7. Though not enii)loyed for that purpose in the writings of the NT (j-et cf. Ko 8"-), tiie sacrifice of Isaac was largelj' made use of by the Fathers as typical of the sacrifice on the cross. The earliest use of it in this connexion appears to be Ep. liarn. ch. 7, 'Because He was in His own person alxjut to offer the vessel of His Spirit a sacrifice for our sins, that the type also which was given in Isaac, who was oH'erea upon the altar, should be ful- filled' (Lightfoot's Apostolic Fathers, p. 251). Iremeus speaks of Abraham havin" yielded up his son as a sacrifice in onlcr that God might also be pleased to give His only Son as a sacrifice for our redemption (npoOu^uits rdi' tdiov fioyr^ffij Kai dyaTtjrdy rapaxupijjas Ovaiav t(^ Ofi^, tva Kal o Otdi fudotrriaTj inrip Tov ffv^p^uiTOi avToD irai^wf rir tSioi' fiovoyf;'!] Kal iyaTnjrdv vldv dvfftav vapaax^^*' '^^ XiTpujffiy i}^icTipav, ed. Stieren, i. 572). Cf. August. De Civ. Dei, xvi. 32. B. The Tutwie ' Isaac' It would apjiear that the name I.sanc, derived from the root pnx, and mean- ing ' laugh,' was connected in jiopular Israelite tradition with incidents preceding or attending the birth of the patriarch. It is impossible to resist the conclusion that the form of these traditions was occasioned by the stories based upon, or suggested by, the popular etymology of the name. At least three dillerent explanations seciii to have been given, in order to account for the name ; thu compuer of Genesis has faithfully rejiroduccd them all. (1) In Gn 17" (T) 'Abram laughed' at the idea of a son being bom to him in his old age ; (2) in Gn 18" we are told that 'Surah lauglnil within herself at the prediction that she should bear a son ; (3) in Gn 21' Sarah, after the birth of the chiUl, is represented assaying, 'God hatli pro- pared laughter (?■:.) for me.' The continuation of the same verse, however, suggests that there was yet another version of the wiiiie tradition, accord- ing to which the laughter wa.s neither that of in- credulity on the part, of Abruhaiii and Surah, nor
that of joy on the part of Sarah, but that of deri-sion on the part of those who heard the news, and who would laugh at one so old becoming a mother: ' every one will laugh at me.' It should also be noticed that the same root occurs in the sense of ' playing ' in the story of Ishmael and Isaac (Gn 2P), and als3 in that of Isaac and Rebekah (Gn 26").
A fanciful Rabbinic derivation for the name ex- plained it to be a compound of two words p-n-x^ ' the out-going of statute,' as if in Isaac was to be discerned a development of the religious faith of Abraham (Hamburger, liE, s.v.).
It has been suggested that ' Isjiac' may possibly be a truncated loriu for ' Isaac-el,' on the analogy of ' Isra-el,' ' Ishraa-el,' and possibly ' Joseph-el ' and ' Jacob-el ' (cf. Gray's Studies in Hebrew Proper Names, p. 214).
See further, for several questions connected with the story of Isaac, and on the whole question of the character of the patriarchal narratives, art. Jacob.
H. E. Rylb. ISAIAH.-
Introductlon. L Name.
iL Pereonal History, UL Structure and Contents of the Book of Uaiah.
(A) Ch». l-as ; (11) 36-39 ; (C) 10-fla. Iv. Authenticity of the Book. V. Messianic Prophecies in cha, 1-39. vi. The Theology of Isaiah, vii. Keli^'ious Heforms in Isaiah's time. Tiii. The Historical Cliapters, o(i 39. ix. Prophecies certainly not Isaiah's id 1-38. X. Structure and date of cha. 40-68. xi. Theolo^ry of chs. 40-68. (a) Chs. ■li>-55. <t) Chs. 5G-Ca Literature.
Although anticipated by Amos and Hosea in manj' of his leading doctrines, and excelled both by Jeremiah and the great I'rophet of the Exile in depth of personal experience and width of religious outlook, Isaiah was nevertheless the greatest of the Hebrew prophets — by the strength of his personality, the wisdom of his statesmanship, the length and unbroken assurance of his ministry, the almost unaided service which he rendered to Judah at the greatest crisis of her liistory, the purity and grandeur of his style, and the inlluence he exerted on subsequent prophecy.
I. Name. — The English name Isaiah is an approximate transliteration of the abbreviated form y'isha'i/ah ."!.;?;, which appears as the title of the jirophet's book in the Hebrew Canon, and occurs besides as the n.'iiue of several individuals in post- exilic writings i.;/.r 8'-", Neli H-", 1 Ch 3-')- The full and older form is Yishtiyahtl i.i.'jp; (Gr. 'Hcrofat, Lat. Esaias aud Uaias), by which the prophet him- self is always called in the text of his l)Ook (cf. 1' etc.) and in the historical writings of the OT (2 K l'J-% 2Cli 2(i=^ 3-2-"-"); also of other .lews, 1 Ch '27i'- '' 20-*. It means 'J" is salvation,' an<l ia therefore synonymous with the frequent Jiishiia or Jeshua (Jesus) tiBfi.i- or i\v:, and llo.iai iT^i, cf. the Hcb. Elisha I'r'Vf 'God is, or G>k1 of, Salvation" ; Eliihiia ii-'^K, Is/ii T-!. etc., the Salwcan or Him- yaritic forms SKyfi' and vn-Sn, and the 1'Iki'M. 1'f\
II. 1'KH.soNAL Hl.sTOKV.— The exact limits which we are led to o-ssign to Isaiah's career depend on the conclusions we have still to reach with regard to several disp\ited (Hjrtions of his book. Generally »;>eaking, however, we may soy that he prophesieil from the year in which kmg I'/ziah dird (li.C. 7-10 or 730) to the year of the sudden deliverance of .lerusjilcni from Sciuiaclierib, 7Ul, ami |His>ibly stime years after this, Isaiah was tlicrofure boiu about 7tJ0 (seven years before the reputtnl foumla- tion of Rome), was a child when Amo.t BpiH-ared at Bethel (c. 75.% or 750). and a youth when llu>-ca began to prophesy in N. Israel. Micah was hii