Jacob’s Twelve Sons — Issachar
We know nothing from Scripture of Issachar’s personal history except that he had four sons. “And the sons of Issachar; Tola, and Phuvah, and Job, and Shimron” (Genesis 46:13).This tribe contained 54,400 fighting men at Sinai. “Of the children of Issachar … all that were able to go forth to war; Those that were numbered of them, even of the tribe of Issachar, were fifty and four thousand and four hundred” (Numbers 1:28-29). After the entrance into Canaan, this tribe was one of the six which stood on Gerizim during the ceremony of the blessing and cursing. “These shall stand upon mount Gerizim to bless the people, when ye are come over Jordan; Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Joseph, and Benjamin” (Deuteronomy 27:12).
It was said of his descendants that “the children of Issachar … were men that had understanding of the times” (1 Chronicles 12:32). In other words they were men of spiritual discernment who knew how to act wisely according to their present circumstances. This is something we should all seek to be. It is one thing to know the truth, it is another to apply it in a proper and practical way.
