ISHMAIAH (i.i:3,'?v": 'J' hears').— The 'ruler' of the tribe of Zebulun, 1 Ch 27»».
ISHMERAI (n^v^r j>erh. for TTcrf- ' J* keeps').— A
Benjamite chief, 1 Cli 8'". See Gen'F.alooy.
ISHPAH (n?;*'). — The eponym of a Benjamite family, 1 Ch 8'». See Gknealoov, VIII. 11.
ISHPAN (;??»:).— A Benjamite chief, 1 Ch 8".
ISHSECHEL, En- 8" RVm.— It is uncertain whether Srv i^'x is to be regarded as a proper name (cf. LXX dVijp jaxij)' \, i". oaX'^X ''). or should be tr* ' a man of discretion,' so Luc. (drfjp vvrrrit) and KV; AV 'a man of understanding,' cf. 1 Es 8" ifSpait) ^TriJT/itioya{s). For the word >;;;• = (/i-wre/ion, iriM- liacruf, cf. 1 S 25', 1 Ch 22", Pr 13'» 10°, I's Ul'" etc. "The context lemls us to expect the iiro]>cr name of the representative of the sons of .Mahli, and the order of the words is decidedly against the supposition that Sherebiah is meant, the con- junction having been inserted by mistake. With the name I.shsechel we might comjiare Eshbaal, 1 Ch S", lshho<l, ib. 7". Hut such forms are rare,
■ 111 41' IJ(X rvoili s^i Umu^x* MMi l>;u4«t, 'tba/ wrpi u they went,' which l>>raUI xlopu; buv Uw chug* do<( doI •vein to be nocMMUy.
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ISRAEL, HISTORY OF
ISRAEL, HISTORY OF
Edomite element, the Calebites. (See Caleb, vol. i. p. 340).
The bearing of the physical confijjuration of Palestine as a whole on the history of Israel has been pointed out with great force by G. A. Smith (HGHL, ch. ii.). ' Palestine,' he WTites, 'is almost as much divided into petty provinces as Greece, and far more than those of Greece are her divisions iiitensitied by those of soil and climate.' She has been, and always will be, a land where fragments of many races live side by side. Israel at the conquest found 'seven nations' (Dt 7' ['four,' Jg 3']) occupying Canaan, and was content (after some slaughter) to settle do\vn among them (Jg S^'). These nations represented racial and not merely political divisions ; see the illustrations in Sayce, Races of the OT, or in Nowack, Arcluiologic, i. pp. 122, 126, 305. The influence of foreigners in Israel is apparent at several periods ; above all, the incorporation of a mass of the old inhabitants into Israel during the time of the Judges (see JuDGE.s, Period of the) had far-reaching results. The nation always had the foreigner in its midst. We hear of a 'mixed multitude (m y^a 'ercbh rabh, — read perhaps yiTrj^'drabhrobh, 'a mLxed people' without reference to numbers, — Ex 12** E ; l^irex 'H^nphfuph, Nu 11* J or E) in the wilderness with Israel, of foreign wives (J" 3«, 1 K 11', Ezr 9'-", Ru 1*), guards (2 S lo'*, 2 K 11* RV ; see Guard), officers and mighty men (1 S 21', 2 S 23*">'-, Is 22'"), task-workers (1 K 9»"-), artificers (1 K 7'"-), Recha- bites (Jer SS-ffO.and Gibeonites (2S21"'-,cf. JosO^*-). The presence of the stranger (gir) was recognized by law (Ex 20'° 23"), and his conversion to Israel's faith was contemplated (1 K S*'*-, Is 56**). In fact, in a land like Canaan, broken up into small districts, each of which was the home of a tribe, Israel could not be kept from intermixture with foreigners. See, further. Foreigner, Ger.
In judging of the climate and fertility of the land, the true meaning of the phrase ' a land flo\^'ing with milk and honey ' (Nu 13" JE) must be re- membered. It is the nomad's praise of a pastoral country, and if we add to this description the additional advantages mentioned in Dt 6" ( ' vine- yards and olive trees'), we shall arrive at a just appreciation of the nature of that part of Palestine which was permanently held by Israel. It was not (with one important exception) agricultural terri- tory. Its roc-ky slopes were suited for vines and olives, its hills and uplands for pasture, but only the plain of Esdraelon deserves tne description of ' a land of wheat and barley ' (Dt 8*). The Mari- time Plain testifies even now, under the hands of the German colonists, to its former fertility, but the plain was in the hands of the Philistines. Under these circumstances the Israelites never had a stock of com, and famine is a frequent feature in their history (2 S 21', 1 K IV-, 2 K i<»'- 8\ Hag V-, Neh 5'). We must remember, therefore, another description of Palestine as 'a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof,' Nu 13^ P (so XOr'p. 62, in spite of a misprint). The phrase (cf. Ezk 7") describes a land subject not only to famine, but also to pestilence. The latter also played a part in the history of Israel (1 S 5* 6", 2 S 24'», 2 K 19»^ 20'). The epigram quoted by Abu'1-Fida on Syria as a whole applies to Palestine, at least in part —
•Its atmosphere is — pestilenc*, Ita dwellings are — straitneas. Its soil is — stone, Its epidemics are — everlaatingneaa.'
Iv. SotJBCES OP THE History.— (a) For the earliest period : — the narratives of J and E in the Hexateuch. (Unsupported statements in P are generally doubtful).
(6) For the period of the Judges:— Jg 2^-18^,
apart from the editorial framework in which it U