tools down to the Philistines to have them sharpened.​—1Sa 13:19-22.

Later, however, King David gathered together huge quantities of iron for use in the temple construction. Under Solomon’s reign there was contributed “iron worth a hundred thousand talents,” or, according to many translations, “a hundred thousand talents of iron.” (1Ch 22:14, 16; 29:2, 7) If the reference is to the value of the iron and if the talents were silver, then the iron was worth $660,600,000. If the reference is to the weight of the iron, then it amounted to about 3,420 metric tons (3,770 tons).

Figurative Usage. The iron furnace is a symbol of hard and hot oppression (De 4:20; 1Ki 8:51; Jer 11:4); iron yokes, unbreakable bondage. (De 28:48; Jer 28:13, 14) In a figurative sense iron symbolizes hardness (Le 26:19; De 28:23), stubbornness (Isa 48:4; Jer 6:28), strength (Jer 1:18; Da 7:7; Re 9:9), kingly power, and judicial authority (Ps 2:9; Re 2:27; 12:5; 19:15).

(Irʹpe·el) [May God Heal; God Has Healed].

A city of Benjamin. (Jos 18:21, 27) Some suggest as a possible identification Rafat, a village about 10 km (6 mi) NW of Jerusalem.

(Ir-sheʹmesh) [City of the Sun].

A town on the boundary of Dan, listed between Eshtaol and Shaalabbin in Joshua 19:41, 42. It is possibly the same as Beth-shemesh of Joshua 15:10. If so, then it was later occupied by the tribe of Judah and assigned from that tribe as one of the 48 Levite cities.​—Jos 21:16; 1Ch 6:59; Nu 35:6, 7; see BETH-SHEMESH No. 1.

(Iʹru) [possibly from a root meaning “full-grown ass”].

The first-named son of Caleb the spy; of Judah’s tribe. (1Ch 4:15) Some scholars think that the name was really Ir and that the “u” was only the Hebrew conjunction and.

(Iʹsaac) [Laughter].

The only son of Abraham by his wife Sarah. Hence, a vital link in the line of descent leading to Christ. (1Ch 1:28, 34; Mt 1:1, 2; Lu 3:34) Isaac was weaned at about 5, was as good as offered up as a sacrifice at perhaps 25, was married at 40, became father to twin sons at 60, and died at the age of 180.​—Ge 21:2-8; 22:2; 25:20, 26; 35:28.

The birth of Isaac was under the most unusual circumstances. Both his father and his mother were very old, his mother long before having stopped menstruating. (Ge 18:11) So when God told Abraham that Sarah would give birth to a son, he laughed over the prospect, saying: “Will a man a hundred years old have a child born, and will Sarah, yes, will a woman ninety years old give birth?” (Ge 17:17) Upon learning what was to take place, Sarah laughed too. (See LAUGHTER.) Then, “at the appointed time” the following year, the child was born, proving that nothing is “too extraordinary for Jehovah.” (Ge 18:9-15) Sarah then exclaimed: “God has prepared laughter for me,” adding, “everybody hearing of it will laugh at me.” And so, just as Jehovah had said, the boy was appropriately named Isaac, meaning “Laughter.”​—Ge 21:1-7; 17:19.

Being of Abraham’s household and heir to the promises, Isaac was properly circumcised on the eighth day.​—Ge 17:9-14, 19; 21:4; Ac 7:8; Ga 4:28.

How old was Isaac when he was weaned?

The day Isaac was weaned, Abraham prepared a big feast. Apparently on that occasion Sarah noticed Ishmael “poking fun” at his younger half brother Isaac. (Ge 21:8, 9) Some translations (JB, Mo, RS) say that Ishmael was only “playing” with Isaac, that is, in the sense of child’s play. However, the Hebrew word tsa·chaqʹ can also have an offensive connotation. Thus, when this same word occurs in other texts (Ge 19:14; 39:14, 17), these translations render it “jesting” or “joking” and “insult.”

Certain Targums, as well as the Syriac Peshitta, at Genesis 21:9, give Ishmael’s remarks the sense of “deriding.” Concerning tsa·chaqʹ, Cook’s Commentary says: “It probably means in this passage, as it has generally been understood, ‘mocking laughter.’ As Abraham had laughed for joy concerning Isaac, and Sarah had laughed incredulously, so now Ishmael laughed in derision, and probably in a persecuting and tyrannical spirit.” Deciding the matter, the inspired apostle Paul clearly shows that Ishmael’s treatment of Isaac was affliction, persecution, not childlike play. (Ga 4:29) Certain commentators, in view of Sarah’s insistence, in the next verse (Ge 21:10), that “the son of this slave girl is not going to be an heir with my son, with Isaac,” suggest that Ishmael (14 years Isaac’s senior) perhaps quarreled and taunted Isaac with regard to heirship.

Jehovah had told Abraham that as alien residents his seed would be afflicted for 400 years, which affliction ended with Israel’s deliverance out of Egypt in 1513 B.C.E. (Ge 15:13; Ac 7:6) Four hundred years prior thereto would mark 1913 B.C.E. as the beginning of that affliction.