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IDUMiEA
ILLUSTRATI0X5
IDUM^A (NT 'ISoujuaio, which is also used the LXX for the Heb. 'Edom).— This land is m tioned once only in the NT (Mk 3«), but is also notable as the native land of Herod and his family The Edom of the OT lay between the Dead Sea and the Gulf of Akabah. In the early part of the Jewish exile many of the Edomites oveiTan the south of Judfea, and when the Nabatseans, at some time during the Persian period, conquered their own land, many more joined the earlier settlers in South Judc-ea, and that district became known as IdumjBa. Thus Idum.nea at the time of Christ was 'practically the Southern Shephelah with the Negeb' (G. A. Smith, HGHL p. 239), i.e. roughly, all south of a line from Beth-sur to Gaza. Judas Maccabseus fought against the Idum^ans with much success (1 Mac 5') in 164. Fifty-five years later, John Hyrcanus conquered the country, and compelled the people to be circumcised (Jos. Ant. XIII. ix. 1; BJl. ii. 6). By the law of Dt 23"- » they thus became full Jews in the third generation, though Herod himself was sometimes reproached as a 'half- Jew' (Jos. Ant. xiv. xv. 2). Although the Idunifeans were 'sons of Esau,' their interests from this time were entirely merged with those of the Jews, and their country was reckoned to Judsea, Idumoea being counted one of the eleven toparchies of Judsea in Koman times (Jos. BJ III. iii. 5).
G. W. Thatcher. IGNORANCE. — 1. Rcliqions ignorance is uni- formly regarded in the Bible as a moral and spiri- tual, and not merely as an intellectual, defect. Religious ignorance is always culpable, because the true light 'lighteth every man' (Jn P). The light of reason and of conscience shines even in the darkness of heathenism, and the heathen are plainly in fault if they 'apprehend' it not (v.^). To put the matter in another way, the truths of Natural Religion carry their own evidence with them, and those who worship the creature instead of the Creator, or who deny that there is a God, or who think that there is no essential diilerence between virtue and vice, A\-ilfully blind themselves to the truth (cf. Ro l"-», Ac 14"). Yi-t the .ulial.ility of the heathen, great as it is, is l.~~ ili.ui tliat of those who have received the lijiii of kn ilation (Mt 10'= 12^1). Our Lord specially l.lam.s the Samaritans because, having received the Law, they nevertheless remained in ignorance of its Author (Jn 4~ RV), and neglected to worship Him in the place which He had chosen. But far more culpable than the half-heathen Samaritans were the Jews, who had behind them a long religious ancestry of patriarchs and prophets (Ro 9°), who inherited the promises, and to whom were committed the oracles of God (3= ff"). The chosen race, wilfully blinding themselves to the true meaning of the Scriptures (Jn 5«) and to the sitrns of the times (Mt 16^), especi- ally thp tpstim..nv nt" tlip r.nj.tist ^.Tn 3=«-3=) and the wnr.i- -!.! v..;i,. ,,f J,.,,,. ,\i, n-". ,Inl(P14" 15=^). ^'. : : -, ' Muth hidden
from ll |M!,.i.;i- \li I,, , m.hI l>y having
their ^puiuial ii.i-.-i -i.ui.lu,- .i.ukv-iied '(Mt 13'=, 2 Co 3'^). Of til" l.u- il.r most culpable were the leaders — the ,S'.'./ ' s. Kcr m-e they were ignorant of the resurrect iMii .ui'l tlii> future life, truths inculcated by Moses himselt (Mt 22™) ; and the Pharisees and scribes, those blind leaders of the blind, who led their unwary followers into a pit (15'*). The ca.se of the Pharisees was particularly liopeless, tecause, being Ignorant, they thouglit themselves wise : ' If ye were blind [and acknow- ledged it], ye would have no sin ; but now ye saj', We see : yo'ur sin remaineth ' (Jn 9*').
Ignorance of Jesus is treated in the Gospels as equivalent to ignorance of God : ' Ye know neither me nor my Father ; if ye knew me, ye would know my Father also' (8"); 'No man cometh to the
Father but by me. If ye had known me, ye would have known my Father also' (14'). If men do not come to a knowledge of Christ in this world, Christ will profess Himself ignorant of them in the next, and this will exclude them from the joys of heaven (Mt 25'-' 7^). Yet the obligation to know Christ in this world applies only to those to whom the gospel has been actually preached (Mk 16"- "*).
The reason why ignorance of Christ is regarded as a sin is that the truth as it is in Jesus is spiritu- ally discerned (1 Co 2'*). Lovers of truth, whose lives are virtuous and holj', perceive intuitively that the teaching of Jesus comes from God : ' Every one that doeth ill hateth the light, and cometh not to the light. . . . But he that doeth the truth cometh to the light,' etc. (Jn 3™).
Among the ' Seven Words ' spoken by Jesus from the Cross there is one which bears upon this sin of ignorance : ' Father, forgive them ; for they know not what they do' (Lk 2Z^). In sayin" this He renewed that condemnation which He had often passed upon religious ignorance, for He implied that those who slew Him had need of the Father's forgiveness — His own forgiveness the words them- selves express. But what the saj-ing immediately proclaims is that the sin of ignorance is not beyond forgiveness, even when it has led to the darkest of crimes ; nay, that ignorance itself may be pleaded in extenuation (yap) before Him who knoweth all. (On the genuineness of the saying see Meyer, Alford, WH [Appendix]).