Tribe of lssachar. — Issachar's place during the Jour- ney to Canaan was on the east of the tabernacle, with his brothers Judah and Zebuhm (Numb, ii, 5), the group moving foremost in the march (x, 15), and having a common standard, which, according to the Rabbinical tradition, was of the three colors of sardine, topaz, and carbuncle, inscribed with the names of the three tribes, and bearing the figure of a lion's whelp (see Targum Pseudo-Jon. on Numb, ii, 3). At this time the captain of the tribe was Nethaneel ben-Zuar (Numb, i, 8 ; ii, 5 ; vii, 18 ; X, 15). He was succeeded by Igal ben-Joseph, who went as representative of his tribe among the spies (xiii, 7), and he again by Paltiel ben-Azzan, Avho assist- ed Joshua in apportioning the land of Canaan (xxxiv, 26). lssachar was one of the six tribes who were to stand on Mount Gerizim during the ceremony of bless- ing and cursing (Deut. xxvii, 12). He was still in com- pany with Judah, Zebuhm being opposite on Ebal. The number of the fighting men of lssachar when taken in the census at Sinai was 54,400. During the journey they seem to have steadily increased, and after the mor- tality at I'eor they amounted to 64,300, being inferior to none but Judah and Dan — to the latter by 100 souls only. The numbers given in 1 Chron. vii, 2, 4, 5, prob- ably the census of Joab, amount in all to 145,600.
The Promised Land once reached, the connection be- tween lssachar and Judah seems to have closed, to be renewed only on two brief occasions, which will be no- ticed in their tum. The intimate relation with Zebu- hm was, however, maintained. The two brother-tribes had their portions close together, and more than once the}'' are mentioned in company. The allotment of Is- sachar lay above that of Manasseh. The specification of its boundaries and contents is contained in Josh, xix, 17-23. But to the towns there named must be added Daberath (a Levitioal city, xxi, 28: Jarmuth here is probably the Kemeth of xix, 21) and Ibleam (Josh, xvii, 11). The boundary, in the words of Josephus (Ant. v, 1, 22), " extended in length from Carmel to the Jordan, in breadth to j\Iount Tabor." In fact, it almost exactly consisted of the plain of Esdraelon or Jezreel. The southern boundary we can trace by En-gannim, the modern Jenin, on the heights which form the southern enclosure to the plain : and then further westward by Taanach and jMcgiddo, the authentic fragments of which still stand on the same heights as they trend away to the hump of Carmel. On the north the territory nearly ceased with the plain, which is there bounded by Tabor, the outpost of the hills of Zebulun. East of Tabor, the hill-country continued so as to screen the tribe from the Sea of Galilee. Avhile a detour on the S.E. included a part of the plain within the territory of ]Manasseh, near Beth- shean and the upper part of the Jordan valley. In a central recess of the plain stood Jezreel, on a low swell, attended, just across the border, on the one hand by the eminence of ]Mount Gilboa, and on the other by that now called Ed-Duhy, or "Little Ilermon," the latter having Shunem, Nain, and Endor on its slopes — names which recall some of the most interesting and important events in the historj- of Israel. See Tribe.
The following is a list of all the Biblical localities in the tribe, with their approved or conjectural identifica- tions :
Abez,
Town.
Uknem t
Anaharath,
do.
[Meskarah-i f f
Aneni,
do.
See En-gannim.
Aphek,
do.
lEl-Ftikh-] ?
Beih-jraii,
do.
See En-gannim.
Beth-pnzzez.
do.
[ licit- Jemn ? ?
Beth-sheniesh,
do.
Kaukah-el-Uawa ?
Chesulloth, or Chisloth) Tabor, j'
do.
Iksal.
Dabareh. or Daberath,
do.
Debnreh.
En-gaiiiiiin, Eii-haddali,
do.
.Jenin.
do.
UinMahil]?
Giir,
Ascent,
iMvkeibilelnf
Hapharaim,
Town,
[EI-A/iileh]?
Ibleam
do.
\_.7elameh-i f
Ittah-kaziD,
do.
\Kefr Kcnna-^f
Jarmuth,
(Jo.
See Kamoth.
ISSACHAR
'?00
ISSACHAR
Map of the Tribe of Issachar.
("Town.
Jezreel,
-^ Plain, ( Fountain
Joknieam, or
Jokneam,
Town.
Kfdesh,
do.
Kibzaim,
do.
Kishioi),
do.
Maralah,
do.
Meroz,
do.
Naiu,
do.
Nazareth,
do.
Kabbith,
do.
Kamoth, or Remeth,
do.
Shahaziraah,
do.
Shihor,
do.
Shniiem,
do.
Zerin.
Merj Ibn-Amer.
A in Zerin.
El-Kairum.
Kashaneh ?
See Jokneam.
See Kf.desh,
[Mtiieidil-] ?
Kcfr Musr f
Ncin.
En-Xasirah.
ISumirieh-l ? ([Tell between Snn- < dela and Mukei- ( bileb]?
[.%arai ?
[EHh-Shijrah^ ?
Solam.
This territory was, as it still is, among the richest lanil in Palestine. Westward was the famous plain wliich derived its name, the "seed-plot of God"— such is the signification of Jezreel— from its fertility, and the very weeds of which at this day testify to its enormous powers of production (Stanley,"^, and P. p. 348). See EsDUAEi-ox ; Jezueel. On the north is Tabor, which, even under the burning sun of that climate, is said to retain the glades and dells of an English wood {ibid. p. 350). On the east, behind .Jezreel, is the opening which conducts to the plain of the Jordan— to that Beth-Shean which was proverbially among the Rabbis the gate of I'aradise for its fruitfiilness. It is this aspect of the territory of Issachar which appears to be alluded to in the blessing <)f Jacob. The image of the "sturdy he- ^^" (Ol? "I'an)— the large animal used for burdens and field-woric, not the lighter and swifter she-ass for riding —"couching down between the two stalls," chewing the fodder of stolid ease and quiet— is very ai)plicable, not only to the tendencies anil haljits, but"to the very size and air of a rural agrarian people, while the sequel of the verse is no less suggestive of the certain rcsidt of such tendencies when unreUeved by any higher aspira- tions: " He saw that rest was good and the land pleas- ant, and he bowed his back to bear, and became a slave to tribute"— the tribute imposed on him bv the various marauding tribes who were attracted to his territory by the nclMiess of the crops. The blessing of Moses com- pletes the picture. He is j>ot only " in tents"— in nom-