Joshua 19:17-23

The Inheritance of Issachar Joshua 19:17-23

17 And the fourth lot came out to Issachar, for the children of Issachar according to their families.
18 And their border was toward Jezreel, and Chesulloth, and Shunem,
19 And Haphraim, and Shihon, and Anaharath,
20 And Rabbith, and Kishion, and Abez,
21 And Remeth, and En-gannim, and En-haddah, and Beth-pazzez;
22 And the coast reacheth to Tabor, and Shahazimah, and Beth-shemesh; and the outgoings of their border were at Jordan: sixteen cities with their villages.
23 This is the inheritance of the tribe of the children of Issachar according to their families, the cities and their villages.

7.

Who was Issachar? Joshua 19:17

Issachar was the fifth son born to Jacob and Leah. His name was from a Hebrew word, zachar, which meant to hire. Leah felt she had hired her husband by allowing Rachel to have the mandrakes found by her son, Reuben. Issachar's birth is recorded in Genesis 30:17-18, and Jacob's prophecy about his future is given in Genesis 49:14-15. When the children of Israel were numbered at Sinai, there were 54,400 men, twenty years of age and older, among these people. Later at the second census, there were 64,300 (Numbers 1:26).

8.

What were the borders of Issachar? Joshua 19:18

Issachar lay in the valley between Mount Tabor and Mount Carmel, His land ran east to the Jordan River. Asher and Naphtali inherited land to the north, and the half-tribe of Manasseh (west) was on the south. It is doubtful that the land of Issachar reached either to the Mediterranean Sea or to the Sea of Galilee, but the fertile land in the valleys within his borders provided some of the best soil in all of Canaan.

9.

What cities of importance were in Issachar? Joshua 19:18-22

Sixteen cities are listed as a part of the inheritance of Issachar. Jezreel was an important city. It became the summer home of the kings of Israel (1 Kings 21:1). Shunem (Joshua 19:18) was the home of the Shunammite who befriended Elisha (2 Kings 4:8 ff.). En-gannim (Joshua 19:21) was the scene of Ahaziah's escape from Jehu (2 Kings 9:27), where it is translated, the garden house, in the King James Version, and is identified with the modern city of Jenin, a large town of four thousand people. These cities were strategic defense outposts in the days of Israel's monarchy.