• Isaiah, Book of
    Aid to Bible Understanding

    • 3. Jehovah desires, not fasting in order to make a show, but practice of justice and compassion (58:1-12)

      4. Those delighting in Jehovah, keeping his sabbath will receive hereditary possession (58:13, 14)

      5. Israel’s national errors cause division between people and Jehovah (59:1-21)

      a. He will put on armor of righteousness, salvation, zeal and vengeance and repay his enemies

      b. Repurchaser will come to those turning from transgression; his words will be in their mouth

      H. Jehovah’s glory upon Zion (60:1–62:12)

      1. Resources of the nations will be brought to her; she will be built with superior materials and qualities (60:1-17)

      2. Jehovah will be her indefinitely lasting light (60:18-21)

      3. Increase: A little one will become a thousand (60:22)

      4. Commission and work of God’s anointed; foreigners will be shepherds of Zion’s flocks; a highway from Babylon is to be cleared, banked up and a signal raised for the people (61:1–62:12)

      I. Jehovah, no man being with him, justly executes vengeance upon peoples (63:1-6)

      J. God’s people prayerfully acknowledge uncleanness, beg for his aid (63:7–64:12)

      K. Jehovah’s forbearance, severity and blessing (65:1-25)

      1. Has spread out hands all day to people walking in bad way (65:1-4)

      2. Will reward for errors, but spare some as a cluster from a vineyard (65:5-16)

      a. Those looking for Jehovah will receive hereditary possession

      b. Those worshiping gods of Good Luck and Destiny will be slaughtered

      c. God will feed his servants, call them by another name

      3. Jehovah creates “new heavens and a new earth” (65:17-25)

      a. Long life, blessings and security; no harm or ruin

      b. Inhabitants will not bring forth offspring for disturbance; prayers answered

      L. Contrite ones accepted; transgressors rejected (66:1-24)

      1. Jehovah does not require temple and takes no delight in insincere worship (66:1-4)

      2. Sound of Jehovah from temple repaying vengeance to enemies (66:5, 6)

      3. Zion brings forth nation in one day, a cause for rejoicing (66:7-14)

      4. Jehovah comes against all flesh, reveals glory to all nations, gathers his people together (66:15-21)

      6. Offspring and name of faithful will remain standing, just as new heavens and new earth remain; will worship continually without opposition (66:22-24)

      See the book “All Scripture Is Inspired of God and Beneficial,” pp. 118-123.

  • Iscariot
    Aid to Bible Understanding

    • ISCARIOT

      (Is·carʹi·ot).

      The designation for the traitor apostle Judas (and his father Simon) that sets him apart from the other apostle also named Judas. (Matt. 10:4; Luke 6:16; John 6:71) If “Iscariot” means, as is most commonly thought, “man of Kerioth,” then it likely identifies Simon and his son as being from the Judean town of Kerioth-hezron.—Josh. 15:25.

      Another view is based on the rendering “Scariot,” the term as it is found in several Syriac versions. This term purportedly has to do with leather. Hence, some commentators theorize that perhaps the container in which Judas kept the apostles’ funds was leather or leather covered, or that perhaps both Judas and his father Simon had been workers in leather.—John 12:6.

  • Ishbi-benob
    Aid to Bible Understanding

    • ISHBI-BENOB

      (Ishʹbi-beʹnob) [they abode in Nob].

      One of four Rephaim, the giant race of Canaanites; who were prominent during the last wars with Israel in David’s reign. Ishbi-benob carried a copper spear weighing three hundred shekels (c. 71⁄2 pounds; 3.4 kilograms), and was on the verge of killing David, when fast-acting Abishai himself put the giant to death.—2 Sam. 21:15-17, 22.

  • Ish-bosheth
    Aid to Bible Understanding

    • ISH-BOSHETH

      (Ish-boʹsheth) [man of shame].

      Youngest of Saul’s four sons and his successor to the throne. From the genealogical listings it appears that his name was also Eshbaal, meaning the “man of Baal,” or “the Lord’s man.” (1 Chron. 8:33; 9:39) However, elsewhere, as in Second Samuel, he is called Ish-bosheth, a name in which “baal” is replaced by “bosheth.” (2 Sam. 2:10) This Hebrew word boʹsheth is found at Jeremiah 3:24 and is rendered “shameful thing.” (AS, AT, JP, NW, Ro, RS) In two other occurrences baʹʽal and boʹsheth are found parallel and in apposition, in which the one explains and identifies the other. (Jer. 11:13; Hos. 9:10) There are also other instances where individuals similarly had “bosheth” or a form of it substituted for “baal” in their names, as, for example, “Jerubbesheth” for “Jerubbaal” (2 Sam. 11:21; Judg. 6:32) and “Mephibosheth” for “Merib-baal,” the latter being a nephew of Ish-bosheth.—2 Sam. 4:4; 1 Chron. 8:34; 9:40.

      The reason for these double names or substitutions is not known. One theory advanced by some scholars attempts to explain the dual names as an alteration made when the common noun “baal” (lord) became more exclusively identified with the distasteful fertility god of Canaan, Baal. However, in the same Bible book of Second Samuel, where the account of Ish-bosheth appears, King David himself is reported as naming a place of battle Baal-perazim (meaning lord or master of breaking through), in honor of the Lord Jehovah, for as he said: “Jehovah has broken through my enemies.” (2 Sam. 5:20) Another view is that the name Ish-bosheth may have been prophetic of that individual’s shameful death and the calamitous termination of Saul’s dynasty.

      After the death of Saul and his other sons on the battlefield at Gilboa, Abner, a relative of Saul and the chief of his forces, took Ish-bosheth across the Jordan to Mahanaim, where he was installed as king over all the tribes except Judah, which recognized David as king. At the time Ish-bosheth was forty years old, and be is said to have reigned for two years. (2 Sam. 2:8-11) Since the Bible does not say exactly where this two-year reign fits in with the seven-and-a-half-year period when David ruled as king at Hebron, there is no way of resolving differences of opinion held by scholars on the point. However, it does seem more reasonable to think that Ish-bosheth was made king shortly after the death of his father (rather than five years later), in which case there would have been a lapse of about five years between his assassination and David’s being installed as king over Israel.—2 Sam. 4:7; 5:4, 5.