IDBASH ficl'bash), (Heb. yid-bawsh', per haps honeyed, sweet), a descendant of Judah (t Chron. iv:3). By the phrase "of the father of Etam" we are probably to understand that he was a de scendant of the founder of Etam, as the list here is largely a topographical one (B. C. about 1612).
IDDO (Id'do), (Heb. id-do', seasonable).
1. A prophet of Judah, who wrote the history of Rehoboam and Abijah ; or rather perhaps, who, in conjunction with Seraiah, kept the public rolls during their reigns (2 Chron. xii :15). It seems from 2 Chron. xiii :22 that he named his book Midrash, or 'Exposition.' Josephus (Antiq. viii: 9, t) states that this Iddo was the prophet who was sent to Jeroboam at Bethel, and consequently the same that was slain by a lion for disobedience to his instructions (1 Kings xiii) ; and many com mentators have followed this statement (B. C. after 953).
2. Grandfather of the prophet Zechariah (Zech.
i :1 ; Ezra v :1 ; vi :14). He was one of the chief priests who returned from the captivity with Zerubbabel (Neh. xii :4), B. C. 536.
3. Id-do', (Heb. chief of the Jews of the captivity established at Casiphia, a place of which it is difficult to determine the position.
It was to him that Ezra sent a requisition for Levites and Nethinim, none of whom had yet joined his caravan. Thirty-eight Levites and 25o Nethinim responded to his call (Ezra viii :17-2o), B. C. 457. It would seem from this that Iddo was a chief person of the Nethinim, descended from those Gibeonites who were charged with the ser vile labors of the tabernacle and temple. This is one of several circumstances which indicate that the Jews in their several colonies under the Exile were still ruled by the heads of their na tion, and allowed the free exercise of their wor ship.
4. Yid-do' (Heb. ill!, lovely), a chief of the half tribe of Manasseh beyond the Jordan (1 Chron. xxvii:21), B. C. 1014.
5. A Levite, descendant crf Gershom through his father Joah Chron. vi :21). In verse 41 the name is Adoiah, who is given as an ancestor of Asaph.
O. Father of Abinadab, which latter was a purveyor under Solomon over Mahanaim (1 Kings iv :14), B. C. about 995.
IDLE (i'd'1), (Heb. riP„ raw-fowl.
The ordinary uses of this word require no illus tration. But the very serious passage in Matt. xii :36 may suitably be noticed in this place. In the Authorized Version it is translated, 'I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give an account thereof in the day of judgment.' The whole question depends upon the meaning or rather force of the term 'Sipa airybp, rha'ma ar-gon', 'idle word,' concerning which there has been no little difference of opinion. Many understand it to mean 'wicked and injurious words,' as if argon, vain, emfity were the same as irovnp6v, fion-ay-ron', wicked.
The meaning of the expression seems to be void of effect, without result, followed bv corresponding event. Therefore rho:nia argon is empty or vain words or discourse, t. e., yotd of truth, and to which the event does not correspond. In short, it is the empty, inconsiderate, insincere language of one who says onc thing and means another ; and in this sense orgos is very frequently employed by the Greeks. This Tittmann con firms by a number of citations, and then deduces from the whole that the sense of the passage under review is : 'Believe me, he who uses false and insincere language shall suffer grievous pun ishment; your words, if uttered with sincerity and ingenuousness, shall be approved ; but if they are dissembled although they bear the strongest appearance of sincerity, they shall be condemned.' (See Tittmann, the Principal Causes of Forced Interpre(ations of the New Testament, in Am. Bib. Repository for 1831, PP. 481-484.) IDOL (i'd.51).
A large number of Hebrew and Greek words have been rendered in the Bible either by idol or image. These embrace : (1) A class of abstract terms, which, with a deep moral significance, ex press the degradation associated with it, and stand out as a protest of the language against the enor mities of idolatry; (2) those words which more directly apply to the images or idols, as the out ward symbols of the deity who was worshiped through them ; (3) the terms which have regard to the material and workmanship of tbe idol rather than to its character as an object of worship.