ISSACHAR. - Ninth son of Jacob, fifth of Leah, whose name Jiššāhār in the qērē perpetuum corresponds to "hired man" or "there is the reward"; in the qēthibh "He [God] procures the reward," third person singular of the verb šhr in šaph'ēl, an ancient Canaanite or Hebrew form from the Ugaritic texts.
The name is explained by the mother: "The Lord has given me my reward" (šāhār), which presupposes the biblical spelling of the qēthibh (Gen. 30:18; cf. v. 16). With the sons Thola, Phua, Iasub and Semran (Gen. 46:13; Num. 26:23; I Chron. 7:1), I. went down with Jacob into Egypt, where the descendants of his sons multiplied so greatly that at the time of the exodus the tribe counted 54,400 warriors in the first census (Num. 1:28-29) and 64,300 in the second (Num. 13:8). Igal represented the tribe in the exploration of Canaan (Num. 13:8) and Phaltiel in the commission for the partition of the territory (Num. 34:26).
The frontiers of the Issacharite canton (Josh. 19:17-23) can be approximately delimited from the numbering of the cities assigned: from Engannim (= Genin) to the south-east corner of the plain of Esdrelon by way of Iezrael (= Zav'in), Sunem (= Selem), the line met at Thabor, the holy mountain, with the tribes of Nephthali and Zabulon and proceeded eastward toward the Jordan. It therefore comprised the eastern part of the fertile plain of Esdrelon and the valley of the Galūd, good and pleasant land. As Jacob (Gen. 49:14-15) and Moses (Deut. 33:18) had foretold, the tribe, settled in the valleys adjacent to Thabor and to Nebī Dāhī, did not profit from the richness of the soil except at the expense of its independence and "like a sturdy ass, lying down in a good place, bowed its back to the burden," serving in the caravans of the powerful Canaanites. Nevertheless the tribe joined in the war waged by Deborah against Sisara (Judg. 5:15), Issacharites were the judges Thola (Judg. 10:1) and King Baasa (II Kings 15:27); and the tribe, of 87,000 warriors (I Chron. 7:5), favored David in his accession to the throne of Israel (I Chron. 12:32).
Bibliography2 works
Donato Baldi