Issachar
Hired (Gen 30:18). “God hath given me,” said Leah, “my hire (Heb. sekhari)...and she called his name Issachar.” He was Jacob’s ninth son, and was born in Padan-aram (comp. Gen 28:2). He had four sons at the going down into Egypt (Gen 46:13; Num 26:23, Num 26:25).
Issachar, Tribe of, during the journey through the wilderness, along with Judah and Zebulun (Num 2:5), marched on the east of the tabernacle. This tribe contained 54,400 fighting men when the census was taken at Sinai. After the entrance into the Promised Land, this tribe was one of the six which stood on Gerizim during the ceremony of the blessing and cursing (Deut 27:12). The allotment of Issachar is described in Josh 19:17–23. It included the plain of Esdraelon (=Jezreel), which was and still is the richest portion of Palestine (Deut 33:18, Deut 33:19; 1 Chr 12:40).
The prophetic blessing pronounced by Jacob on Issachar corresponds with that of Moses (Gen 49:14, Gen 49:15; comp. Deut 33:18, Deut 33:19).
Named in the Bible
The first 20 of 41 verses
- Genesis 30:18 And Leah said, God hath given me my hire, because I have given my maiden to my husband: and she called his name Issachar.
- Genesis 35:23 The sons of Leah; Reuben, Jacob's firstborn, and Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Zebulun:
- Genesis 46:13 And the sons of Issachar; Tola, and Phuvah, and Job, and Shimron.
- Genesis 49:14 Issachar is a strong ass couching down between two burdens:
- Exodus 1:3 Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin,
- Numbers 1:8 Of Issachar; Nethaneel the son of Zuar.
- Numbers 1:28 Of the children of Issachar, by their generations, after their families, by the house of their fathers, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, all that were able to go forth to war;
- Numbers 1:29 Those that were numbered of them, even of the tribe of Issachar, were fifty and four thousand and four hundred.
- Numbers 2:5 And those that do pitch next unto him shall be the tribe of Issachar: and Nethaneel the son of Zuar shall be captain of the children of Issachar.
- Numbers 7:18 On the second day Nethaneel the son of Zuar, prince of Issachar, did offer:
- Numbers 10:15 And over the host of the tribe of the children of Issachar was Nethaneel the son of Zuar.
- Numbers 13:7 Of the tribe of Issachar, Igal the son of Joseph.
- Numbers 26:23 Of the sons of Issachar after their families: of Tola, the family of the Tolaites: of Pua, the family of the Punites:
- Numbers 26:25 These are the families of Issachar according to those that were numbered of them, threescore and four thousand and three hundred.
- Numbers 34:26 And the prince of the tribe of the children of Issachar, Paltiel the son of Azzan.
- Deuteronomy 27:12 These shall stand upon mount Gerizim to bless the people, when ye are come over Jordan; Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Joseph, and Benjamin:
- Deuteronomy 33:18 And of Zebulun he said, Rejoice, Zebulun, in thy going out; and, Issachar, in thy tents.
- Joshua 17:10 Southward it was Ephraim's, and northward it was Manasseh's, and the sea is his border; and they met together in Asher on the north, and in Issachar on the east.
- Joshua 17:11 And Manasseh had in Issachar and in Asher Bethshean and her towns, and Ibleam and her towns, and the inhabitants of Dor and her towns, and the inhabitants of Endor and her towns, and the inhabitants of Taanach and her towns, and the inhabitants of Megiddo and her towns, even three countries.
- Joshua 19:17 And the fourth lot came out to Issachar, for the children of Issachar according to their families.
From Easton’s Bible Dictionary (1897), by Matthew George Easton.
