Issachar
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| Image:1695 Eretz Israel map in Amsterdam Haggada by Abraham Bar-Jacob.jpg Tribes of Israel |
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Issachar or Yissachar (Hebrew: יִשָּׂשׁכָר, Standard Yissaḫar Tiberian Yiśśâḵār ; "Reward; recompense") was the fifth son of Jacob and his first wife Leah. Issachar's name is explained in Beresheet Chapter 30, Verse 18: "Leah said, 'God has given me my reward because I gave my maidservant to my husband (as a wife)', and called him Issachar."
As the ancestor of the tribe of Israel bearing his name, Issachar and his people settled in the Jezreel Valley and the low hills east of Mount Tabor. Jacob's blessing, given in Egypt and recorded in Genesis 49, describes Issachar as "a strong ass" who "became a slave at forced labor", perhaps indicating that the tribe of Issachar was one subject to the Canaanites of that region.
Issachar fathered four sons who joined him in the migration of Jacob's family to Egypt, where he died and was buried. Among his descendants were the judge Tola and two kings of Israel, Baasha and his son Elah.
| Sons of Jacob by wife in order of birth (D = Daughter) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Leah | Reuben (1) | Simeon (2) | Levi (3) | Judah (4) | Issachar (9) | Zebulun (10) | Dinah (D) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rachel | Joseph (11) | Benjamin (12) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bilhah (Rachel's servant) | Dan (5) | Naphtali (6) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Zilpah (Leah's servant) | Gad (7) | Asher (8) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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