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Bible Encyclopedias
Ir-ha-Heres
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
or in the A. Vers. "THE CITY OF DESTRUCTION" (עַיר הִהֶרֶס , Ir-ha- he'res, v.r. Ir-ha-che'res, עַיר הִחֶרֶס; Sept. Ἀχερές, Vulg. Civitas Solis), the name or appellation of a city in Egypt, mentioned only in Isaiah 19:18. The reading הֶרֶס, Heres, is that of most MSS., the Syr., Aq., and Theod.; the other reading, חֶרֶס, Cheres, is supported by the Sept., but only in form, by Symm., who has πόλις ἡλίου, and the Vulg. Gesenius (Thesaur. p. 391, a; 522) prefers the latter reading. There are various explanations; we shall first take those that treat it as a proper name, then those that suppose it to be an appellation used by the prophet to denote the future of the city.
1. "The city of the Sun," a translation of the Egyptian sacred name of Heliopolis, generally called in the Bible On, the Hebrew form of its civil name AN, (See ON), and once Beth-shemesh, "the house of the sune" (Jeremiah 43:13), a more literal translation than this supposed one of the sacred name. (See BETH-SHEMESH). This explanation, however, is highly improbable, for we find elsewhere both the sacred and the civil names of Heliopolis, so that a third name, merely a variety of the Hebrew rendering of the sacred name, is very unlikely. The name Beth-shemesh is, moreover, a more literal translation in its first word of the Egyptian name than this supposed one. It may be remarked, however, as to the last part of the word, that one of the towns in Palestine called Beth-shemesh, a town of the Levites on the borders of Judah and Dan, was not far from a Mount Heres, הִראּחֶרֶס (Judges 1:35), so that the two names, as applied to the sun as an object of worship, might probably be interchangeable. (See HERES).
2. "The city ‘ Heres," a transcription in the last part of the word of the Egyptian sacred name of Heliopolis, HA-RA, "the abode (liter. "house") of the sun." This explanation, however, would necessitate the omission of the article.
3. Jerome supposes חרס to be equivalent to חרש, "a potsherd," and to be a name of the town called by the Greeks Ostracine, Ο᾿στρακινη (‘ earthen"). Akin with this is the view of others (see Alexander ad loc.), who suppose that reference is made to Tacpanes, the brick-kilns of which are mentioned by Jeremiah 43:9.
4. "A city preserved," meaning that one of the five cities mentioned should be preserved. Gesenius, who proposes this construction, if the last half of the word be not part of the name of the place, compares the Arabic charasa, "he guarded, kept, preserved," etc. It may be remarked that the word HERES or HRES, in ancient Egyptian, probably signifies "a guardian." This rendering of Gesenius is, however, merely conjectural, and has hardly been adopted by any other leading interpreter.
5. The ordinary rendering, "a city destroyed," lit. "a city of destruction;" in the A.V. "the city of destruction," meaning that one of the five cities mentioned should be destroyed, according to Isaiah's idiom. Some maintain that the prophet refers to five great and noted cities of Egypt when he says, "In that day shall five cities in the land of Egypt speak the language of Canaan;" but they cannot agree as to what these cities are. Others suppose that by five a round number is meant; while others think that some proportional number is referred to-five out of 20,000, or five out of 1000.
Calvin interprets the passage as meaning five out of six-five professing the true religion, and one rejecting it; and that one is hence called "City of destruction," which is not its proper name, but a description indicative of its doom. Egypt and Ethiopia were then either under a joint rule or under an Ethiopian sovereign. We can, therefore, understand the connection of the three subjects comprised in this and the adjoining chapters. Chap. 18 is a prophecy against the Ethiopians, 19 is the Burden of Egypt, and 20, delivered in the year of the capture of Ashdod by Tartan, the general of Sargon, predicts the leading captive of the Egyptians and Ethiopians, probably the garrison of that great stronghold. as a warning to the Israelites who trusted in them for aid. Chap. 18 ends with an indication of the time to which it refers, speaking of the Ethiopians-as we understand the passage-as sending "a present" "to the place of the name of the Lord of hosts, the Mount Zion" (Isaiah 18:7). If this be taken in a proper and not a tropical sense, it would refer to the conversion of Ethiopians by the preaching of the law while the Temple yet stood. That such had been the case before the Gospel was preached is evident from the instance of the eunuch of queen Candace, whom Philip met on his return homeward from worshipping at Jerusalem, and converted to Christianity (Acts 8:26-39).
The Burden of Egypt seems to point to the times of the Persian and Greek dominions over that country. The civil war agrees with the troubles of the Dodecarchy, then we read of a time of bitter oppression by "a cruel lord and [or "even"] a fierce king," probably pointing to the Persian conquests and rule, and specially to Cambyses, or Cambyses and Ochus, and then of the drying of the sea (the Red Sea; compare Isaiah 11:15), and the river, and canals, of the destruction of the water-plants, and of the misery of the fishers and workers in linen. The princes and counselors are to lose their wisdom and the people to be filled with fear, all which calamities seem td have begun in the desolation of the Persian rule.
It is not easy to understand what follows as to the dread of the land of Judah which the Egyptians should feel, immediately preceding the mention of the subject of the article: "In that day shall five cities in the land of Egypt speak the language of Canaan, and swear to the Lord of hosts; one shall be called Ir- ha-heres. In that day shall there be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar at the border thereof to the Lord. And it shall be for a sign and for a witness unto the Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt; for they shall cry unto the Lord because of the oppressors, and he shall send them a savior, and a great one, and he shall deliver them" (Isaiah 19:18-20).
The partial or entire conversion of Egypt is prophesied in the next two verses (Isaiah 19:21-22). The time of the Greek dominion, following the Persian rule, may here be pointed to. There was then a great influx of Jewish settlers, and as we know of a Jewish town, Onion, and a great Jewish population at Alexandria, we may suppose that there were other large settlements. These would "speak the language of Canaan," at first literally, afterwards in their retaining the religion and customs of their fathers. The altar would well correspond to the temple built by Onias; the pillar, to the synagogue of Alexandria, the latter on the northern and western borders of Egypt. In this case Alexander would be the deliverer. We do not know, however, that at this period there was any recognition of the true God on the part of the Egyptians. If the prophecy is to be understood in a proper sense, we can, however, see no other time to which it applies and must suppose that Ir-ha- heres was one of the cities partly or wholly inhabited by the Jews in Egypt: of these, Onion was the most important, and to it the rendering, "One shall be called a city of destruction," would apply, since it was destroyed by Titus, while Alexandria, and perhaps the other cities, yet stand. If the prophecy is to be taken tropically, the best reading and rendering are matters of verbal criticism. (See ISAIAH).
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McClintock, John. Strong, James. Entry for 'Ir-ha-Heres'. Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/tce/i/ir-ha-heres.html. Harper & Brothers. New York. 1870.
