j LlTKRATPRK.— Benzinger, i7^6. ^rcA. lS94,pp. 97, 227ff.; Driver
on Dt 111"; Nowack, Lehrb. der Ueb.Arch. 1894. i. 253 tf. ; G. A. Smith, UUnL pp. 63fl., 78ff., 621. \V. H. BENNETT.
IR-SHEMESH (tfry tv 'city of the sun,' Jos IQ*").— See Bethshemesh 1, arid Ueres 1.
IRU (n-y).— The eldest son of Caleb, 1 Ch 4>». The correct name is probably Ir, the -u being sitMiily tlie conjunction 'and' (i) coupling it with the following name Elah. (See Kittel, ad loc).
ISAAC {pnv. ; in Am ?'■ " [where it is a poet. ByiiDiiym for Israel^ Jer 33-", Ps 105* ?!!¥■: ; LXX and NT 'Iiroo/c).
1. The story of Isaac is that of the least con- epicnous of the three Hebrew patriarchs. The folhnving brief description gives all that is pre- served in the Hook of Genesis respecting liim.
Isaac was tlie long |)roniised son of Abraham and Sarah. He was bom when Abraham was 100 and Sarah 91 years old (cf. Gn 17"- " 21"). He was circumciseu on the eighth day (Gn 21*). He was called Isaac ('laughter') by divine command (Gn 17'"), because Abraham had laiirj/ierl at the thought of a child being ' born unto him that is an hundred years old' (Gn 17"). The jealuusy of Sarah being aroused at the sight of Ishmael, llagar'sson, playing (pnsD) with Is.aac, led to the expulsion of Hagar and Ishmael from tlie tent of Abraham (Gn 21'-"). See Haoar. It would appear from this nxrrative ((!n 21''') that Isaac's earliest days were (<jent in the neighbourhood of Beersheba.
The next reconled event in tlie life of Isaac wsis the sacrifice 'in the land of .Moriah,' when Abra- ham was bidden of God to oiler his 'only son . . . Isaac' for a burnt -ottering upon one of the mountains (Gn 22-). I""or remarks upon this trial of Abraham's faith see the article .XiiRAllAM. The beauty of the story is enhanced by the simple colloquy In'tween Abraham and his son, as they went 'both of them together' to the appointed place, Isaac liearing ' the wood of the burntotler- ing' (Gn 22'-'). The submission and obedience of Isaac are virtues as evidently intende<l to be enipha-sized in the narrative as the faith of Abra- ham. The life of Isaac was spared through the interposition of 'the angel of the I.,ord ' ; and 'a ram caught in the thicket by the horns' was oft'creil up by Abraham ' for a bumt-ofVering in the stead of his .son' (Gn 2*2"). Abraham and Isaac returned to Beersheba (Gn 22").
The death of .Sarah occurred at Hebron when I.«aac wn-s 3ti years old ((in 23'); but I.saac is not mentioned in connexion with the purchase of the
field of Machpelah and the burial of Sarah (Gn23). Aliraham is not stated to have con.sulted Isaac when he despatched ' his servant, the elder of hi< house ' (Gn 24-), to take a wife for his son from his country and kindred in Mesopotamia. Rebekah, the daughter of ' Bethuel, the son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham's brother' (Gn '24'*), is brought from Mesopotamia by Abraham's servant. Isaac, we are told (Gn 24'^), dwelt at that time ' in the land of the South,' near Beer-lahai-roi. Re- bekah became his wife ; and Isaac ' was comforted after his mother's (or ' his father's,' reading v;ij for teN, as his mother's name has not been mentioned in the section) death.' Isaac joined with Ishmael in committing the body of Abraham to burial in the cave of ilachpelah (Gn 2.5-').
The remaining records of Isaac's life (' the genera- tions of Isaac,' Gn 2.5'-) are very meagre. Twin children are born to Rebekah aft«r Isaac's entreaty of J" (Gn 25-'). In Gn 2t>'-» we are told that, in consequence of a famine, Isaac journeyed to Gerar, but was warned by God not to go down into Egypt. On the occasion of this theophany, Isaac is told of the blessing upon himself and his seed because of the obedience of his father Abraham (Gn 20°). In Gn 26'-" Isaac is guilty of tlie same cowardice and deceit in the land of the Philistines, as Abraham among the Egyptians. In order, as he thought, to .save his own life, he gave out tliat Rebekah was his sister. AbimelecTi, the Philis- tine king, saw from a window ' Isaac . . . sporting (p:s9) with Rebekah' (Gn 26"), and perceived at once that she was hi- wife and not his sister. Abimelech justly rebuked Isaac ; and gave his
feople charge not to molest either him or liis wife. s;iac during his sojourn in Gerar buiame so prosperous as a wheat-grower and herdsman as to incur the envy of the Philistines. They com- menced a petty persecution of Lsaac, stoiiping up the wells which his father Abraham had dug, and which Isaac's servants had opened a''ain. Abimelech even counselled Isaac to withdraw from the country in the interests of peace (Gn 20'"). We are then tolil of two wells dug by Isaac's men, and violently claimed by the Philistines ; these he called 'Esck (' strife ') and Sitnah (' enmity '). Mov- ing his encampment still farther awa}', he dug another well, which the Philistines did not dispute, and which Isaac therefore called Hchoboth (' broad places'), generallj' identified with the modem Ittihaibe, a well some '25 miles S. of Beersheba.