[1] The stories, including the delightful history of the courting of
Rebekah by proxy, are due to the oldest narrators. The jarring
chronological notices belong to the post-exilic framework of the book
(see GENESIS).
[2] The name is hopelessly obscure, and the identification with the
mountain of the temple in Jerusalem rests upon a late view (2 Chron.
iii. 1). It is otherwise called "Yahweh-yir'eh" ("Y. sees") which is
analogous to "El-ro'i" ("a God of Seeing") in xvi. 13. See further
the commentaries.
ISAAC I. (COMNENUS), emperor of the East (1057-1059), was the son of an
officer of Basil II. named Manuel Comnenus, who on his deathbed
commended his two sons Isaac and John to the emperor's care. Basil had
them carefully educated at the monastery of Studion, and afterwards
advanced them to high official positions. During the disturbed reigns of
Basil's seven immediate successors, Isaac by his prudent conduct won the
confidence of the army; in 1057 he joined with the nobles of the capital
in a conspiracy against Michael VI., and after the latter's deposition
was invested with the crown, thus founding the new dynasty of the
Comneni. The first care of the new emperor was to reward his noble
partisans with appointments that removed them from Constantinople, and
his next was to repair the beggared finances of the empire. He revoked
numerous pensions and grants conferred by his predecessors upon idle
courtiers, and, meeting the reproach of sacrilege made by the patriarch
of Constantinople by a decree of exile, resumed a proportion of the
revenues of the wealthy monasteries. Isaac's only military expedition
was against the Hungarians and Petchenegs, who began to ravage the
northern frontiers in 1059. Shortly after this successful campaign he
was seized with an illness, and believing it mortal appointed as his
successor Constantine Ducas, to the exclusion of his own brother John.
Although he recovered Isaac did not resume the purple, but retired to
the monastery of Studion and spent the remaining two years of his life
as a monk, alternating menial offices with literary studies. His
_Scholia_ to the _Iliad_ and other works on the Homeric poems are still
extant in MS. He died in the year 1061. Isaac's great aim was to restore
the former strict organization of the government, and his reforms,
though unpopular with the aristocracy and the clergy, and not understood
by the people, certainly contributed to stave off for a while the final
ruin of the Byzantine empire.
See E. Gibbon, _The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire_ (ed. J.
Bury, London, 1896, vol. v.); G. Finlay, _History of Greece_ (ed.
1877, Oxford, vols. ii. and iii.).
ISAAC II. (ANGELUS), emperor of the East 1185-1195, and again 1203-1204,
was the successor of Andronicus I. He inaugurated his reign by a
decisive victory over the Normans in Sicily, but elsewhere his policy
was less successful. He failed in an attempt to recover Cyprus from a
rebellious noble, and by the oppressiveness of his taxes drove the
Bulgarians and Vlachs to revolt (1186). In 1187 Alexis Branas, the
general sent against the rebels, treacherously turned his arms against
his master, and attempted to seize Constantinople, but was defeated and
slain. The emperor's attention was next demanded in the east, where
several claimants to the throne successively rose and fell. In 1189
Frederick Barbarossa of Germany sought and obtained leave to lead his
troops on the third crusade through the Byzantine territory; but he had
no sooner crossed the border than Isaac, who had meanwhile sought an
alliance with Saladin, threw every impediment in his way, and was only
compelled by force of arms to fulfil his engagements. The next five
years were disturbed by fresh rebellions of the Vlachs, against whom
Isaac led several expeditions in person. During one of these, in 1195,
Alexius, the emperor's brother, taking advantage of the latter's absence
from camp on a hunting expedition, proclaimed himself emperor, and was
readily recognised by the soldiers. Isaac was blinded and imprisoned in
Constantinople. After eight years he was raised for six months from his
dungeon to his throne once more (see CRUSADES). But both mind and body
had been enfeebled by captivity, and his son Alexius IV. was the actual
monarch. Isaac died in 1204, shortly after the usurpation of his
general, Mourzouphles. He was one of the weakest and most vicious
princes that occupied the Byzantine throne. Surrounded by a crowd of
slaves, mistresses and flatterers, he permitted his empire to be
administered by unworthy favourites, while he squandered the money wrung
from his provinces on costly buildings and expensive gifts to the
churches of his metropolis.
See Gibbon, _Decline and Fall_ (ed. J. Bury, London, 1896, vol. vi.);
G. Finlay, _History of Greece_ (ed. 1877, Oxford, vols. iii. and iv.).
ISAAC OF ANTIOCH, "one of the stars of Syriac literature,"[1] the
reputed author of a large number of metrical homilies,[2] many of which
are distinguished by an originality and acumen rare among Syriac
writers. As to the identity and history of the author considerable
difficulty has arisen. The statements of ancient writers, Eastern and
Western, were collected by Assemani (_B.O._ i. 207-214). According to
these accounts Isaac flourished under Theodosius II. (408-450),[3] and
was a native either of Amid (Diarbekr) or of Edessa. Several writers
identify him with Isaac, the disciple of S. Ephraim, who is mentioned in
the anonymous _Life_ of that father; but according to the patriarch Bar
Shushan (d. 1073), who made a collection of his homilies, his master was
Ephraim's disciple Zenobius. He is supposed to have migrated to Antioch,
and to have become abbot of one of the convents in its neighbourhood.
According to Zacharias Rhetor he visited Rome and other cities, and the
chronicle of Pseudo-Dionysius of Tell-Mahre informs us that he composed
poems on the secular games of 404, and wrote on the destruction of Rome
by Alaric in 410. He also commemorated the destruction of Antioch by an
earthquake in 459, so that he must have lived till about 460.
Unfortunately these poems have perished. He is of course to be
distinguished from Isaac of Nineveh, a Nestorian writer on the ascetic
life who belongs to the second half of the 7th century.[4]
When we examine the collection of homilies attributed to Isaac, a
difficulty arises on two grounds. (1) The author of some of the poems
is fervently orthodox or Catholic (see especially Nos. 1-3 in
Bickell's edition = 62-64 in Bedjan), in other and more important
homilies (such as Bickell 6, 8 = Bedjan 59, 61, and especially Bedjan
60) the doctrine is monophysite, even though Eutyches and Nestorius
are equally condemned. (2) One of the monophysite homilies, the famous
poem of 2136 lines on the parrot which uttered the Trisagion in the
streets of Antioch (Bickell, 8 = Bedjan 61), appears to have been
written at Antioch after Peter the Fuller (patriarch 471-488) raised
the dispute about the addition to the doxology of the words _qui
crucifixus es pro nobis_. It is therefore scarcely possible that the
author of this homily should be the same who composed the lost poems
on the secular games in 404 and on the sack of Rome.
Moreover, Lamy (_S. Ephraemi hymni et sermones_, iv. 361-364) and
Bedjan (_Homiliae S. Isaaci_, i. pp. iv-ix) have recently called
attention to statements made by Jacob of Edessa (708) in a letter to
John the Stylite. He says there were three Isaacs who wrote in
Syriac:--two orthodox (i.e. monophysite), and one a Chalcedonian
heretic (i.e. orthodox or Catholic). (a) The first, he says, a native
of Amid, and pupil of S. Ephraim, visited Rome in the time of Arcadius
(395-408), on his return journey suffered imprisonment at Byzantium,
and afterwards became a priest in the church of Amid. (b) The second
was a priest of Edessa, and flourished in the reign of Zeno (474-491).
He went up to Antioch in the time of Peter the Fuller. Jacob then
tells the story of the parrot (see above). (c) The third was also an
Edessene. At first in the days of Bishop Paul (510-522) he was
orthodox (monophysite): but afterwards in the time of the Chalcedonian
(Catholic) bishop Asclepius he became Nestorian (Catholic) and wrote
poems setting forth Nestorian doctrine.
With such conflicting evidence it is impossible to arrive at a certain
result. But Jacob is an early witness: and on the whole it seems safe
to conclude with Bedjan (p. ix) that works by at least two authors
have been included in the collection attributed to Isaac of Antioch.
Still the majority of the poems are the work of one hand--the
5th-century monophysite who wrote the poem on the parrot.[5] A full
list[6] of the 191 poems existing in European MSS. is given by
Bickell, who copied out 181 with a view to publishing them all: the
other 10 had been previously copied by Zingerle. But the two volumes
published by Bickell in his lifetime (Giessen, 1873 and 1877) contain
only 37 homilies. Bedjan's edition, of which the first volume has
alone appeared (Paris, 1903) contains 67 poems, viz. 24 previously
published (18 by Bickell), and 43 that are new, though their titles
are all included in Bickell's list.
The writer's main interest lies in the application of religion to the
practical duties of life, whether in the church or in the world. He has
a great command of forcible language and considerable skill in apt
illustration. The zeal with which he denounces the abuses prevalent in
the church of his day, and particularly in the monastic orders, is not
unlike that of the Protestant reformers. He shows acquaintance with many
phases of life. He describes the corruption of judges, the prevalence of
usury and avarice, the unchastity which especially characterized the
upper classes, and the general hypocrisy of so-called Christians. His
doctrinal discussions are apt to be diffuse; but he seldom loses sight
of the bearing of doctrine on practical life. He judges with extreme
severity those who argue about religion while neglecting its practice,
and those who though stupid and ignorant dare to pry into mysteries
which are sealed to the angels. "Not newly have we found Him, that we
should search and pry into God. As He was He is: He changeth not with
the times.... Confess that He formed thee of dust: search not the mode
of His being: Worship Him that He redeemed thee by His only Son: inquire
not the manner of His birth."[7]
Some of Isaac's works have an interest for the historian of the 5th
century. In two poems (Bickell 11, 12 = Bedjan 48, 49), written
probably at Edessa, he commemorates the capture of Beth-Hur (a city
near Nisibis) by the Arabs. Although the historical allusions are far
from clear, we gather that Beth-Hur, which in zealous paganism had
been a successor to Haran, had been in earlier days devastated by the
Persians:[8] but for the last 34 years the Persians had themselves
suffered subjection.[9] And now had come a flood of Arab invaders,
"sons of Hagar," who had swept away the city and carried all its
inhabitants captive. From these two poems, and from the 2nd homily on
Fasting (Bickell 14 = Bedjan 17) we gain a vivid picture of the
miseries borne by the inhabitants of that frontier region during the
wars between Persia and the Romano-Greek empire. There are also
instructive references to the heathen practices and the worship of
pagan deities (such as Baalti, Uzzi, Gedlath and the planet Venus)
prevalent in Mesopotamia. Two other poems (Bickell 35, 36 = Bedjan 66,
67), written probably at Antioch,[10] describe the prevalence of
sorcery and the extraordinary influence possessed by "Chaldeans" and
enchanters over women who were nominally Christians.