Issachar

Family: Israelites · Role: son of Jacob · First appears: The Wives Of The Sons Of Jacob

Issachar was born to Leah after Rachel offered Jacob a night in exchange for the dudaim; Leah said he was named for the reward Rachel had given her. In the year of Joseph’s misfortune, Issachar married Aridah, though in his testament he said, “I was not married to a wife until I was thirty years old.”

At Raamses, Jacob summoned his sons from Egypt and blessed Issachar with the burden of Torah study. He said Issachar’s descendants would include members of the Sanhedrin and scholars who fixed the calendar. In his testament, Issachar recalled, “My father blessed me, because he saw that I walked in singleness of heart.”

The names of Issachar’s sons were Tola, Puah, Jashub, and Shimron. At 122, Issachar asked his children to bury him in the Cave at Hebron beside his fathers, then died.

Relationship record

Life events

• Judah's other brothers married; the chapter names their spouses and describes several subsequent marriages.(The Wives Of The Sons Of Jacob)
  • With: Reuben Elyoram Simon Dinah Levi Dan Elflalet Gad Naphtali Amoram Merimit Uzit Asher Adon Hadorah Zebulon Maroshah
  • “In the same year, the year of Joseph's misfortune, all his other brethren married, too.”
• Jacob summoned his sons from Egypt to receive his blessings.(The Blessing Of The Twelve Tribes · 📍 Raamses)
  • With: Jacob Joseph Reuben Simon Levi Dinah Judah Zebulon Dan Asher Naphtali Benjamin
  • “Jacob summoned his sons from the land of Egypt, and bade them come to him at Raamses”
• Jacob blessed Issachar with Torah study, legal authority, and descendants who would serve as scholars and calendar-setters.(The Blessing Of The Twelve Tribes)
  • With: Jacob
  • “his descendants will be the members of the Sanhedrin and the scholars that will occupy themselves with fixing the calendar.”
• God made a covenant with the ancestors of the twelve tribes.(Significant Names)
  • With: God Jacob Reuben Benjamin Naphtali Gad Asher
  • “God made a covenant with them as He had made with the three Patriarchs, and to this covenant their descendants owe their preservation.”
• In Issachar's testament, Issachar was born to Leah after Rachel offered her Jacob for a night in exchange for the dudaim.(Issachar'S Singleness Of Heart)
  • With: Leah Rachel
  • “Then Leah bore me, and I was called Issachar, on account of the reward Rachel had given to my mother.”
• In Issachar's testament, Jacob blessed Issachar for his integrity.(Issachar'S Singleness Of Heart)
  • With: Jacob
  • “My father blessed me, because he saw that I walked in singleness of heart.”
• In Issachar's testament, Issachar married his wife.(Issachar'S Singleness Of Heart)
  • With: Aridah
  • “I was not married to a wife until I was thirty years old”
• Issachar died after asking his children to bury him in the Cave at Hebron.(Issachar'S Singleness Of Heart)
  • “And Issachar bade his children carry him up to Hebron, and bury him there by his fathers in the Cave, and he stretched out his feet, and fell into the sleep of eternity”

The Wives Of The Sons Of Jacob

• married with Aridah “Levi and Issachar married two daughters of Jobab, the grandson of Eber; the wife of the former was named Adinah, the wife of the latter, Aridah.”

The Blessing Of The Twelve Tribes

• parent: Jacob “Issachar,” said Jacob, “will take upon himself the burden of the study of the Torah”

The Death Of Jacob

• parent: Jacob “Joseph, being king, shall not help to bear it, nor shall Levi, who is destined to carry the Ark of the Shekinah. Judah, Issachar, and Zebulon shall grasp its front end, Reuben, Simon, and Gad its right side, Ephraim, Manasseh, and Benjamin the hindmost end, and Dan, Asher, and Naphtali its left side.”

Significant Names

• child: Tola “Thus the names of the sons of Issachar express the activities of the tribe known for its learning above all the others. The oldest was called Tola, ‘worm’;”
• child: Puah (The preceding sentence identifies these as the sons of Issachar.) “The second is Puah, ‘madder plant’;”
• child: Jashub (The preceding sentence identifies these as the sons of Issachar.) “The third is Jashub, ‘the returning one,’”
• child: Shimron (The preceding sentence identifies these as the sons of Issachar.) “and Shimron, the fourth, is ‘the observing one,’”

Issachar'S Singleness Of Heart

• parent: Jacob “I was born unto Jacob as his fifth son, as a reward for the dudaim.”
• parent: Leah “Then Leah bore me, and I was called Issachar, on account of the reward Rachel had given to my mother.”
• married with Aridah “Save my wife, I have known no woman.”

⭐ Constellation map → · 📖 Read the original → · 🗂 Character index → · 🕰 Chronicle → · 📍 Places →

Extracted from the original text of The Legends of the Jews, Volume II. Made with Rho MD.