i'-va.
See IVVAH .
i'-vo-ri ((1) shen, "tooth" (translated "ivory," 1 Ki 10:18; 22:39; 2 Ch 9:17; Ps 45:8; Song 5:14; 7:4; Ezek 27:6,15; Am 3:15; 6:4); (2) shenhabbim; Septuagint odontes elephdntinoi, "elephants' teeth" (1 Ki 10:22; 2 Ch 9:21); (3) elephantinos, "of ivory" (Rev 18:12)): Shen occurs often, meaning "tooth" of man or beast. In the passages cited it is translated in English Versions of the Bible "ivory" (of "crag," 1 Sam 14:4,5; "cliff," Job 39:28 twice; "flesh-hook of three teeth," 1 Sam 2:13). Shenhabbim is thought to be a contracted form of shen ha-'ibbim, i.e. ha, the article, and 'ibbim, plural of 'ibbah or 'ibba'; compare Egyptian ab, ebu, "elephant," and compare Latin ebur, "ivory" (see Liddell and Scott, under the word elephas). On the other hand, it may be a question whether -bim is not a singular form connected with the Arabic fil, "elephant." If the word for "elephant" is not contained in shenhabbim, it occurs nowhere in the Hebrew Bible.
Ivory was probably obtained, as now, mainly from the African elephant. It was rare and expensive. It is mentioned in connection with the magnificence of Solomon (1 Ki 10:18,22), being brought by the ships of Tarshish (2 Ch 9:17,21). An "ivory house" of Ahab is mentioned in 1 Ki 22:39. It is mentioned among the luxuries of Israel in the denunciations of Amos (3:15; 6:4). It occurs in the figurative language of Ps 45:8; Song 5:14; 7:4. It is used for ornamentation of the ships of the Tyrians (Ezek 27:6), who obtain it with ebony through the men of Dedan (27:15). It is among the merchandise of Babylon (Rev 18:12).
We do not learn of the use of elephants in war until a few centuries before the Christian era. In 1 Macc 8:6, there is a reference to the defeat of Antiochus the Great, "having an hundred and twenty elephants," by Scipio Africanus in 190 BC. 1 Macc 1:17 speaks of the invasion of Egypt by Antiochus Epiphanes with an army in which there were elephants. 1 Macc 6:28-47 has a detailed account of a battle between Antiochus Eupator and Judas Maccabeus at Bethsura (Beth-zur). There were 32 elephants. Upon the "beasts" theria) there were "strong towers of wood"; "There were also upon every one two and thirty strong men, that fought upon them, beside the Indian that ruled him."
In Job 40:15, the King James Version margin has for "behemoth," "the elephant, as some think."
Alfred Ely Day
(mighdal hashen): In Song 7:4 the neck of the Shulammite is compared in whiteness and stateliness to a (or the) tower of ivory. The definite article may suggest that the comparison is with some actual tower in or near Jerusalem; but more probably the language is simply a figure.
iv'-a (`iwwah; Aba (= Ava), Aua, 2 Ki 18:34, Oudou, 2 Ki 19:13, apparently due to a misreading): The name is wanting in the Massoretic Text and Septuagint of Isa 36:19.
Ivvah was a city apparently conquered by the Assyrians, and is mentioned by them, in the verses quoted, with Hamath and Arpad, Sepharvaim and Hena. It has been assimilated with the Avva of 2 Ki 17:24 as one of the places whence Sargon brought captives to Samaria, and identified with Hit on the Euphrates, between Anah and Ramadieh, but this seems improbable, as is also the suggestion that it is Emma, the modern `Imm, between Antioch and Aleppo. Hommel (Expository Times, April, 1898, 330) upholds the view that Hena and Ivvah, or, as he prefers to read, Avvah, are not places at all, but the names of the two chief gods of Hamath, Arpad and Sepharvaim. This would be consistent with 2 Ki 18:34; but 19:13: "Where is the king .... of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and Ivvah?" and 17:31, where the gods of Sepharvaim are stated to be Adrammelech and Anammelech, raise serious difficulties. In all probability, the identification of Ivvah depends upon the correct localization of the twofold Sepharvaim, of which Hena and Ivvah may have been the names. The identification of Sepharvaim with the Babylonian Sip(p)ar is now practically abandoned.
See SEPHARVAIM .
T. G. Pinches
i'-vi (kissos): The only mention of the word in all the sacred writings is in 2 Macc 6:7 in connection with the oppression of the Jews by Antiochus Epiphanes: "On the day of the king's birth every month they were brought by bitter constraint to eat of the sacrifices; and when the feast of Bacchus (Dionysus) was kept, the Jews were compelled to go in procession to Dionysus, carrying ivy," this plant (Hedera helix) being sacred to the Greek god of wine and of the culture of the vine (compare Eur. Bacchae, passim). It was of ivy or of pine that the "corruptible crown" of the famous Isthmian games was made (1 Cor 9:25).
J. Hutchison