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Issachar

From CreationWiki, the encyclopedia of creation science

Issachar (Hebrew: ישּׂשׂכר, Yiśśâḵār; "reward, recompense"), (b. ca. 25 Adar 2252 AM29 March 1752 BC
24 Veadar 2009 H
25 Adar 2252 AM), was a son of Jacob and Leah, and the ancestor of the Tribe of Issachar.

1 Birth Date
2 Entry into Egypt
3 Reference
4 See Also

Birth Date

In Sivan of 2251 AM (literally, "in the days of the wheat harvest"), Reuben went into the field and gathered mandrakes (Mandragora officinarum) for his mother Leah. Rachel asked Leah for a portion of them, and Leah protested that Rachel already had the favor of Jacob, and now was asking for a supply of the one thing that each woman supposed would make her fertile. Rachel then offered to allow Leah to lie with Jacob that evening. Leah agreed, and when Jacob returned from the field, Leah told him directly that she had "hired" him for the evening, at the price of a few mandrakes.

The Bible records that Leah conceived that evening. Issachar was born in the next year. The Bible does not state the exact date on which the transaction occurred. That date might have been on 15 Sivan, and 25 Adar would be about 280 days (the average time of a human pregnancy) later.

When Issachar was born, Leah observed that God had recompensed her for giving her handmaid to her husband. (Genesis 30:14-18 )

Leah might have considered the mandrakes more dear than usual, because her five-year-old son had gathered them at considerable risk to his physical and mental health. Mandrakes do not make a woman fertile, but the alkaloids that they contain are psychoactive, and overdoses can be lethal.

Entry into Egypt

In 2298 AM 1706 BC
2055 H
2298 AM, Issachar entered Egypt permanently, having visited Egypt twice before to buy grain during the famine of 2296-2302 AM (28 March 1708 BC28 March 1708 BC
2 Nisan 2053 H
1 Abib 2296 AM-9 April 1701 BC9 April 1701 BC
2 Nisan 2060 H
1 Abib 2303 AM). He was 46 years old at the time and had four named sons: Tola, Phuvah, Job, and Shimron.