One name – two different meanings- genesis 30:14-18- part 2

We all want to have our wage, especially if we work so hard to get it; we all want to feel that we are appreciated and that we are worth something.

In the case of Issachar, you can’t avoid those thoughts above, because his name contain the word “sachar” (wage). The name could be interpreted in a three different meanings:

A. There is a wage (yesh sachar)

B. A man with a wage (ish sachar)

C. to carry the wage ( nasa sachar)

To be one with a wage is to succeed in your life, but unfortunately the bible didn’t mention Issachar so much in the stories, maybe because the meaning of the name that we can found in this verse, genesis 30:16-

“וַיָּבֹא יַעֲקֹב מִן-הַשָּׂדֶה, בָּעֶרֶב, וַתֵּצֵא לֵאָה לִקְרָאתוֹ וַתֹּאמֶר אֵלַי תָּבוֹא, כִּי שָׂכֹר שְׂכַרְתִּיךָ בְּדוּדָאֵי בְּנִי; וַיִּשְׁכַּב עִמָּהּ, בַּלַּיְלָה הוּא.”

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

Issachar is like the one who rent an apartment, the renter, he is not going to be an inhabitant and he is not going to be permanent. The only thing that we can say about the tribe of Issachar is their profession, those who know the time, as written in 1 chronicles 12:33-

” וּמִבְּנֵי יִשָּׂשכָר, יוֹדְעֵי בִינָה לַעִתִּים, לָדַעַת, מַה-יַּעֲשֶׂה יִשְׂרָאֵל…”

“And of the children of Issachar, men that had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do…”