Ibhar - ib'-har (yibhchar, "He (God) chooses"; in Codex Sinaiticus, Codex Vaticanus, Ebear, in Chronicles, Codex Vaticanus, Baar; Codex Alexandrinus, Iebaar): One of David's sons, born at Jerusalem; son of a wife and not of a concubine (1 Chronicles 3:6; 2 Samuel 5:15); otherwise unknown. His name in all three lists follows Solomon's.' In the Peshitta, "Juchabar."ISBE Ibhar.2

Ibis

Ibis - i'-bis. In Isaiah 34:11, yanshoph, which is rendered "owl," apparently indicates the sacred ibis (Ibis religiosa). The Septuagint gives eibis and Vulgate (Jerome's Latin Bible, 390-405 A.D.) ibis; the Revised Version, margin "bittern."ISBE Ibis.2

See OWL.ISBE Ibis.3

Ibleam

Ibleam - ib'-le-am (yibhle`am); A town in the territory of Issachar which was assigned to Manasseh (Joshua 17:11). This tribe, however, failed to expel the inhabitants, so the Canaanites continued to dwell in that land (Judges 1:27). It was on the route by which Ahaziah fled from Jehu. He was overtaken and mortally wounded "at the ascent of Gur, which is by Ibleam" (2 Kings 9:27). The name appears as Bileam in 1 Chronicles 6:70; and it probably corresponds to Belmen of Jth. It is now represented by the ruin of Bel`ameh on the West of the valley through which the road to the south runs, about half a mile from Jenin. In 2 Kings 15:10, where it is said that Zechariah the son of Jeroboam was slain by Shallum "before the people," this last phrase, which is awkward in the Hebrew, should be amended to read "in Bileam." Possibly "Gath-rimmon" in Joshua 21:25 is a clerical error for "Ibleam."ISBE Ibleam.2

W. EwingISBE Ibleam.3

Ibneiah

Ibneiah - ib-ne'-ya (yibhneyah, "Yah buildeth up"): A Benjamite, son of Jeroham (1 Chronicles 9:8).ISBE Ibneiah.2

Ibnijah

Ibnijah - ib-ni'-ja (yibniyah or yibhneyah, "Yah buildeth up"): A Benjamite, father of Reuel (1 Chronicles 9:8).ISBE Ibnijah.2

Ibri

Ibri - ib'-ri (ibhri, "a Hebrew"): A Merarite Levitt, son of Jaaziah (1 Chronicles 24:27).ISBE Ibri.2

Ibsam

Ibsam - ib'-sam (yibhsam, "fragrant," the King James Version Jibsam): Descendant of Issachar, family of Tolah (1 Chronicles 7:2).ISBE Ibsam.2

Ibzan

Ibzan - ib'-zan (ibhtsan): The 10th judge of Israel. His city is given as Bethlehem (whether of Judah or Zebulun is not stated). He judged Israel 7 years, and when he died he was buried in his native place. The only personal details given about him in the Biblical narrative are that he had 30 sons and a like number of daughters. He sent all of his sons "abroad" for wives and brought husbands from "abroad" for all his daughters. The exact meaning of ha-chuts, "abroad," is mere matter of speculation, but the great social importance of the man and, possibly, alliances among tribes, are suggested in the brief narrative (Judges 12:8-10). Jewish tradition identifies Ibzan with Boaz of Bethlehem-Judah (Talmud, Babha', Bathra', 91a).ISBE Ibzan.2

Ella Davis IsaacsISBE Ibzan.3

Ice

Ice - is (qerach): Ice is almost unknown in Palestine and Syria except on the highest mountains. At moderate heights of less than 4,000 ft. a little ice may form during the night in winter, but the warm rays of the sun melt it the next day. A great quantity of snow is packed away in caves in the mountains during the winter, and is thus preserved for use in the summer months. The word is found in the Bible in three places where it describes God's power. "Out of whose womb came the ice? And the .... frost" (Job 38:29); "By the breath of God ice is given" (Job 37:10); "He casteth forth his ice like morsels" (Psalms 147:17).ISBE Ice.2

Figurative: Untrue friends are compared to streams "which are black by reason of the ice" (Job 6:16).ISBE Ice.3

Alfred H. JoyISBE Ice.4

Ichabod

Ichabod - ik'-a-bod, i'-ka-bod (i-kha-bhodh, "inglorious"; Codex Vaticanus, ouai barchaboth; Codex Alexandrinus, ouai chaboth, Atimos): Son of Phinehas, Eli's son, slain at the battle of Aphek when the ark was taken. Ichabod was born after his father's death. His mother gave him this name on her death-bed to indicate that the "glory (had) departed from Israel" (1 Samuel 4:19 ff). He was thus important as a symbol, though little is recorded of him as an individual. His nephew Ahijah was one of those who tarried with Saul and the six hundred at Gibeah just before Jonathan's brave attack upon the Philistines (1 Samuel 14:2 f).ISBE Ichabod.2

Henry WallaceISBE Ichabod.3

Iconium

Iconium - i-ko'-ni-um (Ikonion, also Eikonion, on inscriptions): Iconium was visited by Paul on his first and on his second missionary journey (Acts 13:51 ff; Acts 16:2 ff), andISBE Iconium.2

if the "South Galatian theory" be correct, probably also on his third journey. His sufferings there are referred to in 2 Timothy 3:11.ISBE Iconium.3

1. Topographical Position: The topographical position of Iconium is clearly indicated in Acts, and the evidence of Acts has been confirmed by recent research. Was Iconium in Phrygia or in Lycaonia, and in what sense can it be said to have belonged to one ethnical division or the other? The majority of our ancient authorities (e.g. Cicero, Strabo, Pliny), writing from the point of view of Roman provincial administration, give Iconium to Lycaonia, of which geography makes it the natural capital. But Xenophon, who marched with Cyrus' expedition through Phrygia into Lycaonia, calls Iconium the last city of Phrygia. The writer of Acts 14:6 makes the same statement when he represents Paul and Barnabas as fleeing from Iconium to the cities of Lycaonia--implying that the border of Phrygia and Lycaonia passed between Iconium and Lystra, Acts 18:1-28 miles to the South. Other ancient authorities who knew the local conditions well speak of Iconium as Phrygian until far into the Roman imperial period. At the neighboring city of Lystra (Acts 14:11), the natives used the "speech of Lycaonia." Two inscriptions in the Phrygian language found at Iconium in 1910 prove that the Phrygian language was in use there for 2 centuries after Paul's visits, and afford confirmation of the interesting topographical detail in Acts (see Jour. Hell. Stud., 1911, 189).ISBE Iconium.4

2. In Apostolic Period: In the apostolic period, Iconium was one of the chief cities in the southern part of the Roman province Galatia, and it probably belonged to the "Phrygian region" mentioned in Acts 16:6. The emperor Claudius conferred on it the title Claudiconium, which appears on coins of the city and on inscriptions, and was formerly taken as a proof that Claudius raised the city to the rank of a Roman colonia. It was Hadrian who raised the city to colonial rank; this is proved by its new title, Colonia Aelia Hadriana Iconiensium, and by a recently discovered inscription, which belongs to the reign of Hadrian, and which mentions the first duumvir who was appointed in the new colonia. Iconium was still a Hellenic city, but with a strong pro-Roman bias (as proved by its title "Claudian") when Paul visited it.ISBE Iconium.5

3. Later History: About 295 AD, an enlarged province, Pisidia, was formed, with Antioch as capital, and Iconium as a "sort of secondary metropolis." The Byzantine arrangement, familiar to us in the Notitiae Episcopatuum, under which Iconium was the capital of a province Lycaonia, dates from about 372 AD. Iconium, the modern Konia, has always been the main trading center of the Lycaonian Plain. Trade attracted Jews to the ancient Phrygio-Hellenic city (Acts 14:1), as it attracts Greeks and Armenians to the modern Turkish town.ISBE Iconium.6

4. Thekla: Paul's experiences at Iconium form part of theme of the semi-historical legend of Thekla, on which see Professor Ramsay's Church in the Roman Empire, 380 ff.ISBE Iconium.7

LITERATURE.ISBE Iconium.8

Ramsay Historical Commentary on Paul's Epistle to the Galatians, 214 ff; Cities of Paul, 317 ff. To the literature referred to in the notes to the latter book (pp. 448 ff) add Ath. Mitth., 1905, 324 ff; Revue de Philologie, 1912, 48 ff; Journal Hellenic Studies, 1911, 188 ff.ISBE Iconium.9

W. M. CalderISBE Iconium.10

Idalah

Idalah - id'-a-la, i-da'-la (yidh'alah): A town in the territory of Zebulun, named with Shimron and Beth-lehem (Joshua 19:15). The Talmud identifies it with Churyeh (Talm Jerusalem on Megh., I, 1). This, Conder thinks, may be represented by the modern Khirbet el-Chuwara to the South of Beit Lachm.ISBE Idalah.2

Idbash

Idbash - id'-bash (yidhbash, "honeysweet"(?)): A man of Judah, one of the sons of the father of Etam (1 Chronicles 4:3; Septuagint "sons of Etam").ISBE Idbash.2

Iddo

Iddo - id'-o:ISBE Iddo.2

(1) ('iddo (?[~'adhadh, "to be strong"), "hap," "happy" (?), Ezra 8:17): The "chief at the place Casiphia," who provided Ezra with Levites and Nethinim, the head of the Levitical body or school, said to be one of the Nethinim or temple slaves, but perhaps an "and" has slipped out, and it should read: "his brethren and the Nethinim." 1 Esdras 8:45, 46 has "Loddeus (the King James Version "Saddeus"), the captain who was in the place of the treasury," keceph meaning silver. Septuagint has "in the place of the silver (en argurio tou topou) .... to his brethren and to the treasurers."ISBE Iddo.3

(2) (yiddo, "beloved," or "loving," 1 Chronicles 27:21): Son of Zechariah, and captain of the half-tribe of Manasseh in Gilead, under David.ISBE Iddo.4

(3) (yiddo, "beloved," or "loving," Ezra 10:43): One of those who had taken foreign wives. Another reading is Jaddai, the King James Version "Jadau." In 1 Esdras 9:35 "Edos" (the King James Version "Edes").ISBE Iddo.5

(4) (`iddo', "timely," 1 Kings 4:14): Father of Abinadab, Solomon's commissary in Mahanaim in Gilead.ISBE Iddo.6

(5) (yiddo, "beloved," or "loving," 1 Chronicles 6:21): A Gershomite Levite, son of Joah, called Adaiah in verse 41; ancestor of Asaph.ISBE Iddo.7

(6) (ye`do (Kethibh ye`di), or `iddo, "decked," "adorned"): Seer (chozeh) and prophet (nabhi), the Chronicler's "source" for the reign of Solomon (2 Chronicles 9:29): "The visions of Iddo the seer concerning Jeroboam the son of Nebat"; and for the reign of Rehoboam (2 Chronicles 12:15): "The histories of Iddo (`iddo) the seer, after the manner of (or, "in reckoning") genealogies"; and for the reign of Abijah (2 Chronicles 13:22): "The commentary (midhrash) of the prophet Iddo" (`iddo). He may have been the prophet who denounced Jeroboam (1 Kings 13:1-34), who is called by Josephus and Jerome Jadon, or Jaddo. Jerome makes Iddo and Oded the same.ISBE Iddo.8

(7) (`iddo, "timely," Zechariah 1:1): Grandfather (father, according to Ezra) of the prophet, Zechariah. See also Zechariah 1:7; Ezra 5:1; 6:14 (`iddo'). In 1 Esdras 6:1, "Addo."ISBE Iddo.9

(8) (`iddo', "decked," "adorned," Nehemiah 12:4, 16): A priest who went up with Zerubbabel (Nehemiah 12:4); one of the priestly clans which went up (Nehemiah 12:16); perhaps same as (7).ISBE Iddo.10

Philip Wendell CrannellISBE Iddo.11

Idle; Idleness

Idle; Idleness - i'-d'-l, i'-d'-l-nes: Both words, adjective and noun, render different Hebrew words (from `atsel, "to be lazy," raphah, "to relax," and shaqaT, "to be quiet"). According to the Yahwistic narrative Pharaoh's retort to the complaints of the Israelites was a charge of indolence (Exodus 5:8, 17). It was a favorite thought of Hebrew wisdom--practical philosophy of life--that indolence inevitably led to poverty and want (Proverbs 19:15; Ecclesiastes 10:18). The "virtuous woman" was one who would not eat the "bread of idleness" (Proverbs 31:27). In Ezekiel 16:49 for the King James Version "abundance of idleness," the Revised Version (British and American) has "prosperous ease." In the New Testament "idle" generally renders the Greek word argos, literally, "inactive," "useless" (Matthew 20:3, 6). In Luke 24:11 "idle talk" corresponds to one Greek word which means "empty gossip" or "nonsensical talk."ISBE Idle; Idleness.2

T. LewisISBE Idle; Idleness.3

Idolatry

Idolatry - i-dol'-a-tri (teraphim, "household idols," "idolatry"; eidololatreia): There is ever in the human mind a craving for visible forms to express religious conceptions, and this tendency does not disappear with the acceptance, or even with the constant recognition, of pure spiritual truths (see IMAGES). Idolatry originally meant the worship of idols, or the worship of false gods by means of idols, but came to mean among the Old Testament Hebrews any worship of false gods, whether by images or otherwise, and finally the worship of Yahweh through visible symbols (Hosea 8:5-6; 10:5); and ultimately in the New Testament idolatry came to mean, not only the giving to any creature or human creation the honor or devotion which belonged to God alone, but the giving to any human desire a precedence over God's will (1 Corinthians 10:14; Galatians 5:20; Colossians 3:5; 1 Peter 4:3). The neighboring gods of Phoenicia, Canaan, Moab--Baal, Melkart, Astarte, Chemosh, Moloch, etc.--were particularly attractive to Jerusalem, while the old Semitic calf-worship seriously affected the state religion of the Northern Kingdom (see GOLDEN CALF). As early as the Assyrian and Babylonian periods (8th and 7th centuries BC), various deities from the Tigris and Euphrates had intruded themselves--the worship of Tammuz becoming a little later the most popular and seductive of all (Ezekiel 8:14)--while the worship of the sun, moon, stars and signs of the Zodiac became so intensely fascinating that these were introduced even into the temple itself (2 Kings 17:16; 2 Kings 21:3-7; 4, 12; Jeremiah 19:13; Ezekiel 8:16; Amos 5:26).ISBE Idolatry.2

The special enticements to idolatry as offered by these various cults were found in their deification of natural forces and their appeal to primitive human desires, especially the sexual; also through associations produced by intermarriage and through the appeal to patriotism, when the help of some cruel deity was sought in time of war. Baal and Astarte worship, which was especially attractive, was closely associated with fornication and drunkenness (Amos 2:7-8; compare 1 Kings 14:23 f), and also appealed greatly to magic and soothsaying (e.g. Isaiah 2:6; 3:2; 8:19).ISBE Idolatry.3

Sacrifices to the idols were offered by fire (Hosea 4:13); libations were poured out (Isaiah 57:6; Jeremiah 7:18); the first-fruits of the earth and tithes were presented (Hosea 2:8); tables of food were set before them (Isaiah 65:11); the worshippers kissed the idols or threw them kisses (1 Kings 19:18; Hosea 13:2; Job 31:27); stretched out their hands in adoration (Isaiah 44:20); knelt or prostrated themselves before them and sometimes danced about the altar, gashing themselves with knives (1 Kings 18:26, 28; for a fuller summary see EB ).ISBE Idolatry.4

Even earlier than the Babylonian exile the Hebrew prophets taught that Yahweh was not only superior to all other gods, but reigned alone as God, other deities being nonentities (Leviticus 19:4; Isaiah 2:8, 18, 20; 1, 3; 31:7; Isaiah 44:9-20). The severe satire of this period proves that the former fear of living demons supposed to inhabit the idols had disappeared. These prophets also taught that the temple, ark and sacrifices were not essential to true spiritual worship (e.g. Jeremiah 3:16; Amos 5:21-25). These prophecies produced a strong reaction against the previously popular idol-worship, though later indications of this worship are not infrequent (Ezekiel 14:1-8; Isaiah 42:17). The Maccabean epoch placed national heroism plainly on the side of the one God, Yahweh; and although Greek and Egyptian idols were worshipped in Gaza and Ascalon and other half-heathen communities clear down to the 5th or 6th century of the Christian era, yet in orthodox centers like Jerusalem these were despised and repudiated utterly from the 2nd century BC onward.ISBE Idolatry.5

See also GOLDEN CALF; GODS; IMAGES; TERAPHIM.ISBE Idolatry.6

LITERATURE.ISBE Idolatry.7

Wm. Wake, A Discourse concerning the Nature of Idolatry, 1688; W.R. Smith, Lectures on the Religion of the Semites; E.B. Tylor, Primitive Culture; J.G. Frazer, Golden Bough (3 vols); L.R. Farnell, Evolution of Religion, 1905; Baudissin, Studien zur semitischen Religionsgeschichte; Beathgen, Der Gott Israels u. die Gotter der Heiden, 1888.ISBE Idolatry.8

Camden M. CobernISBE Idolatry.9

Iduel

Iduel - id'-u-el (Idouelos): 1 Esdras 8:43, English versions, margin "ARIEL" (which see).ISBE Iduel.2

Idumaea; Idumaeans

Idumaea; Idumaeans - id-u-me'-a, id-u-me'-anz.ISBE Idumaea; Idumaeans.2

See EDOM.ISBE Idumaea; Idumaeans.3

Ieddias

Ieddias - yed-i'-as, i-ed-i'-as, the King James Version Eddias (Ieddias): One who agreed to put away his foreign wife (1 Esdras 9:26); called also "Jezeias."ISBE Ieddias.2

Iezer; Iezerites

Iezer; Iezerites - i-e'-zer, i-e'-zer-its ('i`ezer, Numbers 26:30): Contracted from ABIEZER (Joshua 17:2, etc.) (which see).ISBE Iezer; Iezerites.2

Igal

Igal - i'-gal (yigh'al, "he (God) redeems"; Septuagint variously Igal, Gaal, Ieol):ISBE Igal.2

(1) One of the twelve spies sent by Moses from the wilderness of Paran; son of Joseph, tribe of Issachar (Numbers 13:7).ISBE Igal.3

(2) One of David's heroes, son of Nathan of Zobah (2 Samuel 23:36). In 1 Chronicles 11:38 he is "Joel (yo'el), the brother of Nathan."ISBE Igal.4

(3) Son of Shemaiah of the royal house of David, descendant of Zerubbabel (1 Chronicles 3:22, the King James Version "Igeal").ISBE Igal.5

Igdaliah

Igdaliah - ig-da-li'-a (yighdalyahu, "Yah is great"): Ancestor of certain persons who had a "chamber" in the temple in Jeremiah's time (Jeremiah 35:4).ISBE Igdaliah.2

Igeal

Igeal - i'-ge-al, i'-je-al (yigh'al, "he (i.e. God) redeems"): A remote descendant of David (1 Chronicles 3:22, the Revised Version (British and American) "Igal").ISBE Igeal.2

Ignorance

Ignorance - ig'-no-rans (sheghaghah; agnoia): "Ignorance" is the translation of sheghaghah, "wandering," "going astray" (Leviticus 4:2, etc., "if a soul sin through ignorance," the Revised Version (British and American) "unwittingly," margin "through error"; Leviticus 5:15; Numbers 15:24 ff; compare Numbers 35:11; Joshua 20:3 ff; Ecclesiastes 5:6; 10:5, "an error"). In the Law sheghaghah means "innocent error," such as had to be taken with consideration in judgment (see passages referred to). "Ignorance" is also expressed by the negative lo' with yadha`, "to know" (Isaiah 56:10; 63:16; Psalms 73:22); also by bi-bheli da`ath, literally, "in want of knowledge" (Deuteronomy 19:4; compare Deuteronomy 4:12; Joshua 20:5, translated "unawares," "unwittingly").ISBE Ignorance.2

In the New Testament the words are agnoia, "absence of knowledge" (Acts 3:17; 17:30; Ephesians 4:18; 1 Peter 1:14); agneoma, "error" (Hebrews 9:7, the Revised Version margin "Greek: ignorances"); agnosia, "ignorance" (1 Peter 2:15), "no knowledge" (1 Corinthians 15:34 the Revised Version (British and American)); agnoeo, "to be without knowledge," "ignorant" (Romans 1:13; 10:3; 11:25, etc.), "not knowing" (Romans 2:4, etc.), "understood not" (Mark 9:32, etc.), "ignorantly" (Acts 17:23, the Revised Version (British and American) "in ignorance"; 1 Timothy 1:13); idiotes, translated "ignorant" (Acts 4:13), "unlearned" (1 Corinthians 14:16, the Revised Version margin "him that is without gifts," and so in 1 Corinthians 14:23, 14), "rude" (2 Corinthians 11:6); agrammatos, once only in connection with idiotes (Acts 4:13, "unlearned and ignorant men"); agrammatos corresponds to modern "illiterate" (compare John 7:15; Acts 26:24); idiotes originally denoted "the private man" as distinguished from those with a knowledge of affairs, and took on the idea of contempt and scorn. In Philo it denoted the whole congregation of Israel as distinguished from the priests (De Vita Mosis, III 29). With Paul (1 Corinthians 14:16, 23-24) it seems to denote "plain believers as distinguished from those with special spiritual gifts." In Acts 4:13 it may refer to the want of Jewish learning; certainly it does not mean ignorant in the modern sense.ISBE Ignorance.3

Paul in Romans 1:18, 32 attributes the pre-Christian ignorance of God to "the ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hinder the truth in unrighteousness" (but the margin has, with the King James Version, "hold the truth, compare 1 Corinthians 7:30, Gr"); many, however (Alford, De Wette, Meyer and others), translation "hold back the truth." A willful ignorance is also referred to in Ephesians 4:17 f; 2 Peter 3:5. But there is also a less blameworthy ignorance. Paul at Athens spoke of "times of ignorance" which God had "overlooked" (Acts 17:30); Paul says of himself that he "obtained mercy, because (he) did it (against Christ) ignorantly in unbelief" (1 Timothy 1:13); Peter said to the Jews (Acts 3:17) that they and their rulers rejected Christ "in ignorance" (compare 1 Corinthians 2:8); and Jesus Himself prayed for those who crucified Him: "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do"; (Luke 23:34); in Hebrews 5:2 the necessary qualification of a high priest is that he "can bear gently with the ignorant and erring"--those who sin in ignorance or go astray (compare Hebrews 9:7, "blood, which he offereth for himself, and for the errors of the people," margin "(Greek: ignorances"). Growing light, however, brings with it increasing responsibility, and the "ignorance" that may be "overlooked" at one stage of the history of men and nations may be blameworthy and even criminal at another.ISBE Ignorance.4

W. L. WalkerISBE Ignorance.5

Iim

Iim - i'-im (`iyim): Same as IYIM (which see).ISBE Iim.2

Ije-abarim

Ije-abarim - i-je-ab'-a-rim.ISBE Ije-abarim.2

See IYE-ABARIM.ISBE Ije-abarim.3

Ijon

Ijon - i'-jon (`iyon; Septuagint in Kings has Ain, or Nain; in Chronicles Ion; Aion): A town in the territory of Naphtali, first mentioned in connection with the invasion of Ben-hadad, in the reign of Baasha. It was captured along with Dan and Abel-beth-maacah (1 Kings 15:20; 2 Chronicles 16:4). It shared with these cities a similar fate at the hands of Tiglath-pileser in the reign of Pekah (2 Kings 15:29). The name survives in that of Merj A`yun, "meadow of springs," a rich, oval-shaped plain to the Northwest of Tell el Qady, where the LiTany turns sharply westward to the sea. The ancient city may be represented by Tell Dibbin, an important site to the North of the plain.ISBE Ijon.2

W. EwingISBE Ijon.3

Ikkesh

Ikkesh - ik'-esh (`iqqesh, "crooked"): A Tekoite, father of Ira, one of David's "thirty" (2 Samuel 23:26; 1 Chronicles 11:28; 27:9).ISBE Ikkesh.2

Ilai

Ilai - i'-la-i, i'-li (`ilay): A mighty man of David (1 Chronicles 11:29); called Zalmon in 2 Samuel 23:28.ISBE Ilai.2

Iliadun

Iliadun - i-li'-a-dun, il'-i-ad-un (Eliadoun, 1 Esdras 5:58; the King James Version Eleadun): Possibly corresponding to Henadad in Ezra 3:9.ISBE Iliadun.2

Ill; Ill-favored

Ill; Ill-favored - il, il-fa'-verd.ISBE Ill; Ill-favored.2

See EVIL-FAVOREDNESS.ISBE Ill; Ill-favored.3

Illumination

Illumination - i-lu-mi-na'-shun: Hebrews 10:32 the King James Version, only, "the former days, in which, after ye were illuminated (the Revised Version (British and American) "enlightened"), ye endured a great fight of afflictions." The verb is photizo, rendered in 6:4 by "enlightened" and in both passages (and not elsewhere in the New Testament) being used to describe complete conversion. The verb, indeed, is used in such a technical way that Syriac versions render by "baptized," and it is not perhaps impossible that the author of He had baptism definitely in mind. (In the early church baptism is frequently described as "illumination," e.g. Justin, Apol., i.61.) But this probably would go too far; the most that can be said is that he means the state of mind of a full Christian and not that of a catechumen (compare also Baruch 4:2 the King James Version; Sirach 25:11).ISBE Illumination.2

Burton Scott EastonISBE Illumination.3

Illustrious, The

Illustrious, The - i-lus'-tri-us (thaumastos): A title of rank and merit attached to the name of Bartacus, the father of Apame (1 Esdras 4:29, the King James Version "the admirable). Instead of "the illustrious" we should possibly read "colonel" (Ant., XI, iii, 5; EB, under the word).ISBE Illustrious, The.2

See BARTACUS; APAME.ISBE Illustrious, The.3

Illyricum

Illyricum - i-lir'-i-kum (Illurikon): A province of the Roman Empire, lying East and Northeast of the Adriatic Sea. In his Epistle to the Romans Paul emphasizes the extent of his missionary activities in the assertion that "from Jerusalem, and round about even unto Illyricum, I have fully preached the gospel of Christ" (15:19). An examination of this statement involves three questions: What is the force of the preposition "even unto" (mechri)? What meaning is borne by the word Illyricum? and, At what period of his missionary career did Paul reach the limit here spoken of?ISBE Illyricum.2

1. Force of "even unto": In Greek, as in English, the preposition "unto" may either be exclusive or inclusive. In other words, Paul may mean that he has preached throughout Macedonia as far as the Illyrian frontier, or his words may involve a journey within Illyricum itself, extending perhaps to Dyrrhachium (mod. Durazzo) on the Adriatic seaboard, which, though belonging politically to Macedonia, lay in "Greek, Illyria." But since no word is said in the Acts of any extension of Paul's travels beyond the confines of Macedonia, and since the phrase, "I have fully preached," precludes a reference to a hurried or cursory tour in Illyricum, we should probably take the word "unto" in its exclusive sense, and understand that Paul claims to have evangelized Macedonia as far as the frontier of Illyricum.ISBE Illyricum.3

2. Meaning of "Illyricum": What, then, does the word "Illyricum" denote? It is sometimes used, like the Greek terms Illyris and Illyria, to signify a vast area lying between the Danube on the North and Macedonia and Thrace on the South, extending from the Adriatic and the Alps to the Black Sea, and inhabited by a number of warlike and semi-civilized tribes known to the Greeks under the general title of Illyrians (Appian, Illyr. 1; Suetonius, Tiberius, 16); it thus comprised the provinces of Illyricum (in the narrower sense), Pannonia and Moesia, which for certain financial and military purposes formed a single administrative area, together with a strip of coast land between Dalmatia and Epirus and, at a later date, Dacia. Appian (Illyr. 6) even extends the term to include Raetia and Noricum, but in this he appears to be in error. But Illyricum has also a narrower and more precise meaning, denoting a single Roman province, which varied in extent with the advance of the Roman conquest but was finally organized in 10 AD by the emperor Augustus. At first it bore the name superior provincia Illyricum or simply Illyricum; later it came to be known as Dalmatia (Tac. Annals, iv.5; Josephus, BJ, II, xvi; Dio Cassius, xlix.36, etc.). In accordance with Paul's habitual usage of such terms, together with the fact that he employs a Greek form which is a transliteration of the Latin Illyricum but does not occur in any other extant Greek writer, and the fact that he is here writing to the church at Rome, we may conclude that in Romans 15:19 Illyricum bears its more restricted meaning.ISBE Illyricum.4

3. Relation to Rome: The Romans waged two Illyrian wars: in 229-228 BC and in 219 BC, but no province was formed until 167, when, after the fall of the Macedonian power, Illyria received its provincial constitution (Livy, xlv.26). At this time it extended from the Drilo (modern Drin) to Dalmatia, which was gradually subjugated by Roman arms. In 59 BC Julius Caesar received as his province Illyricum and Gaul, and later Octavian and his generals, Asinius Pollio and Statilius Taurus, waged war there with such success that in 27 BC, at the partition of the provinces between Augustus and the Senate, Illyricum was regarded as wholly pacified and was assigned to the latter. Renewed disturbances led, however, to its transference to the emperor in 11 BC. Two years later the province was extended to the Danube, but in 9 AD, at the close of the 2nd Pannonian War, it was divided into two separate provinces, Pannonia and Illyricum (Dalmatia). The latter remained an imperial province, administered by a consular legatus Augusti pro praetore residing at Salonae (modern Spalato), and two legions were stationed there, at Delminium and at Burnum. One of these was removed by Nero, the other by Vespasian, and thenceforward the province was garrisoned only by auxiliary troops. It fell into three judicial circuits (conventus), that of Scardona comprising Liburnia, the northern portion of the province, while those of Salonae and Narona made up the district of Dalmatia in the narrower sense. The land was rugged and mountainous, and civilization progressed but slowly; the Romans, however, organized 5 Roman colonies within the province and a considerable number of municipia.ISBE Illyricum.5

4. Paul's Relation to Illyricum: The extension of Paul's preaching to the Illyrian frontier must be assigned to his 3rd missionary journey, i.e. to his 2nd visit to Macedonia. His movements during the 1st visit (Acts 16:12 through Acts 17:15) are too fully recorded to admit of our attributing it to that period, but the account in Acts 20:2 of his second tour is not only very brief, but the words, "when he had gone through those parts," suggest an extensive tour through the province, occupying, according to Ramsay, the summer and autumn of 56 AD.ISBE Illyricum.6

Image

Image - im'-aj (tselem; eikon): Its usage falls under 3 main heads. (1) "Image" as object of idolatrous worship (translations about a dozen words, including maccekhah, "molten image" (Deuteronomy 9:12, etc.); matstsebhah, in the King James Version translated "image" or "pillar," in the Revised Version (British and American) always "pillar" (Exodus 23:24, etc.); pecel, "graven image" (Exodus 20:4, etc.); tselem, "image" (2 Kings 11:18, etc.); eikon, "image" (e.g. Revelation 14:9)); (2) of man as made in the image of God; (3) of Christ as the image of God. Here we are concerned with the last two usages. For "image" in connection with idolatrous practices, see IDOLATRY; IMAGES; PILLAR; TERAPHIM, etc.ISBE Image.2

I. Man as Made in the Divine Image. 1. In the Old Testament: To define man's fundamental relation to God, the priestly writer in Gen uses two words: "image" (tselem) and "likeness" (demuth); once employing both together (Genesis 1:26; compare Genesis 5:3), but elsewhere one without the other, "image" only in Genesis 1:27; 9:6, and "likeness" only in Genesis 5:1. The priestly writer alone in the Old Testament uses this expression to describe the nature of man, though the general meaning of the passage Genesis 1:26 f is echoed in Psalms 8:5-8, and the term itself reappears in Apocrypha (Sirach 17:3; Wisdom of Solomon 2:23) and in the New Testament (see below).ISBE Image.3

The idea is important in relation to the Biblical doctrine of man, and has figured prominently in theological discussion. The following are some of the questions that arise:ISBE Image.4

(1) Is there any distinction to be understood between "image" and "likeness"? Most of the Fathers, and some later theologians, attempt to distinguish between them. (a) Some have referred "image" to man's bodily form, and "likeness" to his spiritual nature (Justin Martyr, Irenaeus). (b) Others, especially the Alexandrian Fathers, understood by the "image" the mental and moral endowments native to man, and by the "likeness" the Divine perfections which man can only gradually acquire by free development and moral conflict (Clement of Alexandria and Origen), or which is conferred on man as a gift of grace. (c) This became the basis of the later Roman Catholic distinction between the natural gifts of rationality and freedom (= the image), and the supernatural endowments of grace which God bestowed on man after He had created him (the likeness = donum superadditum). The former remained after the Fall, though in an enfeebled state; the latter was lost through sin, but restored by Christ. The early Protestants rejected this distinction, maintaining that supernatural righteousness was part of the true nature and idea of man, i.e. was included in the "image," and not merely externally superadded. Whatever truth these distinctions may or may not contain theologically, they cannot be exegetically inferred from Genesis 1:26, where (as is now generally admitted) no real difference is intended.ISBE Image.5

We have here simply a "duplication of synonyms" (Driver) for the sake of emphasis. The two terms are elsewhere used interchangeably.ISBE Image.6

(2) What, then, is to be understood by the Divine image? Various answers have been given. (a) Some of the Fathers (influenced by Philo) supposed that the "image" here = the Logos (called "the image of the invisible God" in Colossians 1:15), on the pattern of whom man was created. But to read the Logos doctrine into the creation narrative is to ignore the historic order of doctrinal development. (b) That it connotes physical resemblance to God (see (1), (a) above; so in the main Skinner,ICC , in the place cited.). It may be admitted that there is a secondary reference to the Divine dignity of the human body; but this does not touch the essence of the matter, inasmuch as God is not represented as having physical form. (c) That it consists of dominion over the creatures (Socinian view; so also Gregory of Nyssa, Chrysostom, etc.). This would involve an unwarranted narrowing of the idea. It is true that such "dominion" is closely associated with the image in Genesis 1:26 (compare Psalms 8:6-8). But the "image of God" must denote primarily man's relation to his Creator, rather than his relation to the creation. Man's lordship over Nature is not identical with the image, but is an effect of it. (d) It is best to take the term as referring to the whole dignity of man, in virtue of his fundamental affinity to God. It implies the possession by man of a free, self-conscious, rational and moral personality, like unto that of God--a nature capable of distinguishing right and wrong, of choosing the right and rejecting the wrong, and of ascending to the heights of spiritual attainment and communion with God. This involves a separation of man from the beast, and his supremacy as the culmination of the creative process.ISBE Image.7

(3) Does the term imply man's original perfection, lost through sin? The old Protestant divines maintained that the first man, before the Fall, possessed original righteousness, not only in germ but in developed form, and that this Divine image was destroyed by the Fall. Exegetically considered, this is certainly not taught by the priestly writer, who makes no mention of the Fall, assumes that the image was transmitted from father to son (compare Genesis 5:1 with Genesis 5:3), and naively speaks of post-diluvian men as created in the image of God (Genesis 9:6; compare 1 Corinthians 11:7; James 3:9). Theologically considered, the idea of the perfect holiness of primitive man is based on an abstract conception of God's work in creation, which precludes the idea of development, ignores the progressive method of the Divine government and the essential place of effort and growth in human character. It is more in harmony with modern conceptions (a) to regard man as originally endowed with the power of right choice, rather than with a complete character given from the first; and (b) to think of the Divine image (though seriously defaced) as continuing even in the sinful state, as man's inalienable capacity for goodness and his true destination. If the Divine image in man is a self-conscious, rational and ethical personality, it cannot be a merely accidental or transitory attribute, but is an essential constituent of his being.ISBE Image.8

2. In the New Testament: Two features may be distinguished in the New Testament doctrine of the Divine image in man: (1) man's first creation in Adam, (2) his second or new creation in Christ. As to (1), the doctrine of the Old Testament is assumed in the New Testament. Paul makes a special application of it to the question of the relation of husband and wife, which is a relation of subordination on the part of the wife, based on the fact that man alone was created immediately after the Divine image (1 Corinthians 11:7). Thus Paul, for the special purpose of his argument, confines the meaning of the image to man's lordly authority, though to infer that he regards this as exhausting its significance would be quite unwarranted. Man's affinity to God is implied, though the term "image" is not used, in Paul's sermon to the Athenians (Acts 17:28 f, man the "offspring" of God). See also James 3:9 (it is wrong to curse men, for they are "made after the likeness of God").ISBE Image.9

(2) More characteristic of the New Testament is the doctrine of the new creation. (a) The redeemed man is said to be in the image of God (the Father). He is "renewed unto knowledge after the image of him that created him" (Colossians 3:10), i.e. of God the Creator, not here of Christ or the Logos (as some) (compare Ephesians 4:24, "after God"). Though there is here an evident reference to Genesis 1:26 f, this does not imply that the new creation in Christ is identical with the original creation, but only that the two are analogous. To Paul, the spiritual man in Christ is on a higher level than the natural ("psychical") man as found in Adam (compare especially 1 Corinthians 15:44-49), in whom the Divine image consisted (as we have seen) in potential goodness, rather than in full perfection. Redemption is infinitely more than the restoration of man's primitive state. (b) The Christian is further said to be gradually transformed into the image of the Son of God. This progressive metamorphosis involves not only moral and spiritual likeness to Christ, but also ultimately the Christian's future glory, including the glorified body, the "passing through a gradual assimilation of mind and character to an ultimate assimilation of His doxa, the absorption of the splendor of His presence" (Sanday and Headlam, Romans, 218; see Romans 8:29; 1 Corinthians 15:49; 2 Corinthians 3:18; and compare Philippians 3:21; 1 John 3:2).ISBE Image.10

II. Christ the Image of God. In 3 important passages in English Versions of the Bible, the term "image" defines the relation of Christ to God the Father; twice in Paul: "the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God" (2 Corinthians 4:4); "who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation" (Colossians 1:15); and once in He: "who being the effulgence of his glory, and the very image of his substance" (Colossians 1:3). These statements, taken in their contexts, register the highest reach of the Christology of the Epistles.ISBE Image.11

1. The Terms: In the two Pauline passages, the word used is eikon, which was generally the Septuagint rendering of tselem (Vulgate: imago); it is derived from eiko, eoika, "to be like," "resemble," and means that which resembles an object and represents it, as a copy represents the original. In Hebrews 1:3 the word used is charakter, which is found here only in the New Testament, and is translated in Vulgate (Jerome's Latin Bible, 390-405 A.D.) figura, the King James Version "express image," the Revised Version (British and American) "very image," the Revised Version, margin "impress." It is derived from charasso, "to engrave," and has passed through the following meanings: (1) an engraving instrument (active sense); (2) the engraved stamp or mark on the instrument (passive sense); (3) the impress made by the instrument on wax or other object; (4) hence, generally, the exact image or expression of any person or thing as corresponding to the original, the distinguishing feature, or traits by which a person or thing is known (hence, English words "character," "characteristic"). The word conveys practically the same meaning as eikon; but Westcott distinguishes them by saying that the latter "gives a complete representation, under conditions of earth, of that which it figures," while charakter "conveys representative traits only" (Westcott on Hebrews 1:3).ISBE Image.12

2. Meaning as Applied to Christ: The idea here expressed is closely akin to that of the Logos doctrine in Jn (1:1-18). Like the Logos, the Image in Paul and in He is the Son of God, and is the agent of creation as well as the medium of revelation. "What a word (logos) is to the ear, namely a revelation of what is within, an image is to the eye; and thus in the expression there is only a translation, as it were, of the same fact from one sense to another" (Dorner, System of Ch. D., English translation, III, 178). As Image, Christ is the visible representation and manifestation of the invisible God, the objective expression of the Divine nature, the face of God turned as it were toward the world, the exact likeness of the Father in all things except being the Father. Thus we receive "the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" (2 Corinthians 4:6). He is the facsimile of God.ISBE Image.13

3. To What State Does It Refer?: Is Christ described as the Image of God in His preincarnate, His incarnate, or else His exalted state? It is best to say that different passages refer to different states, but that if we take the whole trend of New Testament teaching, Christ is seen to be essentially, and in every state, the Image of God. (a) In Hebrews 1:3 the reference seems to be to the eternal, preincarnate Son, who is inherently and essentially the expression of the Divine substance. So Paul declares that He subsisted originally in the form of God (en morphe theou huparchon, Philippians 2:6). (b) In John 1:18; 12:45; 14:9, though the term image is not used, we have the idea of the historical Jesus as a perfect revelation of the character and glory of God. (c) In the two Pauline passages (2 Corinthians 4:4; Colossians 1:15), the reference is probably to the glorified, exalted Christ; not to His pre-existent Divine nature, nor to His temporal manifestation, but to His "whole Person, in the divine-human state of His present heavenly existence" (Meyer). These passages in their cumulative impressions convey the idea that the Image is an inalienable property of His personality, not to be limited to any stage of His existence.ISBE Image.14

4. Theological Implications: Does this involve identity of essence of Father and Son, as in the Homoousion formula of the Nicene Creed? Not necessarily, for man also bears the image of God, even in his sinful state (see I above), a fact which the Arians sought to turn to their advantage. Yet in the light of the context, we must affirm of Christ an absolutely unique kinship with God. In the Col passage, not only are vast cosmic and redemptive functions assigned to Him, but there is said to dwell in Him "all the fullness of the Godhead bodily" (1:19; 2:9). In He not only is the Son the final revelation of God to men, the upholder of the universe, and the very image of the Divine nature, but also the effulgence (apaugasma) of God's glory, and therefore of one nature with Him as the ray is of one essence with the sun (1:1-3). The superiority of the Son is thus not merely one of function but of nature. On the other hand, the figure of the "image" certainly guards against any Sabellian identification of Father and Son, as if they were but modes of the one Person; for we cannot identify the pattern with its copy, nor speak of anyone as an image of himself. And, finally, we must not overlook the affinity of the Logos with man; both are the image of God, though the former in a unique sense. The Logos is at once the prototype of humanity within the Godhead, and the immanent Divine principle within humanity.ISBE Image.15

5. Relation to Pre-Christian Thought: Both in Paul and in He we have an echo of the Jewish doctrine of Wisdom, and of Philo's doctrine of the Logos. In the Alexandrine Book of Wisdom, written probably under Stoic influence, Divine Wisdom is pictorially represented as "an effulgence (apaugasma) from everlasting light, and an unspotted mirror of the working of God, and an image (eikon) of His goodness" (7 26). Philo repeatedly calls the Logos or Divine world-principle the image (eikon, charakter) of God, and also describes it as an effulgence of God. But this use of current Alexandrian terminology and the superficial resemblance of ideas are no proof of conscious borrowing on the part of the apostles. There is this fundamental distinction, that Philo's Logos is not a self-conscious personality, still less a historical individual, but an allegorical hypostatizing of an abstract idea; whereas in Paul and He, as in John, the Divine archetype is actually realized in a historical person, Jesus Christ, the Son and Revealer of God.ISBE Image.16

D. Miall EdwardsISBE Image.17

Image of God

Image of God - See GOD, IMAGE OF.ISBE Image of God.2

Imagery

Imagery - im'-aj-ri (maskith, "carved figure"): Only in Ezekiel 8:12, "every man in his chambers of imagery," i.e. dark chambers on whose walls were pictures in relief representing all kinds of reptiles and vermin, worshipped by elders of Israel. Some maintain that the cult was of foreign origin, either Egyptian (Bertholet, Commentary on Ezekiel), or Babylonian (Redpath, Westminster Commentary on Ezekiel); others that it was the revival of ancient superstitions of a totemistic kind which had survived in obscure circles in Israel (W.R. Smith, Lectures on the Religion of the Semites, revised edition, 357). The word here rendered "imagery" is elsewhere in the King James Version translated "image" (of stone) (Leviticus 26:1, the Revised Version (British and American) "figured stone"), "pictures" (Numbers 33:52, the Revised Version (British and American) "figured stones"; Proverbs 25:11, the Revised Version (British and American) "network"); twice it means imagination, conceit, i.e. a mental picture (Psalms 73:20; Proverbs 18:11). "Imagery" occurs once in Apocrypha (Sirach 38:27 the King James Version, eis homoiosai zographian, the Revised Version (British and American) "to preserve likeness in his portraiture").ISBE Imagery.2

D. Miall EdwardsISBE Imagery.3

Images

Images - im'-aj-iz (tselem; eikon):ISBE Images.2

1. DefinitionISBE Images.3

2. OriginISBE Images.4

3. Historical Beginnings and Early DevelopmentsISBE Images.5

4. Bible References and Palestinian CustomsISBE Images.6

5. Most Important Technical TermsISBE Images.7

(1) Matstsebhah ("pillar")ISBE Images.8

(2) 'Asherah ("grove")ISBE Images.9

(3) Chamman ("sun-image")ISBE Images.10

6. Obscure Bible ReferencesISBE Images.11

(1) Golden CalfISBE Images.12

Jeroboam's CalvesISBE Images.13

(2) Brazen SerpentISBE Images.14

(3) TeraphimISBE Images.15

(4) Image of JealousyISBE Images.16

(5) Chambers of ImageryISBE Images.17

(6) 'EphodISBE Images.18

LITERATUREISBE Images.19

1. Definition: Images, as used here, are visible representations of supposedly supernatural or divine beings or powers. They may be (1) themselves objects of worship, (2) pictures, embodiments or dwelling-places (temple, ark, pillar, priests) of deities worshipped, (3) empowered instruments (amulets, charms, etc.) of object or objects worshipped, (4) pictures or symbols of deities reverenced though not worshipped. These images may be shapeless blocks, or symmetrically carved figures, or objects of Nature, such as animals, sun, moon, stars, etc. These visible objects may sometimes be considered, especially by the uninstructed, as deities, while by others in the small community they are thought of as instruments or symbolizations of deity. Even when they are thought of as deities, this does not exclude a sense and apprehension of a spiritual godhead, since visible corporeal beings may have invisible souls and spiritual attributes, and even the stars may be thought of as "seats of celestial spirits." An idol is usually considered as either the deity itself or his permanent tenement; a fetish is an object which has been given a magical or divine power, either because of its having been the temporary home of the deity, or because it has been formed or handled or otherwise spiritually influenced by such deity. The idol is generally communal, the fetish private; the idol is protective, the fetish is usually not for the common good. (See Jevons, Idea of Cod in Early Religions, 1910.) Relics and symbolic figures do not become "images" in the objectionable sense until reverence changes to worship. Until comparatively recent times, the Hebrews seem to have offered no religious objection to "artistic" images, as is proved not only from the description of Solomon's temple, but also from the discoveries of the highly decorated temple of Yahweh at Syene dating from the 6th century BC, and from ruins of synagogues dating from the pre-Christian and early Christian periods (PEF, January, 1908; The Expositor, December, 1907; Expository Times, January and February, 1908). The Second Commandment was not an attack upon artists and sculptors but upon idolaters. Decoration by means of graven figures was not in ancient times condemned, though, as Josephus shows, by the time of the Seleucids all plastic art was regarded with suspicion. The brazen serpent was probably destroyed in Hezekiah's time because it had ceased to be an ancient artistic relic and had become an object of worship (see below). So the destruction of the ark and altar and temple, which for so long a time had been the means of holy worship, became at last a prophetic hope (Isaiah 6:7; Jeremiah 3:6; Amos 5:25; Hosea 6:6; compare Zechariah 14:20). While the temple is not naturally thought of as an "image," it was as truly so as any Bethel. An idol was the temple in miniature--a dwelling-place of the god. When an image became the object of worship or a means by which a false god was worshipped, it became antagonistic to the First and Second Commandments respectively.ISBE Images.20

2. Origin: The learned author of the article on "Image Worship" in the Encyclopedia Biblica (11th edition) disposes too easily of this question when he suggests that image-worship is "a continuance by adults of their childish games with dolls. .... Idolatrous cults repose largely on make-believe."ISBE Images.21

Compare the similar statement made from a very different standpoint by the author of Great Is Diana of the Ephesians, or the Original of Idolatry (1695): "All Superstitions are to the People but like several sports to children, which varying in their several seasons yield them pretty entertainment," etc.ISBE Images.22

No universal institution or custom is founded wholly on superstition. If it does not answer to some real human need, and "if its foundations are not laid broad and deep in the nature of things, it must perish" (J.G. Fraser, Psyche's Task, 1909, 103; compare Salomon Reinach, Revue des etudes grecques, 1906, 324). Image-worship is too widespread and too natural to humanity, as is proved in modern centuries as well as in the cruder earlier times, to have its basis and source in any mere external and accidental circumstances. All modern research tends to corroborate our belief that this is psychological rather than ecclesiastical in its origin. It is not imposed externally; it comes from within, and naturally accompanies the organic unfoldment of the human animal in his struggle toward self-expression. This is now generally acknowledged to be true of religious feeling and instinct (see especially Rudolf Eueken, Christianity and the New Idealism, 1909, chapter i; I. King, The Development of Religion, 1910); it ought to be counted equally true of religious expression. Neither can the origin of image-worship or even of magical rites be fully explained, as Fraser thinks, by the ordinary laws of association. These associations only become significant because the devoted worshipper already has a body of beliefs and generalizations which make him attentive to the associations which seem to him religiously or magically important. (Jastrow, Aspects of Rel. Belief and Practice in Babylonia and Assyria; compare James H. Leuba, Psychological Origin and Nature of Religion, 1909; Study of Religions, 1911). So animism must be regarded as a philosophy rather than as an original religious faith, since it is based on an "explanation of phenomena rather than an attitude of mind toward the cause of these phenomena" (EB, 11th edition, article "Animism," and compare Hoffding, Philosophy of Religion, 1906, 138). In whatever ways the various image-worshipping cults arose historically--whether from a primitive demonology or from the apotheosis of natural objects, or from symbolism, or a false connection of cause with effect--in any case it had some human need behind it and human nature beneath it. The presence of the image testifies to faith in the supernatural being represented by the image and to a desire to keep the object of worship near. Prayer is easier when the worshipper can see his god or some sacred thing the god has honored (compare M. L'abbe E. Van Drival, De l'origine et des sources de l'idolatrie, Paris, 1860).ISBE Images.23

3. Historical Beginnings and Early Development: The first man was not born with a totem-pole in his fist, nor did the earliest historic men possess images. They lacked temples and altars and ephods and idols, as they lacked the fire-stick and potter's wheel. Religion, which showed itself so strong in the next stage of human life, must have had very firm beginnings in the prehistoric period; but what were its external expressions we do not yet certainly know, except in the methods of burying and caring for the dead. It seems probable that primitive historic man saw in everything that moved an active soul, and that he saw in every extraordinary thing in earth or heaven the expression of a supernatural power. Yet reflective thinking began earlier than Tylor and all the older scientific anthropologists supposed. Those earlier investigators were without extended chronological data, and although ingenuity was exercised in systematizing the beliefs and customs of modern savages, it was necessarily impossible always to determine in this way which were the most primitive cults. Excavations in Babylonia, Egypt and elsewhere have enabled us for the first time to trace with some chronological certainty the religious expressions of earliest historic man. That primitive man was so stupid that he could not tell the difference between men and things, and that therefore totemism or fetishism or a low form of animism was necessarily the first expression of religious thought is a theory which can no longer be held very buoyantly in the face of the new and striking knowledge, material and religious, which is now seen to be incorporated in some of the most ancient myths of mankind. (See e.g. Winekler, Die jungsten Kampfe wider den Panbabylonismus, 1907; Jeremias, The Old Testament in the Light of the Ancient East, 2 volumes, 1911.) The pan-Bab theory, which makes so much use of these texts, is not certain, but the facts upon which theory depends are clear. It is a suggestive fact that among the earliest known deities or symbols of deities mentioned in the most ancient inscriptions are to be found the sun, moon, stars and other great forces of Nature. Out of these conceptions and the mystery of life--which seems to have affected early mankind even more powerfully than ourselves--sprang the earliest known religious language, the myth, which antedated by eons our oldest written texts, since some of these myths appear fully formed in the oldest texts. Rough figures of these solar and stellar deities are found from very early times in Babylonia. So in the earliest Egyptian texts the sun appears as divine and the moon as "the bull among the stars," and rough figures of the gods were carved in human or animal form, or these are represented pictorially by diadems or horns or ostrich feathers, as far back as the IInd Dynasty, while even earlier than this stakes and pillars and heaps of stones are sacred. (See further,HDB , 5th vol, 176 ff; Erman,A Handbook of Egyptian Rel.; Steindorf, Rel. of the Ancient Egyptians, 1905.) These rude and unshaped objects do not testify, as was once supposed, to a lower form of religious development than when sculptured images are found. The shapeless fetish, which not long ago was generally accepted as the earliest form of image, really represents a more advanced stage and higher form of religious expression than the worship of a beautifully or horribly carved image. It has been generally conceded since the days of Robertson Smith that it takes at least as much imagination and reflection to see an expression of deity in imageless matter as in the carved forms. Rude objects untouched by human hand, even in the most highly developed worships, have been most prized. The earliest images were probably natural objects which, because of their peculiar shapes or functions, were thought of either as divine or as made sacred by the touch of deity. Multiplied copies of these objects would naturally be made when worshippers increased or migrations occurred. While images may have been used in the most early cults, yet the highest development of image-worship has occurred among the most civilized peoples. Both deities and idols are less numerous in the early than in the later days of a religion. This is true in India, Assyria, Babylonia, and Egypt, as all experts now agree. Idols are not found among uncivilized peoples, such as the Bushmen, Fuegians, Eskimos, etc. (See e.g. Allen Menzies, History of Rel., 1895.) Images of the gods presuppose a power of discrimination that could only be the result of reflection. The earliest idols known among the Semites were rude stone pillars or unshapen blocks. These, as the fetish, were probably adored, not for themselves, but for the spirit that was supposed to be in them or to have touched them. Deities and idols are multiplied easily, not only by philological, geographical and social causes, but through intertribal and international associations. One thing absolutely proved by recent excavations has been the extent to which the representations of local deities have been modified by the symbolic art of surrounding nations. Babylonia, for example, was influenced by the Syro-Hittite religious art at least as much as by that of Egypt (William Hayes Ward, Cylinders and Other Ancient Oriental Seals, 1909; Clay, Amurru, 1910). Even in adjacent localities the same deity varied greatly in its pictorial representation. See PALESTINE EXPLORATION, and Revue biblique,XIV , 315-48. With the possible exception of one reign in Egypt, during which Ikhnaton refused to allow any deities to be worshipped except the sun discovered and himself, idolatry outside of the Hebrew kingdom was never made a crime against the state until the days of Constantine. Theodosius (392 AD) not only placed sacrifices and divination among the capital crimes, but placed a penalty upon anyone who entered a heathen temple.ISBE Images.24

4. Bible References and Palestinian Customs: The dignity of the image in common thought in Bible times may be seen from the fact that man is said to have been made in God's image (tselem; compare 1 Samuel 6:5; Numbers 33:52), and Christ is said to be "the image of the invisible God" (eikon; compare Colossians 1:15 with Romans 1:23). The heathen thought of the sun and stars and idols as being images of the gods, but the Hebrews, though Yahweh's temple was imageless, thought of normal humanity as in some true sense possessing a sacred resemblance to Deity, though early Christians taught that only Christ was the Father s "image" in unique and absolute perfection. See IMAGE. The ordinary words for "image" by a slight change came to mean vermin, carrion, false gods, no gods, carcasses, dung, etc. Heathen gods were undoubtedly accounted real beings by the early Hebrews, and the images of these enemies of Yahweh were doubtless looked upon as possessing an evil associated (?) power. In the earlier Old Testament era, images, idols, and false gods are synonymous; but as early as the 8th century BC Hebrew prophets begin to reach the lofty conception that heathen gods are non-existent, or at least practically so, when compared with the ever-living Yahweh, while the idols are "worthless things" or "non-entities" (Isaiah 2:8, 18, 20; Isaiah 10:10-11; 19:1; 31:7; compare Jeremiah 14:14; Ezekiel 30:13; note the satiric term 'elilim, as contrasted with the powerful 'elohim). The many ordinary terms used by the Hebrews for an idol or image mean "copy," simulacrum, "likeness," "representation." These are often, however, so compounded as technically to express a particular form, as "graven" or "carved" image (e.g. Exodus 20:4; 2 Chronicles 33:7) of wood or stone, i.e. one cut into shape by a tool; "molten image" (e.g. Exodus 32:4; Leviticus 19:4), i.e. one cast out of melted metal (standing image) (Leviticus 26:1 the King James Version, and see below), etc. However, a few of the Old Testament terms and modes of worship are unusual, or have a more difficult technical meaning, or have been given a new interest by new discoveries, and such deserve a more extended notice.ISBE Images.25

5. Most Important Technical Terms: (1) Matstsebhah ("pillar"): matstsebhah: These were upright stone pillars, often mentioned in the Old Testament, sometimes as abodes (Bethels) or symbols of deity--especially as used by the heathen--but also as votive offerings, memorial and grave stones (Genesis 28:18; 31:45; 14, 20; Joshua 24:26; 1 Samuel 7:12). The reverence for these stones is closely connected with that found among all Semitic peoples for obelisks (Genesis 33:20; 35:7), cairns (Genesis 28:18; Joshua 4:6), and circles (Joshua 4:3, 5, 20). Rough stone pillars from time immemorial were used in Semitic worship (Kittel, Hist of the Hebrews, II, 84). They were thought of primitively as dwelling-places of deity, and the stones and the spots where they stood were therefore accounted sacred. From very early times the mystery of life pressed itself upon human attention, and these stones were viewed as phallic images. These images were at first rough and undifferentiated, but became later well defined as male organs. At Tell Zakariyah the end of one is sculptured to represent a human face. Some sort of phallicism underlies all early Semitic religion, the form of which is determined by the attention paid to the date palm, to the breeding of flocks, to astrology, and to social life. This phallicism did not always represent coarse thought, but sometimes a very profound spiritual conception; compare GOLDEN CALF, and note Wiedemann's statement, inHDB , V, 180 that in Egypt the gods Hu, "Taste," and Sa, "Perception," were created from the blood of the sun-god's phallus. These images of fertility and reproduction were naturally connected in Canaan with the worship of the Baals or "lords" of each locality, upon whose favor as possessor of the land fertility depended. They were also naturally associated with the cult of Astarte, the female counterpart of all the Baals (see ASTARTE). In the Old Testament the Baalim and Asherim are almost invariably classed together, although the latter were wooden posts dedicated to a particular goddess, while "Baal" was merely a title which could be given to any male Semitic deity, and sometimes even to his female associate. The matstsebhoth were set up in a "high place" (which see), attracting reverence because of its "elevation, isolation and mystery" (Vincent). Originally these pillars were not considered as idols, but were naturally erected to Yahweh (Genesis 28:18; 31:45; 35:14; Exodus 24:4), and even Isaiah (Exodus 19:19) and Hosea (Exodus 3:4) approve them, though pillars dedicated to idols must of course be destroyed (Exodus 23:24; 34:13; Jeremiah 43:13; Ezekiel 26:11). Only in late times or by very far-sighted law-givers were the matstsebhoth erected to Yahweh condemned; but after the centralization of the Yahweh-worship in Jerusalem, these pillars were condemned, even when set up in the name of Yahweh, and the older places of worship with their indiscriminate rituals and necessary heathen affiliations were also wisely discarded (Leviticus 26:1; Deuteronomy 16:22; see also GOLDEN CALF).ISBE Images.26

(2) 'Asherah ("grove"): 'asherah: Perhaps a goddess (see ASHERAH), but as ordinarily used in the Old Testament, a sacred tree or stump of a tree planted in the earth (Deuteronomy 16:21) or a pole made of wood and set up near the altar (Judges 6:26; 1 Kings 16:33; Isaiah 17:8).ISBE Images.27

It has been supposed that these were primarily symbols of a goddess Asherah or Ashtoreth (Kuenen, Baethgen), and they were certainly in primitive thought connected with the tree cult and the sacred groves so universally honored by the Semites (see especially W.R. Smith, Religion of the Semites, 169, 437; Stade, Geschichte, 160 ff; Fraser, Golden Bough, II, 56-117; John O'Neill, Night of the Gods, II, 57); but the tree of life is closely connected in texts and pictures with the human organ of generation, and there can be no doubt that there is a phallic meaning connected with this sacred stake or pole, as with the matstsebhoth described above. See references inHDB under "Asherah," and compare Transactions of the Victoria Institute,XXXIX , 234; Winckler, Keilinschriftliches Textbuch zumAT . As these wooden posts from earliest times represented the ideas of fertility and were connected with the mystery of life, they naturally became the signs and symbols in many lands of the local gods and goddesses of fertility.ISBE Images.28

Astarte was by far the most popular deity of ancient Palestine. See ASHTORETH. The figures of Astarte from the 12th to the 9th century BC, as found at Gezer, have large hips, disclosing an exaggerated idea of fecundity. In close connection with the Astarte sanctuaries in Palestine were found numberless bodies of little children, none over a week old, undoubtedly representing the sacrifice of the firstborn by these Canaanites (R.A.S. Macalister, Excavation of Gezer, 3 vols). These Asherim were erected at the most sacred Hebrew sanctuaries, at Samaria (2 Kings 13:6), Bethel (2 Kings 23:15), and even in the Temple of Jerusalem (2 Kings 23:6). The crowning act of King Josiah's reformation was to break down these images (2 Kings 23:14). As the astrological symbol of Baal was the sun, Astarte is often thought of as the moon-goddess, but her symbol was really Venus. She was, however, sometimes called "Queen of Heaven" (Jeremiah 7:18; 17, 19; but see Zeitschrift fur alttestamentliche Wissenschaft,VI , 123-Jeremiah 30:1-24).ISBE Images.29

(3) Chamman ("sun-image"): chamman, the King James Version "images," "idols"; the Revised Version (British and American) "sun-images" (Leviticus 26:30; 2 Chronicles 14:5; 4, 7; Isaiah 17:8; 27:9; Ezekiel 6:4, 6): This worship may originally have come from Babylonia, but the reverence of the sun under the name Baal-hamman had long been common in Palestine before Joshua and the Israelites entered the country. These sun-images were probably obelisks or pillars connected with the worship of some local Baal. The chariot and horses of the sun, mentioned (2 Kings 23:11) as having an honored place at the western entrance of the Jerusalem Temple, represented not a local but a foreign cult. In Babylonian temples, sacrifices were made to the sun-chariot, which seems to have had a special significance in time of war (Pinches, HDB, IV, 629; see also CHARIOTS OF THE SUN).ISBE Images.30

6. Obscure Bible References: (1) Golden Calf and Jeroboam's Calves: See GOLDEN CALF.ISBE Images.31

(2) Brazen Serpent: Brazen Serpent (Numbers 21:4-9; 2 Kings 4:1-44).--The serpent, because of its strange, lightning-like power of poisonous attack, its power to shed its skin, and to paralyze its prey, has been the most universally revered of all creatures. Living serpents were kept in Babylonian temples. So the cobra was the guardian of royalty in Egypt, symbolizing the kingly power of life and death. In mythology, the serpent was not always considered a bad demon, enemy of the Creator, but often appears as the emblem of wisdom, especially in connection with health-giving and life-giving gods, such as Ea, savior of mankind from the flood, and special "god of the physicians" in Babylon; Thoth, the god of wisdom in Egypt, who healed the eye of Horus and brought Osiris to life again; Apollo, the embodiment of physical perfection, and his son, Aeseulapius, most famous giver of physical and moral health and curer of disease among the Greeks. Among the Hebrews also a seal (1500-1000 BC) shows a worshipper before a horned serpent raised on a pole (Wm. Hayes Ward). In Phoenician mythology the serpent is also connected with wisdom and long life, and it is found on the oldest Hebrew seals and on late Jewish talismans (Revue biblique internationale, July, 1908, 382-94); at Gezer, in Palestine, a small "brazen serpent" (a cobra) was found in the "cave of oracles," and in early Christian art Jesus the Lord of Life is often represented standing triumphantly upon the serpent or holding it in His fist. In the Hebrew narrative found in Numbers 21:1-35, the serpent evidently appears as a well-known symbol representing the Divine ability to cure disease, being erected before the eyes of the Israelites to encourage faith and stop the plague. It was not a totem, for the totem belongs to a single family and is never set up for the veneration of other families (Ramsay, Cities of Paul, 39). Hezekiah destroyed it because it was receiving idolatrous worship (2 Kings 18:4), though there is no hint that such worship was ever a part of the official temple cult (Benzinger); for if this had been done, the earlier prophets could hardly have remained silent. The above explanation seems preferable to the one formerly offered that the serpent was merely a copy of the disease-bearer, as the images offered by the Philistines were copies of the ulcers that plagued them (1 Samuel 6:4).ISBE Images.32

See further NEHUSHTAN.ISBE Images.33

(3) Teraphim: Teraphim (teraphim).--These are usually considered household gods, but this does not necessarily include the idea that they were images of ancestors, though this is not improbable (Nowack, Hebrew Archaeology, II, 23; HDB, II, 190); that they were images of Yahweh is a baseless supposition (see Kautzsch,HDB , V, 643). Sometimes they appear in the house (1 Samuel 19:13, 16); sometimes in sanctuaries (Judges 17:5; 18:14); sometimes as carried by travelers and armies (Genesis 31:30; Ezekiel 21:21). They are never directly spoken of as objects of worship (yet compare Genesis 31:30), but are mentioned in connection with wizardry (2 Kings 23:24), and as a means of divination (Ezekiel 21:21; Zechariah 10:2), perhaps not necessarily inconsistent with Yahweh-worship (Hosea 3:4). They were sometimes small and could be easily hidden (Genesis 31:34); at other times larger and in some way resembling a human being (1 Samuel 19:13). Jewish commentators thought the teraphim were in early times mummified human heads which were represented in later centuries by rude images (Moore, Crit. and Exeg. Commentary on Jgs, 1895, 382; see especially Chwolsohn, Die Ssabier u. der Ssabismus, II, 19, 150). Customs of divination by means of such heads were not unknown. In Israel the teraphim were sometimes certainly used in consulting Yahweh (Judges 17:5; 18:14 ff), though their use was later officially condemned (2 Kings 23:24). The teraphim in the home doubtless correspond in use to the EPHOD (which see) in the sanctuary, and therefore these are frequently connected. Certain small rude images have lately been uncovered in Palestine by Bliss, at Tell el-Hesy, and by Sellin, at Tell Ta`annuk, which are supposed to be teraphim.ISBE Images.34

(4) Image of Jealousy: Image of jealousy (cemel).--It is not certain what this statue was which was set up by the door of the inner gate of the Jerusalem temple (Ezekiel 8:3). It was no doubt some idol, perhaps the image of the Asherah (2 Kings 21:7; 23:6), which certainly. had previously been set up in the temple and may have been there again in this day of apostasy. "Jealousy" is not the name of the idol, but it was probably called "image of jealousy" because in a peculiar manner this particular image seems to have been drawing the people from the worship of Yahweh and therefore provoking Him to jealousy.ISBE Images.35

(5) Chambers of Imagery: Chambers of imagery (chadhre maskitho).--Does Ezekiel mean that in his heart every man in his chambers of imagery was an idol-worshipper, or does this refer to actual wall decorations in the Jerusalem Temple (Ezekiel 8:11-12)? Most expositors take it literally. W.R. Smith has been followed almost if not quite universally in his supposition that a debased form of vermin-worship is described in the "creeping things and abominable beasts" (Ezekiel 8:10). But while this low and ignorant worship was an ancient cult, it had been banished for centuries from respectable heathen worship, and it seems inconceivable that these Israelites who were of the highest class could have fallen to these depths, or if they had done so that the Tammuz and sun-worship should have been considered so much worse (Ezekiel 8:13-14). To the writer it seems more probable that the references are to Egyptian or Greek mysteries which would be described by a Hebrew just as Ezekiel describes this secret chamber. It is now known that the Greek mysteries experienced a revival at exactly this era, and it was probably this revival which was making itself felt in Jerusalem, for Greek influence was at this time greatly affecting Palestine (see Duruy, Hist of Greece,II , 126-80, 374; Cobern, Commentary on Ezekiel and Daniel, 80-83, 280-82; and separate articles, CHAMBERS OF IMAGERY; IMAGERY).ISBE Images.36

(6) Ephod: Ephod ('ephodh).--There is no doubt that this was the name of a vestment or ritual loin cloth of linen worn by common priests and temple servants and on special occasions by the king (1 Samuel 2:18; 22:18; 2 Samuel 6:14). The ephod of the high priest was an ornamental waist coat on the front of which was fastened the holy breastplate containing the pocket in which were the Urim and Thummim (Exodus 28:6, 30; 29:5; Exodus 39:2-5; Leviticus 8:28).ISBE Images.37

There are several passages, however, which have convinced many scholars that another ephod is mentioned which must be an image of Yahweh (see EPHOD). The chief passages relied upon are Judges 8:26-27, where Gideon made an ephod with Judges 1:1-36;,700 shekels of gold and "set" this in Ophrah, where it became an object of worship. So in Judges 17:4; Judges 18:14-20, Micah provides an ephod as well as an image and pillar for his sanctuary; in 1 Samuel 21:9 the sword of Goliath is preserved behind the ephod; while in various places the will of Yahweh is ascertained, not by putting on the ephod, but by "bringing it near" and "bearing" and "carrying" it (1 Samuel 23:6, 9; 30:7, etc.). On the basis of these passages Kautzsch (HDB, V, 641) concludes most inconsistently that the ephod appears "exclusively as an image of Yahweh." Driver, after an examination of each text, concludes that just in one passage (Judges 8:27) the term "ephod" is certainly used of the gold casing of an image, and that therefore it may also have this meaning in other passages (HDB, I, 725). It does not seem quite certain, however, that a ceremonial vestment heavily ornamented with gold might not have been "set" or "erected" in a holy place where later it might become an object of worship. If this had been an idolatrous image, would Hosea have deplored its loss (Hosea 3:4), and would its use not have been forbidden in some Bible passage?ISBE Images.38

Kautzsch's view that the ephod meant primarily the garment used to clothe Divine image, which afterward gave its name to the image itself, is a guess unsustained by the Scriptures quoted or, I think, by any archaeological parallel. We conclude that there is no certain proof that this was an image of Yahweh, though was used ritualistically in receiving the oracles of Yahweh (compare Kuenen, Religion of Israel, I, 100; Kittel, Hist of the Hebrews,II , 42; Konig, Die Hauptprobleme, 59-63).ISBE Images.39

See also IDOLATRY; CALF, GOLDEN.ISBE Images.40

LITERATURE.ISBE Images.41

See especially W.R. Smith, Religion of the Semites; E. B. Tylor, Primitive Culture; J. G. Frazer, Golden Bough (3 vols); Baethgen, Beitrage zur sem. Rel.-Gesch.; Kittel, Hist of the Hebrews; Nowack, Hebrew Arch., II; Baudissin, Studien z. sem. Rel.-Gesch. For recent excavations, L.P.H. Vincent, Canaan d'apres l'expl. recente, 1907; R.A.S. Macalister, The Excavation of Gezer (1912); William Hayes Ward, Cylinders and Other Ancient Oriental Seals, 1909.ISBE Images.42

Camden M. CobernISBE Images.43

Imagination

Imagination - i-maj-i-na'-shun (yetser, sheriruth; dianoia): "Imagination" is the translation of yetser, properly "a shaping," hence, "a thought" (Genesis 6:5; 8:21; Deuteronomy 31:21; 1 Chronicles 28:9; 29:18). In Isaiah 26:3 yetser is translated "mind" (King James Version margin "thought" or "imagination"), "whose mind is stayed on thee" (the Revised Version margin "or imagination"); in Psalms 103:14 it is "frame"; of sheriruth, "obstinacy," "stubbornness" (Deuteronomy 29:19; Jeremiah 3:17; 7:24; 9:14; 11:8; 13:10; 16:12; 18:12; 23:17); in Psalms 81:12 the King James Version it is, "lust," margin "hardness or imaginations"; 3 times of machashebheth, "thought" or "purpose" in the King James Version (Proverbs 6:18; Lamentations 3:60-61); once of dianoia, "mind," "understanding" (Luke 1:51); of logismos, "reasoning" (2 Corinthians 10:5); and of dialogismos, "reasoning through" (Romans 1:21 the King James Version).ISBE Imagination.2

The Revised Version (British and American) gives "stubbornness" in each instance where sheriruth is in the King James Version translated "imagination"; in Proverbs 6:18 the American Standard Revised Version has "purposes"; the Revised Version (British and American) has "devices" (Lamentations 3:60-61) and "reasonings" (Romans 1:21), "imagination" for "conceit" (Proverbs 18:11), and (English Revised Version) for "device" (Lamentations 3:62).ISBE Imagination.3

"Imagination" is frequent in Apocrypha, e.g. Ecclesiasticus 22:18 (dianoema); 37:3 (enthumema, "wicked imagination"); 40:2 (dialogismos, the Revised Version (British and American) "expectation").ISBE Imagination.4

W. L. WalkerISBE Imagination.5

Imagine

Imagine - i-maj'-in (chashabh; meletao): The word most frequently translated "to imagine" in the Old Testament, only in the King James Version and the English Revised Version, not in the American Standard Revised Version, is chashabh, "to bind," "combine," "think" (Job 6:26; Psalms 10:2; 21:11; 140:2; Hosea 7:15; Nahum 1:9, 11; Zechariah 7:10; 8:17); we have also haghah in the King James Version and the English Revised Version, but not in the American Standard Revised Version, "to meditate," "mutter," "speak" (Psalms 2:1; 38:12); zamam, "to devise" (Genesis 11:6 the King James Version); charash, "to grave," "devise" (Proverbs 12:20 the King James Version); hathath, "to break in upon," to "attack unjustly" (Psalms 62:3 the King James Version); meletao, "to meditate" (Acts 4:25).ISBE Imagine.2

W. L. WalkerISBE Imagine.3

Imalcue

Imalcue - i-mal-ku'-e (Imalkoue; the King James Version Simalcue): An Arabian prince to whom Alexander Balas entrusted the upbringing of his young son Antiochus. Tryphon, who had formerly been on the side of Alexander, persuaded Imalcue to set up the young Antiochus (Antiochus VI) against Demetrius, who had incurred the enmity of his men of war (1 Maccabees 11:39, 40). Antiochus confirmed Jonathan in the high-priesthood and appointed him to be one of the king's friends (11:57). In Josephus (Ant., XIII, v, 1) the name is given as Malchus.ISBE Imalcue.2

J. HutchisonISBE Imalcue.3

Imla; Imlah

Imla; Imlah - im'-la (yimlah, "fullness"?): Father of the prophet Micaiah (1 Kings 22:8-9; 2 Chronicles 18:7-8).ISBE Imla; Imlah.2

Immaculate Conception, The

Immaculate Conception, The - i-mak'-u-lat kon-sep'-shun:ISBE Immaculate Conception, The.2

1. Definition: The historic designation of the Roman Catholic dogma promulgated by Pope Pius IX on December 8, 1854, in the Papal Bull entitled "Ineffabilis Deus." The term is often incorrectly applied, even by those whose intelligence should make such an error impossible, to the VIRGIN BIRTH of Christ (which see).ISBE Immaculate Conception, The.3

2. Statement of the Dogma: The central affirmation of this proclamation, which was read in Peter's in the presence of over two hundred bishops, is expressed in the following words: It is proclaimed "by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ and the blessed Apostles Peter and Paul and in our own authority, that the doctrine which holds the blessed Virgin Mary to have been, from the first instant of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege of Almighty God, in view of the merits of Christ Jesus the Saviour of Mankind, preserved free from all stain of original sin, was revealed by Cod, and is, therefore, to be firmly and constantly believed by all the faithful" (see Schaff,A History of the Creeds of Christendom,II , 211, 212).ISBE Immaculate Conception, The.4

3. Objections to the Dogma: (1) Drawn from Specifically Protestant Principles.ISBE Immaculate Conception, The.5

Objections to the dogma are mainly two: (a) the claim to authority upon which the proclamation rests. There is every reason to believe that one of the major motives to the entire transaction was the wish, on the part of Pius and his advisers, to make an unmistakable assertion of absolute doctrinal authority by the Roman pontiff. To Protestants of all shades of opinion there would be unbearable offense in the wording of the decree, even if assent could be given to the doctrine itself. The whole vital issue of the Reformation is involved in the use by an ecclesiastic of the words "in our own authority" in addition to the words "by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ and the blessed Apostles Peter and Paul." (b) The tendency to Mariolatry in the entire movement. As we shall see, the ascription of Divine honors to Mary is avoided in the public statement of the dogma and in the defense of it by Roman Catholic writers, but one has but to survey the course of discussion leading up to the publication of 1854, and subsequent to it, to discover a growing tendency to lift Mary out of the realm of human beings and to endow her with Divine attributes and functions. An extended discussion of Mariolatry lies beyond the range of this article (see MARY); it is only necessary to point out the obvious connections (see Roman Catholic Dictionary and church histories, sub loc.).ISBE Immaculate Conception, The.6

(2) Drawn from Roman Catholic Principles. It is far from the truth to suppose that there are no objections to this modern dogma save those which are specifically Protestant. From the viewpoint of the devout Roman Catholic, and for the sake of the prestige of the papacy, this particular dogma seems to have been unfortunately chosen.ISBE Immaculate Conception, The.7

(a) It Has No Basis in Scripture. The only attempt made to provide a Scriptural argument is by using a vague and unsatisfactory parallel between Mary and Eve before the Fall, to be found in the writings of certain church Fathers who did not hold the papal dogma but unconsciously provided a slender and most insecure basis for it (see inacanus). Most Roman Catholic writers are intelligent enough to admit that theory of inspired tradition alone can be appealed to in support of the idea. The ordinary and only tenable argument is that the ecclesiastical promulgation and acceptance of the doctrine prove its apostolic origin (see Catholic Dictionary, sub loc.).ISBE Immaculate Conception, The.8

(b) It Weakens the Authority of the Church. It would almost seem as if the doctrines of ecclesiastical authority and particularly of papal infallibility had, in this unfortunate proclamation, reached a reductio ad obsurdum for the comfort of their foes. Notice with care the historical standing of this dogma: (i) The acknowledged absence of all positive evidence for apostolic origin and primitive authority (see Catholic Dictionary ut supra). (ii) The abundant positive evidence that the principal Fathers of the early church did not believe in the sinlessness of Mary (see list of names and references given by H.C. Sheldon, History of the Christian Church, sub loc.). (iii) The uncertain and equivocal testimony per contra drawn from the early Fathers. They are practically confined to the following: Ephrem Syrus (Carmina, Hymn 27, strophe 8), where he says "Truly it is Thou and Thy mother only who are fair altogether. For in Thee there is no stain and in Thy mother no spot"; Augustine (De Natura et Gratia, cap. 26), "Two were made simple, innocent, perfectly like each other, Mary and Eve," etc. To these may be added the words of Irenaeus: "The knot of Eve's disobedience was untied by Mary's obedience" (Catholic Dictionary, 422). In regard to these three passages it may reasonably be contended that even if these statements necessarily implied the Immaculate Conception of Mary, which they certainly do not, they would still have to be estimated against the many weighty statements which may be brought forward on the other side. (iv) The prolonged controversy over the doctrine. From the earliest time when the idea of Mary's miraculous freedom from sin appears, up to the Old Catholic agreement of 1874, devout and faithful Roman Catholics have protested against the addition of this unscriptural dogma to the faith of the church. Bonaventura (Locus Theol., VII, 1) says: "All the saints who have made mention of this matter, with one mouth have asserted that the blessed Virgin was conceived in original sin." With the statement of the Old Catholic agreement we may safely sum up the ecclesiastical situation, even from the viewpoint of those who hold to the doctrinal validity of tradition. Art. X reads: "We reject the New Roman doctrine of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, as being contrary to the tradition of the first 13 centuries, according to which Christ alone is conceived without sin."ISBE Immaculate Conception, The.9

(3) Drawn from General Considerations of Christian Doctrine.ISBE Immaculate Conception, The.10

The most serious objections to this offensive and gratuitous dogma are not at all specifically Protestant but, rather, broadly Christian. It is necessary at this point to assure ourselves that we understand (as many Protestants evidently do not) just what is meant by the doctrine as a doctrine. According to the accepted Roman Catholic explanation, Mary, at the supposed stage of her conception when the soul was actually infused into the body waiting for it, received the special grace of God whereby she was delivered from all stain of original sin. The point which Protestants need especially to note is that, according to Roman Catholic ideas, this gracious act of God was performed on the basis of the foreseen merits of Christ's sacrifice. This tones down the offensiveness of the doctrine in that it does not per se imply the equality of Mary with Christ, but rather the contrary, in so far as the grace bestowed upon her was gained by anticipation from Him. Roman Catholic writers naturally emphasize this fact in recommending the doctrine to Protestant minds. None the less the offense remains. The "Immaculate Conception" necessarily implies the "immaculate life," and on the same basis of supernatural grace, else would the special miracle have occurred in vain and the fall of Adam been repeated in Mary. Hence, a full account of the doctrine would be that Mary was completely and miraculously redeemed at her conception and completely and miraculously kept from sin throughout her whole life. Apart from all questions as to the rightful place of Mary in Christian thought, this idea involves utter doctrinal confusion. It means that Mary never became a true human being and never lived a true human life. Redemption by a miraculous process begun at conception and carried on throughout the life is an utter impossibility, for the Holy Spirit does not work impersonally, and miraculous holiness which is holiness of a purely Divine character, without a free, cooperating human factor, is no human holiness at all. This dogma reads Mary out of the human family, reduces her to an image and makes her life a phantasm. Moreover, the parallels which are adduced in its support are not true parallels at all.ISBE Immaculate Conception, The.11

Our Lord's sinlessness was not mechanically guaranteed by His miraculous conception (see VIRGIN BIRTH) but was His own achievement through the Holy Spirit granted to Him and personally appropriated. The Hallowing of Children at the Font (see Catholic Dictionary, 470a), the sanctifying of those "separated from the womb" (Galatians 1:15) to God's service, does not imply the miraculous guarantee of artificial sinlessness, but such a gracious influence as enables the subject freely cooperating to obtain victory over sin as a controlling principle. Actual sin and need of forgiveness is not pretermitted by such special grace.ISBE Immaculate Conception, The.12

We can only say, in conclusion, that every reason, which usually operates in a Christian mind to insure rejection of a false teaching, ought to preclude the possibility of accepting this peculiar dogma which is Scripturally baseless, historically unjustified and doctrinally unsound.ISBE Immaculate Conception, The.13

LITERATURE.ISBE Immaculate Conception, The.14

The best simple and reasonably fair-minded discussion of this dogma from the Roman Catholic viewpoint is to be found in the Catholic Dictionary already mentioned, where wide references will be found. For the Protestant view consult any authoritative church history, especially that of Professor H.C. Sheldon where copious references to Patristic literature will be found.ISBE Immaculate Conception, The.15

Louis Matthews SweetISBE Immaculate Conception, The.16

Immanuel

Immanuel - i-man'-u-el (`immanu'el): The name occurs but 3 times, twice in the Old Testament (Isaiah 7:14; 8:8), and once in the New Testament (Matthew 1:23). It is a Hebrew word signifying "God is with us." The form "Emmanuel" appears in Septuagint (Emmanouel).ISBE Immanuel.2

1. Isaiah Rebukes Ahaz: In 735 BC Ahaz was king of Judah. The kingdom of Israel was already tributary to Assyria (2 Kings 15:19-20). Pekah, king of Israel, a bold and ambitious usurper, and Rezin, king of Syria, formed an alliance, the dual object of which was, first, to organize a resistance against Assyria, and second, to force Ahaz to cooperate in their designs against the common tyrant. In the event of Ahaz' refusal, they planned to depose him, and to set the son of Tabeel, a choice of their own, upon the throne of David. To this end they waged war against Judah, advancing as far as Jerusalem itself, but without complete success (Isaiah 7:1). Ahaz, a weak king, and now panic-stricken, determined to invoke the aid of Tiglath-pileser, king of Assyria (2 Kings 16:7). This he actually did at a later stage in the war (2 Kings 6:9; 15:29). Such a course would involve the loss of national independence and the payment of a heavy tribute. At this period of crisis, Isaiah, gathering his disciples around him (Isaiah 8:16), is told to deliver a message to the king. Ahaz, though making a show of resistance against the coalition, is in reality neither depending upon the help of Yahweh nor upon the courage of his people. Isaiah, in an effort to calm his fears and prevent the fatal alliance with Assyria, offers him a sign. This method is specially characteristic of this prophet. Fearing to commit himself to the policy of Divine dependence, but with a pretense at religious scruples, "Neither will I tempt Yahweh," the king refuses (Isaiah 7:12). The prophet then chides him bitterly for his lack of faith, which, he says, not only wearies men, but God also (Isaiah 7:13).ISBE Immanuel.3

2. The Sign of "Immanuel": He then proceeds to give him a sign from God Himself, the sign of "Immanuel" (Isaiah 7:14). The interpretation of this sign is not clear, even apart from its New Testament application to Christ. The Hebrew word translated "virgin" in English Versions of the Bible means, more correctly, "bride," in the Old English sense of one who is about to become a wife, or is still a young wife. Psalms 68:25 English Versions of the Bible gives "damsels."ISBE Immanuel.4

Isaiah predicts that a young bride shall conceive and bear a son. The miracle of virgin-conception, therefore, is not implied. The use of the definite article before "virgin" (ha-`almah) does not of itself indicate that the prophet had any particular young woman in his mind, as the Hebrew idiom often uses the definite article indefinitely. The fact that two other children of the prophet, like Hosea's, bore prophetic and mysterious names, invites the conjecture that the bride referred to was his own wife. The hypothesis of some critics that a woman of the harem of Ahaz became the mother of Hezekiah, and that he was the Immanuel of the prophet's thought is not feasible. Hezekiah was at least 9 years of age when the prophecy was given (2 Kings 16:2).ISBE Immanuel.5

Immanuel, in the prophetic economy, evidently stands on the same level with Shear-jashub (Isaiah 7:3) as the embodiment of a great idea, to which Isaiah again appeals in Isaiah 8:8 (see ISAIAH,VII ).ISBE Immanuel.6

3. Was It a Promise or a Threat?: The question as to whether the sign given to Ahaz was favorable or not presents many difficulties. Was it a promise of good or a threat of judgment? It is evident that the prophet had first intended an omen of deliverance and blessing (Isaiah 7:4, 7). Did the king's lack of faith alter the nature of the sign? Isaiah 7:9, "If ye will not believe," etc., implies that it might have done so. The omission of Isaiah 7:16, and especially the words "whose two kings thou abhorrest," greatly simplifies this theory, as "the land," singular, would more naturally refer to Judah than to Syria and Ephraim collectively. The omen would then become an easily interpreted threat, referring to the overthrow of Judah rather than that of her enemies. Immanuel should eat curdled milk and honey (Isaiah 7:15), devastation reducing the land from an agricultural to a pastoral one. The obscure nature of the passage as it stands suggests strongly that it has suffered from interpolation. The contrary theory that the sign was a promise and not a prediction of disaster, has much to commend it, though it necessitates greater freedom with the text. The name "Immanuel" implies the faith of the young mother of the child in the early deliverance of her country, and a rebuke to the lack of that quality in Ahaz. It is certain also that Isaiah looked for the destruction of Syria and Ephraim, and that, subsequent to the Assyrian invasion, salvation should come to Judah through the remnant that had been faithful (Isaiah 11:11). The fact that the prophet later gave the name of Maher-shalal-hash-baz to his new-born son, a name of good omen to his country, further strengthens this position. The omission of Isaiah 7:15, 17 would make the sign a prophecy of the failure of the coalition. It is plain, whichever theory be accepted, that something must be eliminated from the passage to insure a consistent reading.ISBE Immanuel.7

4. Its Relation to the Messianic Hope: The question now presents itself as to what was the relation of Immanuel to the Messianic prophecies. Should the emphasis be laid upon "a virgin," the son, or the name itself? For traditional interpretation the sign lay in the virgin birth, but the uncertainty of implied virginity in the Hebrew noun makes this interpretation improbable. The identification of the young mother as Zion personified, and of the "son" as the future generation, is suggested by Whitehouse and other scholars. But there is no evidence that the term `almah was used at that time for personification. The third alternative makes Immanuel a Messiah in the wider use of the term, as anticipated by Isaiah and his contemporaries. There can be little doubt but that there existed in Judah the Messianic hope of a national saviour (2 Samuel 7:12). Isaiah is expecting the arrival of one whose character and work shall entitle him to the great names of 2 Samuel 9:6. In him should dwell all the fullness of God. He was to be "of the stem of Jesse," the bringer of the Golden Age. The house of David is now beset by enemies, and its reigning representative is weak in faith. The prophet therefore announces the immediate coming of the deliverer. If he had intended the virgin-conception of Christ in the distant future, the sign of "Immanuel" would have possessed no immediate significance, nor would it have been an omen to Ahaz. With regard to the Messianic idea, Micah 5:3 ("until the time that she who travaileth hath brought forth") is of importance as indicating the prevalent thought of the time. Recent evidence shows that even in Babylonia and Egypt there existed expectations of a divinely born and wonderful saviour. To this popular tradition the prophet probably appealed, his hearers being easily able to appreciate the force of oracular language that is to us obscure. There is much to confirm the view, therefore, that the prophecy is Messianic.ISBE Immanuel.8

5. The Virgin Birth: The use of the word as it relates to the virgin birth of Christ and the incarnation cannot be dealt with here (see PERSON OF CHRIST). These facts, however, may be noted. The Septuagint (which has parthenos, "virgin") and the Alexandrian Jews interpreted the passage as referring to the virgin birth and the Messianic ministry. This interpretation does not seem to have been sufficiently prominent to explain the rise of the idea of miraculous virgin conception and the large place it has occupied in Christological thought.ISBE Immanuel.9

See VIRGIN BIRTH.ISBE Immanuel.10

Arthur Walwyn EvansISBE Immanuel.11

Immer

Immer - im'-er ('immer):ISBE Immer.2

(1) A priest of David's time (1 Chronicles 24:14), whose descendants are mentioned in Ezra 2:37; 10:20; Nehemiah 3:29; 7:40; 11:13.ISBE Immer.3

(2) A priest of Jeremiah's time (Jeremiah 20:1).ISBE Immer.4

(3) A place in Babylonia (Ezra 2:59; Nehemiah 7:61).ISBE Immer.5

Immortal; Immortality

Immortal; Immortality - i-mor'-tal, im-or-tal'-i-ti (athanasia, 1 Corinthians 15:53; 1 Timothy 6:16, aphtharsia, literally, "incorruption," Romans 2:7; 1 Corinthians 15:1-58; 2 Timothy 1:10, aphthartos, literally, "incorruptible," Romans 1:23; 1 Corinthians 15:52; 1 Timothy 1:17):ISBE Immortal; Immortality.2

1. Preliminary--Need of Definition and DistinctionISBE Immortal; Immortality.3

2. Biblical ConceptionISBE Immortal; Immortality.4

I. THE NATURAL BELIEFISBE Immortal; Immortality.5

1. Its OriginISBE Immortal; Immortality.6

2. Philosophical ArgumentsISBE Immortal; Immortality.7

(1) The Soul SpiritualISBE Immortal; Immortality.8

Soul not Inherently IndestructibleISBE Immortal; Immortality.9

(2) Capacities of Human NatureISBE Immortal; Immortality.10

(3) The Moral ArgumentISBE Immortal; Immortality.11

II. THE BIBLICAL DOCTRINE--THE OLD TESTAMENTISBE Immortal; Immortality.12

1. Starting-Point--Man's Relation to GodISBE Immortal; Immortality.13

Man's NatureISBE Immortal; Immortality.14

2. Sin and DeathISBE Immortal; Immortality.15

3. Grace and Redemption--The True ImmortalityISBE Immortal; Immortality.16

Deliverance from SheolISBE Immortal; Immortality.17

4. Later Jewish ThoughtISBE Immortal; Immortality.18

III. THE CHRISTIAN HOPEISBE Immortal; Immortality.19

1. Immortality through ChristISBE Immortal; Immortality.20

(1) Survival of the SoulISBE Immortal; Immortality.21

(2) Union with Christ in Unseen WorldISBE Immortal; Immortality.22

(3) The ResurrectionISBE Immortal; Immortality.23

(4) The Wicked Also RaisedISBE Immortal; Immortality.24

(5) Eternal LifeISBE Immortal; Immortality.25

2. ContrastsISBE Immortal; Immortality.26

LITERATUREISBE Immortal; Immortality.27

1. Preliminary--Need of Definition and Distinction:ISBE Immortal; Immortality.28

In hardly any subject is it more necessary to be careful in the definition of terms and clear distinction of ideas, especially where the Biblical doctrine is concerned, than in this of "immortality." By "immortality" is frequently meant simply the survival of the soul, or spiritual part of man, after bodily death. It is the assertion of the fact that death does not end all. The soul survives. This is commonly what is meant when we speak of "a future life," "a future state," "a hereafter." Not, however, to dwell on the fact that many peoples have no clear conception of an immaterial "soul" in the modern sense (the Egyptians, e.g. distinguished several parts, the Ka, the Ba, etc., which survived death; often the surviving self is simply a ghostly resemblance of the earthly self, nourished with food, offerings, etc.), there is the more serious consideration that the state into which the surviving part is supposed to enter at death is anything but a state which can be described as "life," or worthy to be dignified with the name "immortality." It is state peculiar to "death" (see DEATH); in most cases, shadowy, inert, feeble, dependent, joyless; a state to be dreaded and shrunk from, not one to be hoped for. If, on the other hand, as in the hope of immortality among the nobler heathen, it is conceived of, as for some, a state of happiness--the clog of the body being shaken off--this yields the idea, which has passed into so much of our modern thinking, of an "immortality of the soul," of an imperishableness of the spiritual part, sometimes supposed to extend backward as well as forward; an inherent indestructibility.ISBE Immortal; Immortality.29

2. Biblical Conception: It will be seen as we advance, that the Biblical view is different from all of these. The soul, indeed, survives the body; but this disembodied state is never viewed as one of complete "life." For the Bible "immortality" is not merely the survival of the soul, the passing into "Sheol" or "Hades." This is not, in itself considered, "life" or happiness. The "immortality" the Bible contemplates is an immortality of the whole person--body and soul together. It implies, therefore, deliverance from the state of death. It is not a condition simply of future existence, however prolonged, but a state of blessedness, due to redemption and the possession of the "eternal life" in the soul; it includes resurrection and perfected life in both soul and body. The subject must now be considered more particularly in its different aspects.ISBE Immortal; Immortality.30

I. The Natural Belief. 1. Its Origin: In some sort the belief in the survival of the spirit or self at death is a practically universal phenomenon. To what is it traceable? A favorite hypothesis with anthropologists is that it has its origin in dreams or visions suggesting the continued existence of the dead (compare H. Spencer, Eccles. Instit., chapters i, xiv). Before, however, a dream can suggest the survival of the soul, there must be the idea of the soul, and of this there seems a simpler explanation in the consciousness which even the savage possesses of something within him that thinks, feels and wills, in distinction from his bodily organs. At death this thinking, feeling something disappears, while the body remains. What more natural than to suppose that it persists in some other state apart from the body? (Compare Max Muller, Anthrop. Religion, 281.) Dreams, etc., may help this conviction, but need not create it. It is only as we assume such a deeper root for the belief that we can account for its universality and persistence. Even this, however, while an instinctive presumption, can hardly be called a proof of survival after death, and it does not yield an idea of "immortality" in any worthy sense. It is at most, as already said, a ghostly reduplication of the earthly life that is thus far reached.ISBE Immortal; Immortality.31

2. Philosophical Arguments: (1) The Soul Spiritual. The more philosophical arguments that are adduced for the soul's immortality. (or survival) are not all of equal weight. The argument based on the metaphysical essence of the soul (see Plato's Phaedo) is not in these days felt to be satisfying. On the other hand, it can be maintained against the materialist on irrefragable grounds that the soul, or thinking spirit, in man is immaterial in Nature, and, where this is granted, there is, or can be, no proof that death, or physical dissolution, destroys this conscious spirit. The presumption is powerfully the other way. Cicero of old argued that death need not even be the suspension of its powers (compare Tusc. Disp. i.20); Butler reasons the matter from analogy (Anal., I, chapter i); modern scientists like J.S. Mill (Three Essays, 201) and Professor Huxley (Life and Letters, I, 217 ff; compare William James, Ingersoll Lecture) concede that immortality cannot be disproved. The denial one hears from various sides more frequently than formerly is therefore not warranted. Still possibility is not certainty, and there is nothing as yet to show that even if the soul survives death, its new state of existence has in it anything desirable.ISBE Immortal; Immortality.32

Soul not Inherently IndestructibleISBE Immortal; Immortality.33

It was hinted that one use which the Greeks made of the metaphysical argument was to prove the indestructibility of the soul--its immortality in the sense of having no beginning and no end. This is not the Christian doctrine. The soul has no such inherent indestructibility. It is dependent on God, as everything else is, for its continued existence. Did He withdraw His sustaining power, it would cease to exist. That it does continue to exist is not doubted, but this must be argued on other grounds.ISBE Immortal; Immortality.34

(2) Capacities of Human Nature. A much more apprehensible argument for immortality--more strictly, of a future state of existence--is drawn from the rich capacities and possibilities of human nature, for which the earthly life affords so brief and inadequate a sphere of exercise. It is the characteristic of spirit that it has in it an element of infinitude, and aspires to the infinite. The best the world can give can never satisfy it. It has in it the possibility of endless progress, and ever higher satisfaction. It was this consideration which led Kant, with all his theoretical skepticism, to give immortality a place among his "doctrinal beliefs" (see his Critique of Pure Reason, Bohn's translation, 590-91), and moved J.S. Mill to speak of it as the only hope which gave adequate scope to the human faculties and feelings, "the loftier aspirations being no longer kept down by a sense of the insignificance of human life by the disastrous feeling of `not worth while' " (Three Essays, 249). Yet when these arguments are calmly weighed, they amount to no more than a proof that man is constituted for immortality; they do not afford a guarantee that this destiny might not be forfeited, or if they yield such a guarantee for the good, they hardly do so for the wicked. The belief, in their case, must depend on other considerations.ISBE Immortal; Immortality.35

(3) The Moral Argument. It is, as Kant also felt, when we enter the moral sphere that immortality, or the continued existence of the soul, becomes a practical certainty to the earnest mind. With moral personality is bound up the idea of moral law and moral responsibility; this, in turn, necessitates the thought of the world as a moral system, and of God as moral Ruler. The world, as we know it, is certainly a scene of moral administration--of probation, of discipline, of reward and penalty--but as obviously a scene of incomplete moral administration. The tangled condition of things in this life can satisfy no one's sense of justice. Goodness is left to suffer; wickedness outwardly triumphs. The evil-doer's own conscience proclaims him answerable, and points to future judgment. There is need for a final rectification of what is wrong here. But while a future state seems thus called for, this does not of itself secure eternal existence for the wicked, nor would such existence be "immortality" in the positive sense. In view of the mystery of sin, the lamp of reason grows dim. For further light we must look to revelation.ISBE Immortal; Immortality.36

II. The Biblical Doctrine--the Old Testament. 1. Starting-Point--Man's Relation to God: The Biblical view of immortality starts from man's relation to God. Man, as made in the image of God (Genesis 1:27), is fitted for the knowledge of God, for fellowship with Him. This implies that man is more than an animal; that he has a life which transcends time. In it already lies the pledge of immortality if man is obedient.ISBE Immortal; Immortality.37

Man's Nature.ISBE Immortal; Immortality.38

With this corresponds the account given of man's creation and original state. Man is a being composed of body and soul; both are integral parts of his personality. He was created for life, not for mortality. The warning, "In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die" (Genesis 2:17), implies that if man continued obedient he would live. But this is not an immortality of the soul only. It is a life in the body (compare Genesis 3:22). Its type is such cases as Enoch and Elijah (Genesis 5:24; 2 Kings 2:11-12; compare Psalms 49:15; 73:24).ISBE Immortal; Immortality.39

2. Sin and Death: The frustration of this original destiny of man comes through sin. Sin entails death (see DEATH). Death in its physical aspect is a separation of soul and body--a breaking up of the unity of man's personality. In one sense, therefore, it is the destruction of the immortality which was man's original destiny. It does not, however, imply the extinction of the soul. That survives, but not in a state that can be called "life." It passes into Sheol--the sad, gloomy abode of the dead, in which there is no joy, activity, knowledge of the affairs of earth, or (in the view of Nature) remembrance of God, or praise of His goodness (on this subject, and the Hebrew belief in the future state generally, see ESCHATOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT; DEATH; SHEOL). This is not future "life"--not "immortality."ISBE Immortal; Immortality.40

It is the part of grace and redemption to restore immortality in the true sense. Had the world been left to develop in sin, no further hope could have come to it. The picture of Sheol would have become ever darker as the idea of retribution grew stronger; it could never become brighter.ISBE Immortal; Immortality.41

3. Grace and Redemption--the True Immortality: But God's grace intervened: "Deliver him from going down to the pit, I have found a ransom" (Job 33:24). God's mercy breaks in on the hopelessness of man's lot. He gives to man His promises; makes His covenant with man; admits man to His fellowship (Genesis 3:15; 4:4; 5:24; Genesis 6:8-9; Genesis 12:1-3; Genesis 15:1-21, etc.). In this fellowship the soul was raised again to its true life even on earth. But this held in it also a hope for the future. The promises placed in the forefront as tokens of God's favors were indeed predominatingly temporal--promises for this life--but within these (the kernel within the shell) was the supreme possession of God Himself (Psalms 4:6 f; Psalms 16:2). This held in it the hope of redemption and the principle of every good.ISBE Immortal; Immortality.42

Deliverance from Sheol.ISBE Immortal; Immortality.43

Here we reach the core of the Old Testament hope of immortality. Such fellowship as the believer had with God could not be lost, even in Sheol; beyond that was deliverance from Sheol. In their highest moments it was this hope that sustained patriarchs, psalmists, prophets, in their outlook on the future. Doubt might cloud their minds; there might be seasons of darkness and even despair; but it was impossible in moments of strong faith to believe that God would ever really desert them. The eternal God was their dwelling-place; them were everlasting arms (Deuteronomy 33:27; compare Psalms 90:1). Their hope of immortality, therefore, was, in principle, the hope not merely of an "immortality of the soul," but likewise of resurrection--of complete deliverance from Sheol. Thus it is clearly in the impassioned outburst of Job (Psalms 19:14; compare Psalms 14:7 ff), and in many of the psalms. The hope always clothes itself in the form of complete deliverance from Sheol. Thus in Psalms 17:14 f, the wicked have their portion "in this life," but, "As for me, I shall behold thy face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness" (the American Standard Revised Version "with beholding thy form"); and in Psalms 49:14 f, the wicked are "appointed as a flock for Sheol," but "God will redeem my soul from the power of Sheol; for he will receive me" (same expression as that regarding Enoch, Genesis 5:24; compare Psalms 73:24). It will be remembered that when Jesus expounded the declaration, "I am the God of Abraham," etc., it was as a pledge of resurrection (Matthew 22:31 f). The idea comes to final expression in the declaration in Dan of a resurrection of the just and unjust (Matthew 12:2). For further development and illustration see ESCHATOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT.ISBE Immortal; Immortality.44

4. Later Jewish Thought: Later Jewish thought carried out these ideas of the Old Testament to further issues. A blessed future for the righteous was now accepted, and was definitely connected with the idea of resurrection. The wicked remained in Sheol, now conceived of as a place of retribution. The Gentiles, too, shared this doom.ISBE Immortal; Immortality.45

See ESCHATOLOGY.ISBE Immortal; Immortality.46

III. The Christian Hope. 1. Immortality through Christ: In full consonance with what is revealed in part in the Old Testament is the hope of immortality discovered in the New Testament. The ring of this joyful hope is heard in every part of the apostolic writings. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ," says Peter, "who according to his great mercy begat us again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, unto an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you" (1 Peter 1:3 f). Paul declares, "Our Saviour Christ Jesus, who .... brought life and immortality (incorruption) to light through the gospel" (2 Timothy 1:10). In Romans 2:7 he had spoken of those who "by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and incorruption, eternal life." This immortality, it is seen, is part of the eternal life bestowed through Jesus on believers. It is guaranteed by Christ's own resurrection and life in glory. The nature of this hope of the gospel may now be further analyzed.ISBE Immortal; Immortality.47

(1) Survival of the Soul. The soul survives the body. A future state for both righteous and wicked is plainly declared by Jesus Himself. "He that believeth on me," He said to Martha, "though he die, yet shall he live; and whosoever liveth and believeth on me shall never die" (John 11:25 f). To His disciples He said, "If I go and prepare a place for you, I come again, and will receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also" (John 14:3). Compare His words to the penitent thief: "To-day shalt thou be with me in Paradise" (Luke 23:43). The survival of both righteous and wicked is implied in the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31). So in many other places (e.g. Matthew 5:29 f; Matthew 10:28; Matthew 11:21-24; 12:41, etc.). The same is the teaching of the epistles. The doctrine of a future judgment depends on and presupposes this truth (Romans 2:5-11; 2 Corinthians 5:10, etc.).ISBE Immortal; Immortality.48

(2) Union with Christ in Unseen World. Death for the redeemed, though a result of sin, does not destroy the soul's relation to God and to Christ. The eternal life implanted in the soul in time blossoms in its fruition into the life and blessedness of eternity (Romans 8:10 f; Philippians 1:21; Colossians 1:27). The soul is, indeed, in an incomplete state till the resurrection. It "waits for our adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body" (Romans 8:23). But its state, though incomplete, is still a happy one. Hades has lost its gloom, and is for it a "Paradise" (Luke 23:43). It dwells in a chamber of the Father's house (John 14:2 f; John 17:24). It is to be, even in the unclothed state ("absent from the body"), "at home with the Lord" (2 Corinthians 5:8). It is for it an object of desire to be "with Christ" in that state after death (Philippians 1:21). The pictures in Rev, though highly figurative, indicate a condition of great blessedness (Revelation 7:9-17).ISBE Immortal; Immortality.49

(3) The Resurrection. The fullness of the blessedness of immortality implies the resurrection. The resurrection is a cardinal article of Christ's teaching (Matthew 22:29-32; John 5:25-29; John 11:23-26). He Himself is the Lord of life, and life-giver in the resurrection (John 5:21, 25-26; 11:25, "I am the resurrection, and the life"). The resurrection of believers is secured by His own resurrection. Jesus died; He rose again (see RESURRECTION). His resurrection carries with it the certainty of the resurrection of all His people. This is the great theme of 1 Corinthians 15:1-58. As Christ lives, they shall live also (John 14:19). The believers who are alive at His Parousia shall be changed (1 Corinthians 15:51; 1 Thessalonians 4:17); those who are dead shall be raised first of all (1 Thessalonians 4:16). The resurrection body shall be a body like to Christ's own (Philippians 3:21)--incorruptible, glorious, powerful, spiritual, immortal (1 Corinthians 15:42 ff,53 f). This is not to be confused with sameness of material particles (1 Corinthians 15:37 f), yet there is the connection of a vital bond between the old body and the new. This is the hope of the believer, without which his redemption would not be complete.ISBE Immortal; Immortality.50

(4) The Wicked Also Raised. The wicked also are raised, not, however, to glory, but for judgment (John 5:29; Acts 24:15; Revelation 20:12-15). The same truth is implied in all passages on the last judgment. Excluded from the blessedness of the righteous, their state is described by both Jesus and His apostles as one of uttermost tribulation and anguish (e.g. Matthew 25:46; Mark 9:43-50; Romans 2:8 f). This is not "immortality" or "life," though the continued existence of the soul is implied in it (see PUNISHMENT, EVERLASTING; HELL; RETRIBUTION).ISBE Immortal; Immortality.51

(5) Eternal Life. The condition of the blessed in their state of immortality is one of unspeakable felicity of both soul and body forever. There are, indeed, degrees of glory--this is carefully and consistently taught (Matthew 25:14 ff; Luke 19:12 ff; 1 Corinthians 3:10-15; 15:41; Philippians 3:10-14; 2 Timothy 4:7 f; 1 John 2:28)--but the condition as a whole is one of perfect satisfaction, holiness and blessedness (compare Matthew 13:43; 25:34; Romans 2:7, 10; Romans 12:3 ff, etc.). The blessedness of this eternal state includes such elements as the following: (1) restoration to God's image and likeness to Christ (1 Corinthians 15:49; 2 Corinthians 3:18; Ephesians 4:24; Colossians 3:10; 1 John 3:2); (2) perfect holiness in the possession of God's Spirit (2 Corinthians 7:1; Philippians 1:6; Revelation 21:27; 4, 11); (3) the unveiled vision of God's glory (Revelation 22:4; compare Psalms 17:15); (4) freedom from all sorrow, pain and death (Revelation 21:3 f); (5) power of unwearied service (Revelation 22:3).ISBE Immortal; Immortality.52

2. Contrasts: The contrast between the Biblical view of immortality and that of heathenism and of the schools will now be obvious. It is not mere future existence; not a bare, abstract immortality of the soul; it is the result of redemption and of renewal by God's spirit; it embraces the whole personality, soul and body; it is not shared by the unholy; it includes the perfection of rational, moral and spiritual blessedness, in an environment suitable to such glorified existence. As such it is the supreme prize after which every believer is called to strive (Philippians 3:13 f).ISBE Immortal; Immortality.53

LITERATURE.ISBE Immortal; Immortality.54

Ingersoll Lectures on Immortality, by Professor William James, Professor Osler, etc.; Salmond, Christian Doctrine of Immortality; Orr, Christian View of God and the World, Lects iv, v, with App. to v; works specified in the article on ESCHATOLOGY.ISBE Immortal; Immortality.55

James OrrISBE Immortal; Immortality.56

Immutability; Immutable

Immutability; Immutable - i-mu-ta-bil'-i-ti, i-mu'-ta-b'-l (ametathetos): Occurs in Hebrews 6:17-18 of the unchangeableness of the Divine counsel. It is the perfection of Yahweh that He changes not in character, will, purpose, aim (Malachi 3:6; so of Christ, Hebrews 13:8).ISBE Immutability; Immutable.2

See FAITHFULNESS ; UNCHANGEABLE.ISBE Immutability; Immutable.3

Imna

Imna - im'-na (yimna`): A descendant of Asher (1 Chronicles 7:35).ISBE Imna.2

Imnah

Imnah - im'-na (yimnah):ISBE Imnah.2

(1) Eldest son of Asher (Genesis 46:17, the King James Version "Jimnah"; Numbers 26:44, the King James Version "Jimna"; 1 Chronicles 7:30).ISBE Imnah.3

(2) A Levite of Hezekiah's time (2 Chronicles 31:14).ISBE Imnah.4

Imnites

Imnites - im'-nits (yimni): Descendants of IMNAH (q.v. (1)) (Numbers 26:44, the King James Version "Jimnites").ISBE Imnites.2

Impart

Impart - im-part' (metadidomi, "to share"): "They .... imparted (the King James Version "added") nothing to me" (Galatians 2:6); that is, did not propose any correction or addition to my teaching. "That I may impart unto you some spiritual gift" (Romans 1:11) expresses the apostle's hope that the Roman believers may increase in faith and love through his teaching and influence.ISBE Impart.2

"To impart unto you .... our own souls" (1 Thessalonians 2:8) meant to spend their utmost strength and to expose their lives in their service.ISBE Impart.3

Impediment

Impediment - im-ped'-i-ment: Found in Mark 7:32, "had an impediment in his speech," as a translation of mogilalos, comparative of mogos, "toil" and lalos, "speech," i.e. one who speaks with difficulty. In the Septuagint the word is used as a translation of 'illem, "dumb" (Isaiah 35:6).ISBE Impediment.2

Implead

Implead - im-pled' (Acts 19:38 the King James Version, "Let them impIead one another"): "Implead" means "to sue at law," hence, the Revised Version (British and American) "Let them accuse one another." Court days are kept, let them prosecute the suit in court and not settle matters in riot. egkalein, means "to call in," "to call to account."ISBE Implead.2

Importable

Importable - im-por'-ta-b'l (dusbastaktos): An obsolete word, meaning "unbearable" (Latin: im, "not," portabilis, "bearable") found in Pr Man, "Thine angry threatening (the Revised Version (British and American) "the anger of thy threatening") toward sinners is importable"; compare Rheims version, Matthew 23:4, "heavy burdens and importable"; Chaucer ("Clerk's Tale" C.T.), "For it were importable though they wolde."ISBE Importable.2

Importunity

Importunity - im-por-tu'-ni-ti: Occurs only in Luke 11:8, where it is the rendering of anaideia (Westcott-Hort, anaidia). This Greek word implies an element of impudent insistence rising to the point of shamelessness which the English word "importunity" fails to express, thus weakening the argument of the parable, which is that if by shameless insistence a favor may be won, even from one unwilling and ungracious, still more surely will God answer the earnest prayer of His people. God's willingness to give exceeds our ability to ask. The parable teaches by way of contrast, not by parallel.ISBE Importunity.2

David Foster EstesISBE Importunity.3

Imposition of Hands

Imposition of Hands - im-po-zish'-un.ISBE Imposition of Hands.2

See HANDS, IMPOSITION(LAYING ON ) OF.ISBE Imposition of Hands.3

Impossible

Impossible - im-pos'-i-b'-l (verb adunateo; adjective adunatos): "To be impossible" is the translation of adunateo, "to be powerless," "impotent" (Matthew 17:20; Luke 1:37, the Revised Version (British and American) "void of power") adunatos, "powerless," etc., is translated "impossible" Matthew 19:26; Mark 10:27; Luke 18:27; Hebrews 6:4, 18; 11:6; "impossible" in Hebrews 6:4 is in the Revised Version (British and American) transferred to Hebrews 6:6); anendektos, "not to be received" or "accepted," is also translated "impossible" (Luke 17:1). In several of these passages it is affirmed that "nothing is impossible with God," but, of course, this means nothing that is consistent with the Divine nature, e.g. (as Hebrews 6:18) it is not possible for God to lie. So, when it is said that nothing is impossible to faith, the same limitation applies and also that of the mind or will of God for us. But much more is possible to a strong faith than a weak faith realizes, or even believes.ISBE Impossible.2

W. L. WalkerISBE Impossible.3

Impotent

Impotent - im'-po-tent (astheneo, adunatos): The verb signifies "to be without strength," and derivatives of it are used in John 5:3, 7 the King James Version and Acts 4:9 to characterize the paralyzed man at Bethesda and the cripple at the Temple gate. For the same condition of the Lystra lame man the word adunatos is used, which is synonymous. In these cases it is the weakness of disease. In this sense the word is used by Shakespeare (Love's Labor Lost, V, ii, 864; Hamlet, I, ii, 29). The impotent folk referred to in the Epistle of Jeremy (Baruch 6:28) were those weak and feeble from age and want; compare "impotent and snail-paced beggary" (RichardIII ,IV , iii, 53).ISBE Impotent.2

Alexander MacalisterISBE Impotent.3

Imprisonment

Imprisonment - im-priz'-'-n-ment.ISBE Imprisonment.2

See PUNISHMENTS; PRISON.ISBE Imprisonment.3

Impurity

Impurity - im-pu'-ri-ti.ISBE Impurity.2

See UNCLEANNESS.ISBE Impurity.3

Imputation

Imputation - im-pu-ta'-shun:ISBE Imputation.2

I. MEANING AND USE OF THE TERMISBE Imputation.3

II. THE THREEFOLD USE OF THE TERM IN THEOLOGYISBE Imputation.4

Original Sin, Atonement, JustificationISBE Imputation.5

III. THE SCRIPTURAL BASIS OF THESE DOCTRINESISBE Imputation.6

1. Imputation of Adam's Sin to His PosterityISBE Imputation.7

2. Imputation of the Sins of His People to ChristISBE Imputation.8

3. Imputation of the Righteousness of Christ to His PeopleISBE Imputation.9

LITERATUREISBE Imputation.10

I. Meaning and Use of the Term. The word "imputation," according to the Scriptural usage, denotes an attributing of something to a person, or a charging of one with anything, or a setting of something to one's account. This takes place sometimes in a judicial manner, so that the thing imputed becomes a ground of reward or punishment. The word is used in the King James Version a number of times to translate the Hebrew verb chashabh and the Greek verb logizomai. These words, both of which occur frequently in Scripture, and which in a number of instances mean simply "to think," express the above idea. That this is the case is clear also from the other English words used in the King James Version to translate these Hebrew and Greek words, as, for example, "to count," "to reckon," "to esteem." Thus chashabh is translated in the King James Version by the verb "to impute" (Leviticus 7:18; 17:4; 2 Samuel 19:19); by the verb "to reckon" (2 Samuel 4:2); by "to count" as something (Leviticus 25:31 English versions). The verb in 1 Samuel 22:15 is sim. Similarly, logizomai is translated by the verb "to impute" (Romans 4:6, 8, 11, 22-23, 24; 2 Corinthians 5:19; James 2:23); by the verb "to count" (Romans 2:26; 3, 5); "to account" (Galatians 3:6); and by the verb "to reckon" (Romans 4:4, 9-10). In the Revised Version (British and American) the word used to render logizomai is the verb "to reckon."ISBE Imputation.11

These synonyms of the verb "to impute" bring out the idea of reckoning or charging to one's account. It makes no difference, so far as the meaning of imputation is concerned, who it is that imputes, whether man (1 Samuel 22:15) or God (Psalms 32:2); it makes no difference what is imputed, whether a good deed for reward (Psalms 106:30 f) or a bad deed for punishment (Leviticus 17:4); and it makes no difference whether that which is imputed is something which is personally one's own prior to the imputation, as in the case above cited, where his own good deed was imputed to Phinehas (Psalms 106:30 f), or something which is not personally one's own prior to the imputation, as where Paul asks that a debt not personally his own be charged to him (Philemon 1:18). In all these cases the act of imputation is simply the charging of one with something. It denotes just what we mean by our ordinary use of the term. It does not change the inward state or character of the person to whom something is imputed. When, for example, we say that we impute bad motives to anyone, we do not mean that we make such a one bad; and just so in the Scripture the phrase "to impute iniquity" does not mean to make one personally bad, but simply to lay iniquity to his charge. Hence, when God is said "to impute sin" to anyone, the meaning is that God accounts such a one to be a sinner, and consequently guilty and liable to punishment. Similarly, the non-imputation of sin means simply not to lay it to one's charge as a ground of punishment (Psalms 32:2). In the same manner, when God is said "to impute righteousness" to a person, the meaning is that He judicially accounts such a one to be righteous and entitled to all the rewards of a righteous person (Romans 4:6, 11).ISBE Imputation.12

II. The Threefold Use of the Term in Theology. Original Sin, Atonement, Justification:ISBE Imputation.13

Three acts of imputation are given special prominence in the Scripture, and are implicated in the Scriptural doctrines of Original Sin, Atonement and Justification, though not usually expressed by the words chashabh and logizomai. Because, however, of its "forensic" or "judicial" meaning, and possibly through its use in the Vulgate (Jerome's Latin Bible, 390-405 A.D.) to translate logizomai in Romans 4:8, the term "imputation" has been used in theology in a threefold sense to denote the judicial acts of God by which the guilt of Adam's sin is imputed to his posterity; by which the sins of Christ's people are imputed to Him; and by which the righteousness of Christ is imputed to His people. The act of imputation is precisely the same in each case. It is not meant that Adam's sin was personally the sin of his descendants, but that it was set to their account, so that they share its guilt and penalty. It is not meant that Christ shares personally in the sins of men, but that the guilt of his people's sin was set to his account, so that He bore its penalty. It is not meant that Christ's people are made personally holy or inwardly righteous by the imputation of His righteousness to them, but that His righteousness is set to their account, so that they are entitled to all the rewards of that perfect righteousness.ISBE Imputation.14

These doctrines have had a place in theology of the Christian church from the earliest Christian centuries, though the doctrine of the imputation of the righteousness of Christ was first fully and clearly stated at the time of and following the Reformation. The first two of these doctrines have been the possession of the entire Christian church, while the third one of them is affirmed by both the Reformed and Lutheran branches of Protestantism.ISBE Imputation.15

III. The Scriptural Basis of These Doctrines. These three doctrines have a basis in the Scripture, and underlie the Scripture doctrines of Original Sin, Atonement, and Justification.ISBE Imputation.16

1. Imputation of Adam's Sin to His Posterity: The doctrine of the imputation of Adam's sin to his posterity is implied in the account of the Fall in Genesis 2:1-25 and Genesis 3:1-24, taken in connection with the subsequent history of the human race as recorded in Gen and in the rest of the Old Testament. Many ancient and modern interpreters regard this narrative as an allegorical, mythical or symbolical representation in historical form, either of a psychological fact, i.e. of something which takes place in every individual, or of certain general truths concerning sin. By some exegetes, following Kant, it has been held to depict an advance of the race in culture or ethical knowledge (Reuss; against which view compare Budde, Clemen); by others it has been regarded as a symbolical representation of certain truths concerning sin (Oehler, Schultz); by others it has been regarded as historical (Delitzsch). This latter view is the one which accords with the narrative itself. It is evidently intended as historical by its author, and is so regarded by the New Testament writers. It is, moreover, introduced to explain, not an advance of the race, but the entrance of sin into the world, and the connection of certain penal evils with sin. It does this by showing how these evils came upon Adam as a punishment for his disobedience, and the subsequent history shows that his posterity were subjected to the same evils. It is true that the threat of punishment to Adam in case of disobedience was made to him alone, and that the penalties threatened are said to have come only upon him and Eve (Genesis 3:16-19). Nevertheless, it is clear from the account of the subsequent history of the race that it actually shared in the punishments inflicted upon Adam, and that this was in consequence of his sin. This implies that in Genesis 2:16 f are contained the terms of a covenant in which Adam acted as the representative of the race. If, therefore, the race shares in the penalty of Adam's sin, it must also share in his guilt or the judicial obligation to suffer punishment. And this is precisely what theology of the entire Christian church has meant by saying that the guilt of Adam's sin was imputed to his posterity. This is in accordance with God's method of dealing with men in other recorded instances (Genesis 19:15; Exodus 20:5; Deuteronomy 1:37; 3:26); and the assertion of the principle of personal responsibility by Ezekiel and Jeremiah against an abuse of the principle of representative responsibility implies a recognition of the latter (Ezekiel 18:2, 4; 33:12; Jeremiah 31:29).ISBE Imputation.17

The universality of sin and death is not brought into connection with the Fall of Adam by the other Old Testament writers. This is done, however, by Paul. In 1 Corinthians 15:21 f, Paul says that the death of all men has its cause in the man Adam in the same way in which the resurrection from the dead has its cause in the man Christ. The death of all men, accordingly, is not brought about by their personal sins, but has come upon all through the disobedience of Adam. Upon what ground this takes place, Paul states in the passage Romans 5:12-21. He introduces the subject of Adam's relation to the race to illustrate his doctrine of the justification of sinners on the ground of a righteousness which is not personally their own. In order to do this he takes the truth, well known to his readers, that all men are under condemnation on account of Adam's sin. The comparison is between Adam and Christ, and the specific point of the comparison is imputed sin and imputed righteousness. Hence, in Romans 5:12 Paul does not mean simply to affirm that as Adam sinned and consequently died, so men sin and die. Nor can he mean to say that just as God established a precedent in Adam's case that death should follow sin, so He acts upon this precedent in the case of all men because all sin, the real ground of the reign of death being the fact that all sin, and the formal ground being this precedent (B. Weiss); nor that the real ground is this precedent and the subordinate ground the fact that all sin (Hunefeld). Neither can Paul intend to say that all men are subject to death because they derive a corrupt nature from Adam (Fritzsche); nor that men are condemned to die because all have sinned (Pfleiderer). Paul's purpose is to illustrate his doctrine of the way in which men are delivered from sin and death by the way in which they are brought into condemnation. The main thought of the passage is that, just as men are condemned on account of the imputation to them of the guilt of Adam's sin, so they are justified on account of the imputation to them of the righteousness of Christ. Paul says that it was by one man that sin and death entered into the world, and it was by one man that death passed to all men, because all were implicated in the guilt of that one man's Sin (Romans 5:12). In proof of this the apostle cites the fact that death as a punishment was reigning during a period in which the only possible judicial ground of this fact must have been the imputation of the guilt of that one man's sin (Romans 5:13-14). Hence, there is a precise parallel between Adam and Christ. Just as men are condemned on account of Adam's disobedience, so they are justified on account of the obedience of Christ (Romans 5:18-19). The thought of the passage is imputed sin and imputed righteousness as the ground of condemnation and of justification respectively.ISBE Imputation.18

2. Imputation of the Sins of His People to Christ:ISBE Imputation.19

That our sins are imputed to Christ is not expressly stated in the Scripture, but is implied in those passages which affirm that Christ "bore our sins," and that our iniquities were "laid upon him" by Yahweh. To bear inquity or sin, though it may sometimes mean to bear it away or remove it, is an expression often applied in Scripture to persons charged with guilt and subjected to the punishment of their own sin (Leviticus 5:17; 7:18; 19:8; 22:9). That the Hebrew verb nasa' has this meaning is also indicated by its being interchanged with the verb cabhal, which means "to bear as a burden" and is used to denote the bearing of the punishment of sin (Isaiah 53:11). In the Old Testament sacrificial system, which according to the New Testament is typical of the sacrifice of Christ, the imposition of hands on the head of the victim signified the substitution of it for the offender and the transfer of his guilt to it. This idea is brought out clearly in the case of the two goats on the great Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16:1-34). When, therefore, the Servant of Yahweh in Isaiah 53:1-12 is said "to bear iniquity" (Isaiah 53:11), or that "the chastisement of our peace was upon him" (Isaiah 53:5), or that "Yahweh hath laid (literally, "caused to fall") on him the iniquity of us all" (Isaiah 53:6), the idea expressed is that Christ bore the punishment of our sin vicariously, its guilt having been imputed to Him. The thought of the prophecy is, as Delitzsch says, that of vicarious punishment, which implies the idea of the imputation of the guilt of our sins to Christ.ISBE Imputation.20

The same idea underlies these expressions when they occur in the New Testament. When Peter wishes to hold up Christ as an example of patience in suffering, he takes up the thought of Isa, and adduces the fact that Christ "his own self bare our sins in his body upon the tree". (1 Peter 2:24). The context indicates that Peter had the prophecy of Isaiah 53:1-12 in mind, so that his meaning is, not that Christ carried our sins even up to the cross, but that in His death on the cross Christ bore the punishment of our sin, its guilt having been imputed to Him. The same thought is expressed by the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews, where the contrast between the first and second advents of Christ is made to hinge upon the fact that in the first He came to be sacrificed as a sin-bearer, burdened with the guilt of the sin of others, whereas in His second coming He will appear without this burden of imputed or vicarious guilt (Hebrews 9:28). Paul also gives expression to the same thought when he says that Christ was "made. to be sin on our behalf" (2 Corinthians 5:21), and that He became "a curse for us" (Galatians 3:13). In the former passage the idea of substitution, although not expressed by the preposition huper which indicates that Christ's work was for our benefit, is nevertheless clearly implied in the thought that Christ, whose sinlessness is emphasized in the ver, is made sin, and that we sinners become righteous in Him. Paul means that Christ was made to bear the penalty of our sin and that its guilt was imputed to Him in precisely the same way in which we sinners become the righteousness of God in Him, i.e. by the imputation of His righteousness to us. The same thought is expressed in Galatians 3:13, where the statement that Christ was made a curse for us means that He was made to endure the curse or penalty of the broken law. In all these passages the underlying thought is that the guilt of our sin was imputed to Christ.ISBE Imputation.21

3. Imputation of the Righteousness of Christ to His People:ISBE Imputation.22

The righteousness upon the ground of which God justifies the ungodly is, according to Paul, witnessed to in the Old Testament (Romans 3:21). In order to obtain the blessedness which comes from a right relation to God, the pardon or non-imputation of sin is necessary, and this takes place through the "covering" of sin (Psalms 32:1-2). The nature of this covering by the vicarious bearing of the penalty of sin is made clear in Isaiah 53:1-12. It is, moreover, the teaching of the Old Testament that the righteousness which God demands is not to be found among men (Psalms 130:3; 143:2; Isaiah 64:6). Accordingly, the prophets speak of a righteousness which is not from man's works, but which is said to be in Yahweh or to come from Him to His people (Isaiah 32:16 f; Isaiah 45:23 ff; Isaiah 54:17; 58:8; 61:3; Jeremiah 51:10; Hosea 10:12). This idea finds its clearest expression in connection with the work of the Messiah in Jeremiah 33:16, where Jerusalem is called "Yahweh our righteousness" because of the coming of the Messianic king, and in Jeremiah 23:6 where the same name is given to the Messiah to express His significance for Israel. Although the idea of the imputation of righteousness is not explicitly asserted in these passages, the idea is not merely that the righteousness spoken of is recognized by Yahweh (Cremer), but that it comes from Him, so that Yahweh, through the work of the Messiah, is the source of His people's righteousness.ISBE Imputation.23

This idea is taken up by Paul, who makes explicit the way in which this righteousness comes to sinners, and who puts the idea of imputed righteousness at the basis of his doctrine of Justification. By the righteousness of Christ Paul means Christ's legal status, or the merit acquired by all that He did in satisfying the demands of God's law, including what has been called His active and passive obedience. Notwithstanding the fact that most of the modern expositors of Paul's doctrine have denied that he teaches the imputation of Christ's obedience, this doctrine has a basis in the apostle's teaching. Justification leads to life and final glorification (Romans 5:18; 8:30); and Paul always conceives the obtaining of life as dependent on the fulfillment of the law. If, therefore, Christ secures life for us, it can only be in accordance with this principle. Accordingly, the apostle emphasizes the element of obedience in the death of Christ, and places this act of obedience at the basis of the sinner's justification (Romans 5:18). He also represents the obedience of the cross as the culminating point of a life of obedience on Christ's part (Philippians 2:8). Moreover, Paul affirms that our redemption from all the demands of the law is secured by the fact that Christ was born under law (Galatians 4:4). This cannot be restricted to the fact that Christ was under the curse of the law, for He was born under law and the result of this is that we are free from all of its demands. This doctrine is also implied in the apostle's teaching that Justification is absolutely gracious, taken in connection with the fact that it leads to a complete salvation.ISBE Imputation.24

The importance in Paul's thought of the doctrine of the imputation of the righteousness of Christ to the believer can be seen from the fact that the question how righteousness was to be obtained occupied a central place in his religious consciousness, both before and after his conversion. The apostle's conversion by the appearance of the risen Christ determined his conception of the true way of obtaining righteousness, since the resurrection of Christ meant for Paul the condemnation of his entire past search for righteousness by works of the law.ISBE Imputation.25

That the imputation of the righteousness of Christ to the believer does lie at the basis of Paul's doctrine of Justification can be further seen from the fact that Justification is absolutely free and unmerited so far as the sinner is concerned (Romans 3:24; 5:15; Galatians 5:4; Titus 3:7); its object being one who is ungodly (Romans 4:5); so that it is not by works (Romans 3:20, 28; Galatians 2:16; 3:11; 5:4; Philippians 3:9); and yet that it is not a mere pardon of sin, but is a strictly "forensic" or judicial judgment, freeing the sinner from all the claims of the law, and granting him the right to eternal life. This last truth is plain because God's retributive righteousness lies at the basis of Paul's doctrine of Justification (Romans 2:1-29); is manifested in it (Romans 3:25 f); because Christ's expiatory work is its ground (Romans 3:25); and because our redemption from the curse of the law rests upon Christ's having borne it for us, and our redemption from all the demands of the law depends upon their fulfillment by Christ (Galatians 3:13; 4:4). Hence, the gracious character of Justification, according to Paul, does not consist in its being merely a gracious pardon without any judicial basis (Ritschl); or in God's acceptance of a subjective righteousness produced by Him in the sinner (Tobac); or in the acceptance of faith instead of a perfect righteousness (Cremer). The gracious character of Justification consists for Paul in the fact that the righteousness on the ground of which God justifies the ungodly is a righteousness which is graciously provided by God, and which Paul contrasts with his own righteousness which comes from law works (Philippians 3:9). The sinner, therefore, is pardoned and accepted as a righteous person, not on account of anything in himself, but only on account of what Christ has done for him, which means that the merits of Christ's suffering and obedience are imputed to the sinner as the ground of his justification.ISBE Imputation.26

This truth is explicitly affirmed by Paul, who speaks of God's imputing righteousness without works, and of righteousness being imputed (Romans 4:6, 11). The idea of the imputation of righteousness here is made clear by the context. The one who is declared righteous is said to be "ungodly" (Romans 4:5). Hence, he is righteous only by God's imputation of righteousness to him. This is also clear from the contrast between imputation according to grace and according to debt (Romans 4:4). He who seeks righteousness by works would be justified as a reward for his works, in antithesis to which, imputation according to grace would be the charging one with a righteousness which he does not possess. Accordingly, at the basis of Justification there is a reckoning to the sinner of an objective righteousness. This same idea is also implied and asserted by Paul in the parallel which he draws between Adam and Christ (Romans 5:18 f). The apostle says that just as men are condemned on account of a sin not their own, so they are justified on account of a righteousness which is not their own. The idea of imputed sin and imputed righteousness, as was said, is the precise point of the parallelism between condemnation in Adam and justification in Christ. This is also the idea which underlies the apostle's contrast of the Old and New Covenants (2 Corinthians 3:9). The New Covenant is described as a "ministry of righteousness," and contrasted with the Old Covenant which is described as a "ministry of condemnation." If, therefore, this last expression does not denote a subjective condition of men under the old dispensation, but their relation to God as objects of His condemnation, righteousness must denote the opposite of this relation to the law, and must depend on God's judicial acquittal. The same truth is expressed by Paul more concretely by saying that Christ has been "made unto us righteousness from God" (1 Corinthians 1:30). Here the concrete mode of expression is chosen because Paul speaks also of Christ being our sanctification and redemption, so that an expression had to be chosen which would cover all of these ideas. One of the clearest statements concerning this objective righteousness is Philippians 3:9. The apostle here affirms that the righteousness which the believer in Christ obtains is directly opposite to his own righteousness. This latter comes from works of the law, whereas the former comes from God and through faith in Christ. It is, therefore, objective to man, comes to him from God, is connected with the work of Christ, and is mediated by faith in Christ.ISBE Imputation.27

The idea clearly stated in this last passage of a righteousness which is objective to the sinner and which comes to him from God, i.e. the idea of a new legal standing given to the believer by God, explains the meaning, in most cases, of the Pauline phrase "righteousness of God." This phrase is used by Paul 9 t: Romans 1:17; 5, 21 f,25 f; Romans 10:3 (twice); 2 Corinthians 5:21. It denotes the Divine attribute of righteousness in Romans 3:5, 25 f. The customary exegesis was to regard the other instances as denoting the righteousness of a sinner which comes to him from God, in accordance with Philippians 3:9. More recently Haering, following Kolbing in general, has interpreted all these instances as denoting God's justifying action. But this interpretation is most strained in 2 Corinthians 5:21, where we are said to "become the righteousness of God," and in Romans 10:3-6, where the righteousness of God is identified with the righteousness which comes from faith, this latter being contrasted with man's own inward righteousness. That a righteousness of man which he receives from God is here referred to, is confirmed by the fact that the reason given for the error of the Jews in seeking a righteousness from law works is the fact that the work of Christ has made an end of this method of obtaining righteousness (Romans 10:4). This righteousness, therefore, is one of which man is the possessor. The phrase, however, cannot mean a righteousness which is valid in God's sight (Luther), although this thought is elsewhere expressed by Paul (Romans 3:20; Galatians 3:11). It means a righteousness which comes from God and of which He is the author. This is not, however, by making man inwardly righteous, since all the above passages show the purely objective character of this righteousness. It is the righteousness of Philippians 3:9; the righteousness which God imputes to the believer in Christ. Thus we "become the righteousness of God" in precisely the same sense in which Christ was "made to be sin" (2 Corinthians 5:21). Since Christ was made sin by having the guilt. of our sin imputed to Him so that He bore its penalty, Paul must mean that we "become the righteousness of God" in this same objective sense through the imputation to us of the righteousness of Christ. In the same way, in Romans 10:3, the contrast between God's righteousness and the Jew's righteousness by works of the law shows that in each case righteousness denotes a legal status which comes from God by imputation. It is this same imputed righteousness which makes the gospel the power of God unto salvation (Romans 1:17), which has been revealed by the law and the prophets, which is received by faith in Christ by whose expiatory death God's retributive righteousness has been made manifest (Romans 3:21-22, 25-26), and which is represented by Peter as the object of Christian faith (2 Peter 1:1).ISBE Imputation.28

In two passages Paul affirms that Abraham believed God and "it was imputed to him for righteousness" (Romans 4:3 the King James Version; Galatians 3:6). The old Arminian theologians, and some modern exegetes (H. Cremer) assert that Paul means that Abraham's faith was accepted by God instead of a perfect righteousness as the meritorious ground of his justification. This, however, cannot be the apostle's meaning. It is diametrically opposed to the context where Paul introduces the case of Abraham for the very purpose of proving that he was justified without any merit on his part; it is opposed to Paul's idea of the nature of faith which involves the renunciation of all claim to merit, and is a simple resting on Christ from whom all its saving efficacy is derived; and this interpretation is also opposed to Paul's doctrine of the absolutely gracious character of Justification. The apostle in these passages wishes to illustrate from the case of Abraham the gracious character of Justification, and quotes the untechnical language of Genesis 15:6. His meaning is simply that Abraham was justified as a believer in God, and not as one who sought righteousness by works.ISBE Imputation.29

See SIN; ATONEMENT; JUSTIFICATION.ISBE Imputation.30

LITERATURE.ISBE Imputation.31

Besides the Comm., see works on Old Testament Theology by Dillmann, Davidson, Oehler, Schultz; and on New Testament Theology by H. Holtzmann, B. Weiss, Schmidt; also Chemnitz, De Vocabulo Imputationis, Loc. Theol., 1594, II, 326 ff; J. Martin, The Imputation of Adam's Sin, 1834, 20-46; Clemen, Die Christliche Lehre yon der Sande, I, 1897, 151-79; Dietzsch, Adam und Christus, 1871; Hunefeld, Romans 5:12-21, Romans 16:27; Crawford, The Doctrine of the Holy Scripture Respecting the Atonements, 1876, 33-45, 188-90. Compare also the appropriate sections in the Works on the Scripture doctrine of Justification, and especially on Paul's doctrine of Justification, e.g. Owen, Justification, 1st American edition, 185-310; Ritschl, Die Christliche Lehre yon der Rechtfertigung und VersShnung, II2, 1882, 303-31; Bohl, Von der Rechtfertigung durch den Glauben, 1890, 115-23; Nosgen, Schriftbeweis fur die evangel. Rechfertigungslehre, 1901, 147-96; Pfleiderer, Die Paulinische Rechtfertigung, ZWT (Hilgenfeld herausg.), 1872, 161-200; Paulinism, English translation, I, 171-86; with which compare Pfleiderer's later view of Paul's teachings, 2nd edition, 1890, 178-89; G. Schwarz, Justitia Imputata? 1891; H. Cremer, Paulinische Rechtfertigungslehre, 1900, 329-49; Tobac, Le problame de la justification dans Saint Paul, 1908, 206-25. On Paul's doctrine of the righteousness of God, of the many monographs the following may be mentioned: Fricke, Der Paulinische Grundbegriff der erortert auf Grund v. Rom. III, 21-26, 1888; Kolbing, Studien zur Paulinische Theologie, TSK, 1895, 7-51; Haring bei Paulus, 1896.ISBE Imputation.32

Caspar Wistar HodgeISBE Imputation.33

Imrah

Imrah - im'-ra (yimrah): A descendant of Asher (1 Chronicles 7:36).ISBE Imrah.2

Imri

Imri - im'-ri ('imri):ISBE Imri.2

(1) A Judahite (1 Chronicles 9:4).ISBE Imri.3

(2) Father of Zaccur who helped to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem under Nehemiah (Nehemiah 3:2).ISBE Imri.4

In

In - A principal thing to notice about this preposition, which in the King James Version represents about 16 Hebrew and as many Greek words and prepositions, is that, in hundreds of cases (especially in the Old Testament, but frequently also in the New Testament) in the Revised Version (British and American) the rendering is changed to more exact forms ("to," "unto," "by," "upon," "at," "with," "among," "for," "throughout," etc.; compare e.g. Genesis 6:16; 13:8; 7, 9, 12; 18:1; Exodus 8:17; Leviticus 1:9, etc.); while, nearly as often, "in" is substituted for divergent forms of the King James Version (e.g. Genesis 2:14; 17:11; 31:54; 40:7; 49:17; Exodus 8:14, 24; Leviticus 3:17; 4:2, etc.). The chief Greek preposition en, is frequently adhered to as "in" in the Revised Version (British and American) where the King James Version has other forms ("with," "among," etc.; compare "in" for "with" in John's baptism, Matthew 3:11, and parallel; "in the tombs" for "among the tombs," Mark 5:3). In 2 Thessalonians 2:2, "shaken in mind" in the King James Version is more correctly rendered in the Revised Version (British and American) "shaken from (apo) your mind." There are numerous such instructive changes.ISBE In.2

James OrrISBE In.3

In the Lord

In the Lord - (en Kurio): A favorite Pauline expression, denoting that intimate union and fellowship of the Christian with the Lord Jesus Christ which supplies the basis of all Christian relations and conduct, and the distinctive element in which the Christian life has its specific character. Compare the synonymous Pauline phrases, "in Christ," "in Christ Jesus," and the Johannine expressions, "being in Christ," "abiding in Christ." "In the Lord" denotes: (1) the motive, quality, or character of a Christian duty or virtue, as based on union with Christ, e.g. "Free to be married to whom she will; only in the Lord" (1 Corinthians 7:39), i.e. provided the marriage be consistent with the Christian life. Compare 1 Corinthians 15:58; Philippians 3:1; Philippians 4:1-2, 4, 10; Ephesians 6:1, 10; Colossians 3:18, etc.; (2) the ground of Christian unity, fellowship, and brotherly salutation, e.g. Romans 16:2, 8, 22; 1 Corinthians 16:19; Colossians 4:7; (3) it is often practically synonymous with "Christian" (noun or adjective), "as Christians" or "as a Christian," e.g. "Salute them of the household of Narcissus, that are in the Lord," i.e. that are Christians (Romans 16:11); "I .... the prisoner in the Lord," i.e. the Christian prisoner (Ephesians 4:1); compare Romans 16:13; 1 Corinthians 9:1-2; Ephesians 6:21 ("faithful minister in the Lord" = faithful Christian minister); Colossians 4:17 (see Grimm-Thayer, Lex. of New Testament, en, I, 6).ISBE In the Lord.2

D. Miall EdwardsISBE In the Lord.3

Incantation

Incantation - in-kan-ta'-shun.ISBE Incantation.2

See MAGIC.ISBE Incantation.3

Incarnation

Incarnation - in-kar-na'-shun.ISBE Incarnation.2

See PERSON OF CHRIST.ISBE Incarnation.3

Incense

Incense - in'-sens (qeTorah; in Jeremiah 44:21, qiTTer; in Malachi 1:11, qaTar, "In every place incense shall be offered unto my name"; the word lebhonah, translated "incense" in several passages in Isa and Jer in the King James Version, is properly "frankincense," and is so rendered in the Revised Version (British and American)): The offering of incense, or burning of aromatic substances, is common in the religious ceremonies of nearly all nations (Egyptians, Babylonians, Assyrians, Phoenicians, etc.), and it is natural to find it holding a prominent place in the tabernacle and temple-worship of Israel. The newer critical theory that incense was a late importation into the religion of Israel, and that the altar of incense described in Exodus 30:1 ff is a post-exilian invention, rests on presuppositions which are not here admitted, and is in contradiction to the express notices of the altar of incense in 1 Kings 6:20, 22; 7:48; 9:25; compare 2 Chronicles 4:19 (see discussion of the subject by Delitzsch in Luthardt's Zeitschrift, 1880, 113 ff). In the denunciation of Eli in 1 Samuel 2:27 ff, the burning of incense is mentioned as one of the functions of the priesthood (1 Samuel 2:28). The "smoke" that filled the temple in Isaiah's vision (Isaiah 6:4) may be presumed to be the smoke of incense. The word keTorah itself properly denotes. "smoke." For the altar of incense see the article on that subject, and TABERNACLE and TEMPLE. The incense used in the tabernacle service--called "sweet incense" (keToreth ha-cammim, Exodus 25:6, etc.)--was compounded according to a definite prescription of the perfumes, stacte, onycha, galbanum and pure frankincense (Exodus 30:34 f), and incense not so compounded was rejected as "strange incense" (keTorah zarah, Exodus 30:9). In the offering of incense, burning coals from the altar of burnt offering were borne in a censer and put upon the altar of incense (the "golden altar" before the oracle), then the fragrant incense was sprinkled on the fire (compare Luke 1:9 f). Ample details of the rabbinical rules about incense may be seen in the article "Incense," in DB.ISBE Incense.2

See CENSER.ISBE Incense.3

Figuratively, incense was symbolical of ascending prayer. The multitude were praying while Zacharias offered incense (Luke 1:10, thumiama), and in Revelation 5:8; 8:3 f, the incense in the heavenly temple is connected and even identified (Revelation 5:8) with "the prayers of the saints."ISBE Incense.4

James OrrISBE Incense.5

Incest

Incest - in'-sest.ISBE Incest.2

See CRIMES .ISBE Incest.3

Incontinency

Incontinency - in-kon'-ti-nen-si (akrasia, "without control"): In 1 Corinthians 7:5, it evidently refers to lack of control in a particular matter, and signifies unchastity. In Matthew 23:25, the Greek word is translated in both the King James Version and the American Standard Revised Version by "excess."ISBE Incontinency.2

Incorruption

Incorruption - in-ko-rup'-shun (aphtharsia): Occurs in 1 Corinthians 15:42, 50, 53-54, of the resurrection body, and is twice used in the Revised Version (British and American) for the King James Version "immortality" (Romans 2:7; 2 Timothy 1:10 margin).ISBE Incorruption.2

See IMMORTALITY .ISBE Incorruption.3

Increase

Increase - in'-kres, (noun), in-kres' (verb): Employed in the English Bible both as verb and as noun, and in both cases to represent a number of different words in the original. As a verb it is used in the ordinary sense of the term. As a noun it is usually used of plant life, or of the herds and flocks, to denote the fruitage or the offspring; more rarely of money, to denote the interest. As examples of the different terms translated by this word, students who read Hebrew or Greek may compare Deuteronomy 7:22; Proverbs 16:21; Job 10:16 the King James Version; Job 12:23; Numbers 18:30; Deuteronomy 7:13; Ezekiel 22:12 in the Old Testament, and John 3:30; 1 Corinthians 3:6; Colossians 2:19; Ephesians 4:16 in the New Testament.ISBE Increase.2

Russell Benjamin MillerISBE Increase.3

India

India - in'-di-a (hoddu: he Indike): The name occurs in canonical Scripture only in Esther 1:1; 8:9, of the country which marked the eastern boundary of the territory of Ahasuerus. The Hebrew word comes from the name of the Indus, Hondu, and denotes, not the peninsula of Hindustan, but the country drained by that great river. This is the meaning also in 1 Esdras 3:2; Additions to Esther 3:2; 16:1. Many have thought that this country is intended by Havilah in Genesis 2:11 and that the Indus is the Pishon. The drivers of the elephants (1 Maccabees 6:37) were doubtless natives of this land. The name in 1 Maccabees 8:9 is certainly an error. India never formed part of the dominions of Antiochus the Great. It may possibly be a clerical error for "Ionia," as Media is possibly a mistake for Mysia. If the Israelites in early times had no direct relations with India, many characteristic Indian products seem to have found their way into Palestinian markets by way of the Arabian and Syrian trade routes, or by means of the Red Sea fleets (1 Kings 10:11, 15; Ezekiel 27:15 ff, etc.). Among these may be noted "horns of ivory and ebony," "cassia and calamus," almug (sandalwood), apes and peacocks.ISBE India.2

W. EwingISBE India.3

Indignities

Indignities - in-dig'-ni-tiz.ISBE Indignities.2

See PUNISHMENTS.ISBE Indignities.3

Indite

Indite - in-dit': the King James Version Psalms 45:1, "My heart is inditing a good matter"; the Revised Version (British and American) "My heart overfloweth with a goodly matter," is in harmony with rachash, "to bubble up"; compare Septuagint exereuxato, "to pour out." "Indite" in English is becoming obsolete. It may mean "to dictate," "to invite," "to compose." In the latter meaning it is used in the above passage.ISBE Indite.2

Infancy, Gospel of The

Infancy, Gospel of The - in'-fan-si.ISBE Infancy, Gospel of The.2

See APOCRYPHAL GOSPELS.ISBE Infancy, Gospel of The.3

Infant, Baptism

Infant, Baptism - in'-fant.ISBE Infant, Baptism.2

See BAPTISM.ISBE Infant, Baptism.3

Infanticide

Infanticide - in-fan'-ti-sid.ISBE Infanticide.2

See CRIMES .ISBE Infanticide.3

Infidel

Infidel - in'-fi-del (apistos, "unbelieving," "incredulous"): the King James Version has this word twice: "What part hath he that believeth with an infidel?" (2 Corinthians 6:15); "If any provide not for his own, .... is worse than an infidel" (1 Timothy 5:8). In both passages the English Revised Version and the American Standard Revised Version have "unbeliever" in harmony with numerous other instances of the use of the Greek apistos. The word nowhere corresponds to the modern conception of an infidel, one who denies the existence of God, or repudiates the Christian faith; but always signifies one who has not become a believer in Christ. It was formerly so used in English, and some of the older versions have it in other passages, besides these two. It is not found in the Old Testament, but "infidelity" (incredulity) occurs in 2 Esdras 7:44 (114).ISBE Infidel.2

William Owen CarverISBE Infidel.3

Infinite; Infinitude

Infinite; Infinitude - in'-fin-it, in-fin'-i-tud:ISBE Infinite; Infinitude.2

1. Scripture Use: The word "infinite" occurs 3 times only in the text of the King James Version (Job 22:5; Psalms 147:5; Nahum 3:9) and once in margin (Nahum 2:9). In Psalms 147:5, "His understanding is infinite" it represents the Hebrew 'en micpar, "no number"; in the other passages the Hebrew 'en qets (Job 22:5, of iniquities) and 'en qetseh (Nahum 3:9, of strength of Ethiopia and Egypt; the King James Version margin Nahum 2:9, of "spoil"), meaning "no end." the Revised Version (British and American), therefore, renders in Job 22:5, "Neither is there any end to thine iniquities," and drops the marginal reference in Nahum 2:9.ISBE Infinite; Infinitude.3

2. Application to God: Psalms 147:5 is thus the only passage in which the term is directly applied to God. It there correctly conveys the idea of absence of all limitation. There is nothing beyond the compass of God's understanding; or, positively, His understanding embraces everything there is to know. Past, present and future; all things possible and actual; the inmost thoughts and purposes of man, as well as his outward actions, lie bare to God's knowledge (Hebrews 4:13; see OMNISCIENCE).ISBE Infinite; Infinitude.4

3. Infinity Universally Implied: While, however, the term is not found, the truth that God is infinite, not only in His understanding, but in His being and all His perfections, natural and moral, is one that pervades all Scripture. It could not be otherwise, if God was unoriginated, exalted above all limits of time, space and creaturehood, and dependent only on Himself. The Biblical writers, certainly, are far from thinking in metaphysical categories, or using such terms as "self-existence," "absoluteness," "unconditioned" yet the ideas for which these terms stand were all of them attributed in their conceptions to God. They did not, e.g. conceive of God as having been born, or as having a beginning, as the Babylonian and Greek gods had, but thought of Him as the ever-existing One (Psalms 90:1-2), and free Creator and Disposer of all that exists. This means that God has self-existence, and for the same reason that He is not bound by His own creation. He must be thought of as raised above all creaturely limits, that is, as infinite.ISBE Infinite; Infinitude.5

4. Anthropomorphisms: The anthropomorphisms of the Bible, indeed, are often exceedingly naive, as when Yahweh is said to "go down" to see what is being done (Genesis 11:5, 7; 18:21), or to "repent" of His actions (Genesis 6:6); but these representations stand in contexts which show that the authors knew God to be unlimited in time, space, knowledge and power (compare Genesis 6:7, God, Creator of all; Genesis 11:8-9, universal Ruler; Genesis 18:25, universal Judge; Numbers 23:19, incapable of repentance, etc.). Like anthropomorphisms are found in Dt and the Prophets, where it is not doubted that the higher conceptions existed. In this infinity of God is implied His unsearchableness (Job 11:7; Psalms 145:3; Romans 11:33); conversely, the latter attribute implies His infinity.ISBE Infinite; Infinitude.6

5. Infinity a Perfection Not a Quantity: This infinitude of God is displayed in all His attributes--in His eternity, omnipresence, omniscience, omnipotence, etc.--on which see the separate articles. As regards the proper conception of infinity, one has chiefly to guard against figuring it under too quantitative an aspect. Quantitative boundlessness is the natural symbol we employ to represent infinity, yet reflection will convince us that it is inadequate as applied to a spiritual magnitude. Infinitude in power, e.g. is not an infinite quantity of power, but the potentiality in God of accomplishing without limit everything that is possible to power. It is a perfection, not a quantity. Still more is this apparent in moral attributes like love, righteousness, truth, holiness. These attributes are not quantities (a quantity can never be truly infinite), but perfections; the infinity is qualitative, consisting in the absence of all defect or limitation in degree, not in amount.ISBE Infinite; Infinitude.7

6. Errors Based on Quantitative Conceptions: The recollection of the fact now stated will free the mind from most of the perplexities that have been raised by metaphysical writers as to the abstract possibility of the co-existence of infinite attributes in God (thus e.g. Mansel); the reconcilability of God's infinity with His Personality, or with the existence of a finite world; the power of the human mind to conceive infinity, etc. How, it is asked, can the idea of infinity get into our finite minds? It might as well be asked how the mind can take in the idea of the sun's distance of some 90 million miles from the earth, when the skull that holds the brain is only a few cubic inches in capacity. The idea of a mile is not a mile big, nor is the idea of infinity too large to be thought of by the mind of man. The essence of the power of thought is its capacity for the universal, and it cannot rest till it has apprehended the most universal idea of all the infinite.ISBE Infinite; Infinitude.8

James OrrISBE Infinite; Infinitude.9

Infirmity

Infirmity - in-fur'-mi-ti (dawah, chalah, machalah; astheneia): This word is used either in the singular or plural (the latter only in the New Testament) and with somewhat varying signification. (1) As sickness or bodily disease (John 5:5; Matthew 8:17; Luke 5:15; 8:2; 1 Timothy 5:23). In the last instance the affections seem to have been dyspeptic, the discomfort of which might be relieved by alcohol, although the disease would not be cured thereby. It is probable that this condition of body produced a certain slackness in Timothy's work against which Paul several times cautions him. In Luke 7:21 the Revised Version (British and American) has "diseases," which is a better rendering of the Greek noson, used here, than the King James Version "infirmities." (2) Imperfections or weaknesses of body (Romans 6:19; 2 Corinthians 11:30 the King James Version; 2 Corinthians 12:5, 9-10 the King James Version; Galatians 4:13). (3) Moral or spiritual weaknesses and defects (Psalms 77:10; Romans 8:26; 15:1; Hebrews 4:15; 5:2; 7:28). In this sense it is often used by the classic English writers, as in Milton's "the last infirmity of noble minds"; compare Caesar,IV , iii, 86. The infirmity which a man of resolution can keep under by his will (Proverbs 18:14) may be either moral or physical. In Luke 13:11 the woman's physical infirmity is ascribed to the influence of an evil spirit.ISBE Infirmity.2

Alexander MacalisterISBE Infirmity.3

Inflame; Enflame

Inflame; Enflame - in-flam', en-flam' (dalaq): "To inflame" in the meaning "to excite passion" is found in Isaiah 5:11, "till wine inflame them." In some the King James Version passages (e.g. Isaiah 57:5) we find "enflaming" with the same meaning; compare the King James Version Susanna verse 8 and Sirach 28:10 the King James Version (the Revised Version (British and American) "inflame").ISBE Inflame; Enflame.2

Inflammation

Inflammation - in-fla-ma'-shun (dalleqeth; rhigos): Only in Deuteronomy 28:22, was considered by Jewish writers as "burning fever," by Septuagint as a form of ague. Both this and typhoid fever are now, and probably were, among the commonest of the diseases of Palestine. See FEVER. In Leviticus 13:28 the King James Version has "inflammation" as the rendering of tsarebheth, which Septuagint reads charakter, and for which the proper English equivalent is "scar," as in the Revised Version (British and American).ISBE Inflammation.2

Influences

Influences - in'-floo-ens-iz (ma`adhannoth): This word occurs only in Job 38:31 the King James Version, "Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades?" the Revised Version (British and American) "the cluster of the Pleiades," margin "or chain, or sweet influences"; Delitzsch, Dillmann and others render "fetters," that which binds the group together; "influences," if correct, would refer to the seasons, which were believed to be regulated, so far, by the PLEIADES (which see). In Wisdom of Solomon 7:25, it is said of Wisdom that she is "a pure influence (aporrhoia, the Revised Version (British and American) "effluence") flowing from the glory of the Almighty."ISBE Influences.2

W. L. WalkerISBE Influences.3

Ingathering, Feasts of

Ingathering, Feasts of - in'-gath-er-ing.ISBE Ingathering, Feasts of.2

See FEASTS AND FASTS; BOOTH.ISBE Ingathering, Feasts of.3

Inhabit; Inhabitant

Inhabit; Inhabitant - in-hab'-it, in-hab'-it-ant (yashabh, "to sit," "remain, "dwell," "inhabit" shakhen, "to settle down" "tabernacle," "dwell"; katoikeo, "to settle," "dwell"): See DWELL. The verb "to inhabit," now used only transitively, had once an intransitive meaning as well. Compare Cowper, Olney Hymns,XIV ,ISBE Inhabit; Inhabitant.2

"Who built it, who inhabits there?"ISBE Inhabit; Inhabitant.3

So in 1 Chronicles 5:9 the King James Version, "And eastward he inhabited unto the entering in of the wilderness" (but the Revised Version (British and American) "dwelt"). We have the obsolete inhabiters for "inhabitants" in Revelation 8:13 the King James Version (but the Revised Version (British and American) "them that dwell") and Revelation 12:12 the King James Version (but omitted in the Revised Version (British and American)). The rare inhabitress (feminine) is found only in Jeremiah 10:17 margin; "the church called the inhabitress of the gardens" (Bishop Richardson).ISBE Inhabit; Inhabitant.4

D. Miall EdwardsISBE Inhabit; Inhabitant.5

Inheritance

Inheritance - in-her'-i-tans (nahalah, "something inherited," "occupancy," "heirloom," "estate," "portion"): The word is used in its widest application in the Old Testament Scriptures, referring not only to an estate received by a child from its parents, but also to the land received by the children of Israel as a gift from Yahweh. And in the figurative and poetical sense, the expression is applied to the kingdom of God as represented in the consecrated lives of His followers. In a similar sense, the Psalmist is represented as speaking of the Lord as the portion of his inheritance. In addition to the above word, the King James Version translations as inheritance, morashah, "a possession," "heritage" (Deuteronomy 33:4; Ezekiel 33:24); yerushshah, "something occupied," "a patrimony," "possession" (Judges 21:17); cheleq, "smoothness," "allotment" (Psalms 16:5); kleronomeo, "to inherit" (Matthew 5:5, etc.); kleronomos, "heir" (Matthew 21:38, etc.); kleronomia, "heirship," "patrimony, "possession"; or kleros, "an acquisition" "portion," "heritage," from kleroo, "to assign," "to allot," "to obtain an inheritance" (Matthew 21:38; Luke 12:13; Acts 7:5; 20:32; 26:18; Galatians 3:18; Ephesians 1:11, 14, 18; 5:5; Colossians 1:12; 3:24; Hebrews 1:4; 9:15; 11:8; 1 Peter 1:4).ISBE Inheritance.2

The Pentateuch distinguishes clearly between real and personal property, the fundamental idea regarding the former being the thought that the land is God's, given by Him to His children, the people of Israel, and hence, cannot be alienated (Leviticus 25:23, 28). In order that there might not be any respecter of persons in the division, the lot was to determine the specific piece to be owned by each family head (Numbers 26:52-56; 33:54). In case, through necessity of circumstances, a homestead was sold, the title could pass only temporarily; for in the year of Jubilee every homestead must again return to the original owner or heir (Leviticus 25:25-34). Real estate given to the priesthood must be appraised, and could be redeemed by the payment of the appraised valuation, thus preventing the transfer of real property even in this case (Leviticus 27:14-25). Inheritance was controlled by the following regulations: (1) The firstborn son inherited a double portion of all the father's possession (Deuteronomy 21:15-17); (2) the daughters were entitled to an inheritance, provided there were no sons in the family (Numbers 27:8); (3) in case there were no direct heirs, the brothers or more distant kinsmen were recognized (27:9-11); in no case should an estate pass from one tribe to another. The above points were made the subject of statutory law at the instance of the daughters of Zelophehad, the entire case being clearly set forth in Numbers 27:1-23; Numbers 36:1-13.ISBE Inheritance.3

Frank E. HirschISBE Inheritance.4

Iniquity

Iniquity - in-ik'-wi-ti (`awon; anomia): In the Old Testament of the 11 words translated "iniquity," by far the most common and important is `awon (about 215 times). Etymologically, it is customary to explain it as meaning literally "crookedness," "perverseness," i.e. evil regarded as that which is not straight or upright, moral distortion (from `iwwah, "to bend," "make crooked," "pervert"). Driver, however (following Lagarde), maintains that two roots, distinct in Arabic, have been confused in Hebrew, one = "to bend," "pervert" (as above), and the other = "to err," "go astray"; that `awon is derived from the latter, and consequently expresses the idea of error, deviation from the right path, rather than that of perversion (Driver, Notes on Sam, 135 note) Whichever etymology is adopted, in actual usage it has three meanings which almost imperceptibly pass into each other: (1) iniquity, (2) guilt of iniquity, (3) punishment of iniquity. Primarily, it denotes "not an action, but the character of an action" (Oehler), and is so distinguished from "sin" (chaTTa'th). Hence, we have the expression "the iniquity of my sin" (Psalms 32:5). Thus the meaning glides into that of "guilt," which might often take the place of "iniquity" as the translation of `awon (Genesis 15:16; Exodus 34:7; Jeremiah 2:22, etc.). From "guilt" it again passes into the meaning of "punishment of guilt," just as Latin piaculum may denote both guilt and its punishment. The transition is all the easier in Hebrew because of the Hebrew sense of the intimate relation of sin and suffering, e.g. Genesis 4:13, "My punishment is greater than I can bear"; which is obviously to be preferred to King James Version margin, the Revised Version, margin "Mine iniquity is greater than can be forgiven," for Cain is not so much expressing sorrow for his sin, as complaining of the severity of his punishment; compare 2 Kings 7:9 (the Revised Version (British and American) "punishment," the Revised Version margin "iniquity"); Isaiah 5:18 (where for "iniquity" we might have "punishment of iniquity," as in Leviticus 26:41, 43, etc.); Isaiah 40:2 ("iniquity," the Revised Version margin "punishment"). The phrase "bear iniquity" is a standing expression for bearing its consequences, i.e. its penalty; generally of the sinner bearing the results of his own iniquity (Leviticus 17:16; 17, 19; Numbers 14:34; Ezekiel 44:10, etc.), but sometimes of one bearing the iniquity of another vicariously, and so taking it away (e.g. Ezekiel 4:4 f; Ezekiel 18:19 f). Of special interest in the latter sense are the sufferings of the Servant of Yahweh, who shall "bear the iniquities" of the people (Isaiah 53:11; compare Isaiah 53:6).ISBE Iniquity.2

Other words frequently translated "iniquity" are: 'awen, literally, "worthlessness," "vanity," hence, "naughtiness," "mischief" (47 times in the King James Version, especially in the phrase "workers of iniquity," Job 4:8; Psalms 5:5; 6:8; Proverbs 10:29, etc.); `awel and `awlah, literally, "perverseness" (Deuteronomy 32:4; Job 6:29 the King James Version, etc.).ISBE Iniquity.3

In the New Testament "iniquity" stands for anomia = properly, "the condition of one without law," "lawlessness" (so translated in 1 John 3:4, elsewhere "iniquity," e.g. Matthew 7:23), a word which frequently stood for `awon in the Septuagint; and adikia, literally, "unrighteousness" (e.g. Luke 13:27).ISBE Iniquity.4

D. Miall EdwardsISBE Iniquity.5

Injoin

Injoin - in-join'.ISBE Injoin.2

See ENJOIN.ISBE Injoin.3

Injurious

Injurious - in-joo'-ri-us, in-ju'-ri-us (hubristes, "insolent"): In former usage, the word was strongly expressive of insult as well as hurtfulness. So in 1 Timothy 1:13. In Romans 1:30 the same adjective is translated "insolent" (the King James Version "despiteful").ISBE Injurious.2

Injury

Injury - in'-ju-ri, in'-joo-ri.ISBE Injury.2

See CRIMES .ISBE Injury.3

Ink

Ink - ink (deyo, from root meaning "slowly flowing," BDB, 188; melan, "black"): Any fluid substance used with pen or brush to form written characters. In this sense ink is mentioned once in the Hebrew Bible (Jeremiah 36:2) and 3 times in the Greek New Testament (2 Corinthians 3:3; 2 John 1:12; 3 John 1:13), and it is implied in all references to writing on papyrus or on leather. The inference from the "blotting out" of Exodus 32:33 and Numbers 5:23 that the Hebrew ink was a lamp-black and gum, or some other dry ink, is confirmed by the general usage of antiquity, by the later Jewish prejudice against other inks (OTJC, 71 note) and by a Jewish receipt referring to ink-tablets (Drach, "Notice sur l'encre des Hebreux," Ann. philos. chret., 42, 45, 353). The question is, however, now being put on a wholly new basis by the study of the Elephantine Jewish documents (Meyer, Papyrusfund2, 1912, 15, 21), and above all of the Harvard Ostraca from Samaria which give actual specimens of the ink in Palestine in the time of Ahab (Harvard Theological Review, Jan. 1911, 136-43). It is likely, however, that during the long period of Bible history various inks were used. The official copy of the law in the time of Ptolemy Philadelphus was, according to Josephus (Ant., XII, ii, 11), written in gold, and the vermilion and red paints and dyes mentioned in Jeremiah 22:14; Ezekiel 23:14, and Wisdom of Solomon 13:14 (milto kai phukei) were probably used also for writing books or coloring incised inscriptions. See literature under WRITING; especially Krauss, Talmud, Arch. 3, 148-53; Gardthausen, Greek Palestine, 1911, I, 202-17, and his bibliographical references passim.ISBE Ink.2

E. C. RichardsonISBE Ink.3

Ink-horn

Ink-horn - ink'-horn (keceth = keseth, BDB, 903): This term "inkhorn" occurs 3 times in Ezekiel 9:1-11 (Ezekiel 9:2-3, 11), in the phrase "writer's inkhorn upon his loins" (or "by his side"). The word is more exactly "implement case," or "writing-case" (calamarium atramentarium, theca calamaria, theca libraria, graphiaria). This may have been the Egyptian palette (Budge, Mummy, 350-52) seen so often in the monuments of all periods, or the later form of pen-case with ink-well attached, which is a modified form adapted for ink carried in fluid form. The Egyptian palette was carried characteristically over the shoulder or under the arm, neither of which methods is strictly "upon the loins." The manner of carrying, therefore, was doubtless in the girdle, as in modern oriental usage (Benzinger, Hebrew Archaeol., 185). A good example of the pen-case and inkwell writing-case (given also in Garucci, Daremberg-Saglio, Gardthausen, etc.) is given from the original in Birt, Die Buchrolle in der Kunst, 220, and is reproduced (a) in this article, together with (b) an Egyptian palette. Whether the form of Ezekiel's case approached the palette or the ink-well type probably depends on the question of whether dry ink or fluid ink was used in Ezekiel's time (see INK). Compare Hieronymus at the place, and for literature, see WRITING, and especially Gardthausen, Greek Palestine, 1911, I, 193-94.ISBE Ink-horn.2

E. C. RichardsonISBE Ink-horn.3

Inn

Inn - (malon; pandocheion, kataluma):ISBE Inn.2

1. Earliest Night Resting-Places: The Hebrew word malon means literally, a "night resting-place," and might be applied to any spot where caravans (Genesis 42:27; 43:21 the King James Version), individuals (Exodus 4:24; Jeremiah 9:2), or even armies (Joshua 4:3, 8; 2 Kings 19:23; Isaiah 10:29) encamped for the night. In the slightly altered form melunah, the same word is used of a nightwatchman's lodge in a garden (Isaiah 1:8; 24:20, the King James Version "cottage"). The word in itself does not imply the presence of any building, and in the case of caravans and travelers was doubtless originally, as very often at the present day, only a convenient level bit of ground near some spring, where baggage might be unloaded, animals watered and tethered, and men rest on the bare ground. Nothing in the Old Testament suggests the occupancy of a house in such cases. The nearest approach to such an idea occurs in Jeremiah 41:17 margin, where geruth kimham is translated "the lodging-place of Chimham," but the text is very doubtful and probably refers rather to sheepfolds. We cannot say when buildings were first used, but the need of shelter for caravans traveling in winter, and of protection in dangerous times and districts, would lead to their introduction at an early period in the history of trade.ISBE Inn.3

2. Public Inns: It is noteworthy that all the indisputable designations of "inn" come in with the Greek period. Josephus (Ant., XV, v, 1; BJ, I, xxi, 7) speaks of "Public inns" under the name of katagogal, while in the Aramaic Jewish writings we meet with 'ushpiza', from Latin hospitium, and 'akhcanya' from the Greek xenia; the New Testament designation pandocheion has passed into the Aramaic pundheqa' and the Arabic funduq. All these are used of public inns, and they all correspond to the modern "khan" or "caravanserai." These are to be found on the great trade routes all over the East. In their most elaborate form they have almost the strength of a fortress. They consist of a great quadrangle into which admission is gained through a broad, strong gateway. The quadrangle is enclosed on all sides by a 2-story building, the windows in the case of the lower story opening only to the interior. The upper story is reached by stairways, and has a gangway all around, giving access to the practically bare rooms which are at the disposal of travelers.ISBE Inn.4

3. Their Evil Name: There is usually a well of good water in the center of the quadrangle, and travelers as a rule bring their own food and often that of their animals (Judges 19:19) with them. There are no fixed payments, and on departure, the arranging of haqq el-khan generally means a disagreeable dispute, as the innkeepers are invariably untruthful, dishonest and oppressive. They have ever been regarded as of infamous character. The Roman laws in many places recognize this. In Mishna, Yebhamoth, xvi. 7 the word of an innkeeper was doubted, and Mishna, `Abbodhah Zarah, ii.4 places them in the lowest scale of degradation. The New Testament is quite clear in speaking of "Rahab the harlot" (Hebrews 11:31; James 2:25). The Targum designates her an "innkeeper," while Rashi translates zonah as "a seller of kinds of food," a meaning the word will bear. Chimchi, however, accepts both meanings. This evil repute of public inns, together with the Semitic spirit of hospitality, led the Jews and the early Christians to prefer to recommend the keeping of open house for the entertainment of strangers. In the Jewish Morning Prayers, even in our day, such action is linked with great promises, and the New Testament repeatedly (Hebrews 13:2; 1 Peter 4:9; 3 John 1:5) commends hospitality. It is remarkable that both the Talmud (Shab 127a) and the New Testament (Hebrews 13:2) quote the same passage (Genesis 18:3) in recommending it.ISBE Inn.5

The best-known khans in Palestine are Khan Jubb-Yusuf, North of the Lake of Galilee, Khan et-Tujjar, under the shadow of Tabor, Khan el-Lubban (compare Judges 21:19), and Khan Chadrur, midway between Jerusalem and Jericho. This last certainly occupies the site of the inn referred to in Luke 10:34, and it is not without interest that we read in Mishna, Yebhamoth, xvi.7, of another sick man being left at that same inn. See illustration, p. 64.ISBE Inn.6

4. Guest Chambers: The Greek word kataluma, though implying a "loosing" for the night, seems rather to be connected with the idea of hospitality in a private house than in a public inn. Luke with his usual care distinguishes between this and pandocheion, and his use of the verb kataluo (Luke 9:12; 19:7) makes his meaning clear. In the Septuagint, indeed, malon is sometimes translated kataluma, and it appears in 1 Samuel 9:22 for lishkah, the King James Version "parlour." It is the word used of the "upper room" where the Last Supper was held (Mark 14:14; Luke 22:11, "guest-chamber"), and of the place of reception in Bethlehem where Joseph and Mary failed to find quarters (Luke 2:7). It thus corresponds to the spare or upper room in a private house or in a village, i.e. to the manzil adjoining the house of the sheikh, where travelers received hospitality and where no payment was expected, except a trifle to the caretaker. In Jerusalem such payments were made by leaving behind the earthenware vessels that had been used, and the skins of the animals that had been slaughtered (Yoma' 12a).ISBE Inn.7

5. Birth of Christ: Judging from the word used, and the conditions implied, we are led to believe that Joseph and Mary had at first expected reception in the upper room or manzil at the house of the sheikh of Bethlehem, probably a friend and member of the house of David; that in this they were disappointed, and had to content themselves with the next best, the elevated platform alongside the interior of the stable, and on which those having the care of the animals generally slept. It being now the season when they were in the fields (Luke 2:8), the stable would be empty and clean. There then the Lord Jesus was born and laid in the safest and most convenient place, the nearest empty manger alongside of this elevated platform. Humble though the circumstances were, the family were preserved from all the annoyance and evil associations of a public khan, and all the demands of delicacy and privacy were duly met.ISBE Inn.8

W. M. ChristieISBE Inn.9

Huldah — Hyssop

Inner Man — Isshiah