welded, and can also be tempered to various degrees of elasticity and hardness. In modern I'rocesses iron is separated from its ores in the form of cast iron, from which the other forms are obtained by removing some of the carbon. The high temperature required to melt cast iron has been urged as a difficulty in the way of under- standing the u.se of the metal in early times. Hut iron can be separated from its ores without being melted. In many countries primitive processes oi iron manufacture survive, and are carried on at the present day. These doubtless represent the ancient methods, and their crude product is not cast iron, but a ' bloom ' or spongy mass of wrought iron or steel.