By John Thiel

This character is a complete turn around from what we have studied.  We have been studying the negative backgrounds but as we study Isachar, here is one character with good qualities. In Issachar’s situation, we see something good come out of something bad.  Who comes out of this situation?

Genesis 30:14 And Reuben went in the days of wheat harvest, and found mandrakes in the field, and brought them unto his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, Give me, I pray thee, of thy son’s mandrakes.

30:15 And she said unto her, [Is it] a small matter that thou hast taken my husband? and wouldest thou take away my son’s mandrakes also? And Rachel said, Therefore he shall lie with thee to night for thy son’s mandrakes.

30:16 And Jacob came out of the field in the evening, and Leah went out to meet him, and said, Thou must come in unto me; for surely I have hired thee with my son’s mandrakes. And he lay with her that night.

30:17 And God hearkened unto Leah, and she conceived, and bare Jacob the fifth son.

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.

God does things according to peoples needs and desires.  After her sixth son, Leah stopped bearing.  Here comes a son born out of a hire situation.  Lets examine the ingredient of hire:

Genesis 49:14 Issachar is a strong ass couching down between two burdens:

15 And he saw that rest was good, and the land that it was pleasant; and bowed his shoulder to bear, and became a servant unto tribute.

This person is prepared to work hard.  There are tribal characteristics of servitude.

1 Chronicles 7:1 Now the sons of Issachar [were], Tola, and Puah, Jashub, and Shimrom, four.

7:2 And the sons of Tola; Uzzi, and Rephaiah, and Jeriel, and Jahmai, and Jibsam, and Shemuel, heads of their father’s house, [to wit], of Tola: [they were] valiant men of might in their generations; whose number [was] in the days of David two and twenty thousand and six hundred.

7:3 And the sons of Uzzi; Izrahiah: and the sons of Izrahiah; Michael, and Obadiah, and Joel, Ishiah, five: all of them chief men.

7:4 And with them, by their generations, after the house of their fathers, [were] bands of soldiers for war, six and thirty thousand [men]: for they had many wives and sons.

7:5 And their brethren among all the families of Issachar [were] valiant men of might, reckoned in all by their genealogies fourscore and seven thousand.

Deborah the prophet sang praises of Issachar.

Judges 5:15 And the princes of Issachar were with Deborah; even Issachar, and also Barak: he was sent on foot into the valley. For the divisions of Reuben there were great thoughts of heart.

They were men of understanding.

1 Chronicles 12:32 And of the children of Issachar, which were men that had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do; the heads of them were two hundred; and all their brethren were at their commandment.

They came to help David.

1 Chronicles 7:22 And Ephraim their father mourned many days, and his brethren came to comfort him.

7:23 And when he went in to his wife, she conceived, and bare a son, and he called his name Beriah, because it went evil with his house.

They rallied around David.  David was already King, but others came to help.  Observe this quality of self denying services. Note the woman of Shunem who was prepared to help Elisha.

2 Kings 4:8 And it fell on a day, that Elisha passed to Shunem, where [was] a great woman; and she constrained him to eat bread. And [so] it was, [that] as oft as he passed by, he turned in thither to eat bread.

4:9 And she said unto her husband, Behold now, I perceive that this [is] an holy man of God, which passeth by us continually.

4:10 Let us make a little chamber, I pray thee, on the wall; and let us set for him there a bed, and a table, and a stool, and a candlestick: and it shall be, when he cometh to us, that he shall turn in thither.

4:12 And he said to Gehazi his servant, Call this Shunammite. And when he had called her, she stood before him.

4:13 And he said unto him, Say now unto her, Behold, thou hast been careful for us with all this care; what [is] to be done for thee? wouldest thou be spoken for to the king, or to the captain of the host? And she answered, I dwell among mine own people.

4:14 And he said, What then [is] to be done for her? And Gehazi answered, Verily she hath no child, and her husband is old.

4:15 And he said, Call her. And when he had called her, she stood in the door.

4:16 And he said, About this season, according to the time of life, thou shalt embrace a son. And she said, Nay, my lord, [thou] man of God, do not lie unto thine handmaid.

4:17 And the woman conceived, and bare a son at that season that Elisha had said unto her, according to the time of life.

4:18 And when the child was grown, it fell on a day, that he went out to his father to the reapers.

4:19 And he said unto his father, My head, my head. And he said to a lad, Carry him to his mother.

4:20 And when he had taken him, and brought him to his mother, he sat on her knees till noon, and [then] died.

But one of the tribe was corrupt.

2 Kings 15:25 But Pekah the son of Remaliah, a captain of his, conspired against him, and smote him in Samaria, in the palace of the king’s house, with Argob and Arieh, and with him fifty men of the Gileadites: and he killed him, and reigned in his room.

15:26 And the rest of the acts of Pekahiah, and all that he did, behold, they [are] written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.

15:27 In the two and fiftieth year of Azariah king of Judah Pekah the son of Remaliah began to reign over Israel in Samaria, [and reigned] twenty years.

15:28 And he did [that which was] evil in the sight of the LORD: he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin.

15:29 In the days of Pekah king of Israel came Tiglathpileser king of Assyria, and took Ijon, and Abelbethmaachah, and Janoah, and Kedesh, and Hazor, and Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali, and carried them captive to Assyria.

15:30 And Hoshea the son of Elah made a conspiracy against Pekah the son of Remaliah, and smote him, and slew him, and reigned in his stead, in the twentieth year of Jotham the son of Uzziah.

15:31 And the rest of the acts of Pekah, and all that he did, behold, they [are] written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.

15:32 In the second year of Pekah the son of Remaliah king of Israel began Jotham the son of Uzziah king of Judah to reign.

15:33 Five and twenty years old was he when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name [was] Jerusha, the daughter of Zadok.

15:34 And he did [that which was] right in the sight of the LORD: he did according to all that his father Uzziah had done.

Because of the sin of Jeraboam, the tribe was not clean.  When the people came to the passover, they weren’t sanctified.  Likewise today, we may have people come into our midst at church who in their ignorance are doing things wrong.  We are admonished to pray for them.

2 Chronicles 30:17 For [there were] many in the congregation that were not sanctified: therefore the Levites had the charge of the killing of the passovers for every one [that was] not clean, to sanctify [them] unto the LORD.

30:18 For a multitude of the people, [even] many of Ephraim, and Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun, had not cleansed themselves, yet did they eat the passover otherwise than it was written. But Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, The good LORD pardon every one

30:19 [That] prepareth his heart to seek God, the LORD God of his fathers, though [he be] not [cleansed] according to the purification of the sanctuary.

30:20 And the LORD hearkened to Hezekiah, and healed the people.

God does not desire the destruction of any. As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die? Eze. 33:11.  Throughout the period of probationary time His Spirit is entreating men to accept the gift of life. It is only those who reject His pleading that will be left to perish. God has declared that sin must be destroyed as an evil ruinous to the universe. Those who cling to sin will perish in its destruction.  {COL 123.3}

Even though people have done everything wrong, when you give your heart to the Lord, God takes everything, the good and bad traits.  As Issachar came back, the Lord gave back his good traits.  Good things we’ve grown up with.  Christ has made provision.  No matter where we are in tribal decay.

Dullness and ignorance are no virtue. You can choose to become stereotyped in a wrong course of action because you have not the determination to take yourselves in hand and to reform, or you may cultivate your powers to do the very best kind of service, and then you will find yourselves in demand anywhere and everywhere. You will be appreciated for all that you are worth. Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might. Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord. FE page 316

Although he became ignorant and dull, he had to cultivate the powers he had in the beginning.

The solemn, sacred truth–the testing message given us of God to communicate to the world–lays every one of us under the strongest obligation to so transform our daily life and character that the power of the truth may be well represented.  4T page 612

The church of God is required to fulfil her night watch, however perilous, whether long or short. Sorrow is no excuse for her to be less watchful. Tribulation should not lead to carelessness, but to double vigilance. Christ has directed the church by His own example to the Source of their strength in times of need, distress, and peril. The attitude of watching is to designate the church as God’s people indeed. By this sign the waiting ones are distinguished from the world and show that they are pilgrims and strangers upon the earth. 2T page 205

But when an emergency arises, and help is needed, no worker should say, That is not my work. The helper who has the idea that he is only to do the work assigned him, and no more, who feels no responsibility to help wherever and whenever help is needed, should at once dismiss this idea from his mind. He should never feel that a wrong is done him if in an emergency he is asked to work overtime. When extra help is needed, let the workers assist willingly, in Christian meekness, and they will receive a blessing. MM page 176-177

Issachar can be ministers.

I was shown that some ministers among us fail to bear all the responsibility that God would have them. This lack throws extra labor upon those who are burden bearers.  Some ministers fail to move out and venture something in the cause and work of God. Important decisions are to be made; but as mortal man cannot see the end from the beginning, some shrink from venturing and advancing as the providence of God leads. Someone must advance; someone must venture in the fear of God, trusting the result with Him. Those ministers who shun this part of the labor are losing much. They are failing to obtain that experience which God designed they should have to make them strong, efficient men that can be relied upon in any emergency. 3T page 13-14

Amen.