Week 4    Day 5

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The Inheritance of Issachar

Joshua 19

17 To Issachar came out the fourth lot, for the sons of Issachar according to their families.

18 And their border was toward Jezreel, and Chesulloth, and Shunem,

19 and Hapharaim, and Shion, and Anaharath,

20 and Rabbith, and Kishion, and Abez,

21 and Remeth, and En-gannim, and En-haddah, and Beth-pazzez.

22 And the border comes upon Tabor and to Shahazimah, and Beth-shemesh; and the outgoings of their border were at the Jordan: sixteen cities and their villages.

23 This is the inheritance of the tribe of the sons of Issachar according to their families, the cities and their villages.

The Birth of Issachar

Genesis 30

14 And Reuben went in the days of wheat harvest, and found dudaim in the field, and brought them to Leah his mother. And Rachel said to Leah, Give me, I pray, of the dudaim of thy son.

15 And she said to her, [Is it] a little [matter] that thou hast taken my man, and wouldest thou take also the dudaim of my son? And Rachel said, Therefore he shall lie with thee tonight in return for the dudaim of thy son.

16 And Jacob came from the field in the evening, and Leah went out to meet him, and said, Thou must come to me, for hiring I have hired thee with the dudaim of my son; and he lay with her that night.

17 And God hearkened to Leah, and she conceived and gave birth to a fifth son for Jacob.

18 And Leah said, God has given my wage, because I gave my handmaid for my man; and she called his name Issachar.

AC 3956. And Leah said, God has given me my wage, because I gave my handmaid to my man. That this signifies in the supreme sense the Divine good of truth and truth of good; in the internal sense, celestial conjugial love; and in the external sense, mutual love, may be seen from the signification of “wage.” ... Charity toward the neighbor has within it the desire that it should be as well with him as with ourselves; and with the angels, that it should be better with him than with themselves. Such also is the affection of charity; and therefore it is averse to all self-merit, and consequently to all the doing of good that looks to wages. To those who are in charity, the wage consists in being able to show kindness, and in being allowed to do so, and in the kindness being accepted. This is the enjoyment, indeed, the bliss that is enjoyed by those who are in the affection of charity. From this it is evident what the “wage” is, that is mentioned in the Word, namely, the delight and bliss of the affection of charity; or what is the same, the delight and bliss of mutual love... For the affection of charity, and mutual love, are the same thing... From all this it is evident that by “wage” in the external sense is here signified mutual love.

AC 3956:2. That in a sense still higher, or in the internal sense, by “wage” is signified celestial conjugial love, may be seen from... the heavenly marriage... namely, that it is the conjunction of good and truth. And... mutual love is from this conjunction or from this marriage... It is evident from this that “wage” in the internal sense is celestial conjugial love....

AC 3957. And she called his name Issachar. ...Issachar was named from “wage” ... Very few at the present day in the Christian world know...what mutual love is, and still less that good must be conjoined with truth in order that man may be in the heavenly marriage. I have been permitted to speak on this subject with very many in the other life who were from the Christian world, and with the more learned also. But surprising to say, scarcely anyone of those with whom I have been permitted to speak knew anything about it, when yet they might of themselves have known much about such things if they had only been willing to use their reason. But as they had not been concerned about the life after death, but only about life in the world, such things had no interest for them.

AC 3957:2. The things which they might have known of themselves had they chosen to use their reason, are the following: First... that when a man dies, he passes comparatively from shade into light, because he passes from the things of the world to those of heaven, and from the things of the body to those of the spirit. But surprising to say, although they can understand all this, they nevertheless think the contrary, namely, that the state of life in the body is relatively clear, and that the state of life after being divested of the body is relatively obscure.

AC 3957:3. The second thing that they may know if they will use their reason, is that the life which man has procured for himself in the world follows him; that is, he is in such a life after death... For example: he who has acquired a life of deceit, and has found in this the delight of his life, cannot put off the life of deceit, but is still in that life after death...

AC 3957:7. Sixth... man while living in the body ought to be concerned with... thinking what is good toward the neighbor, and by willing what is good to him, and therefore doing what is good to him, and thus by acquiring the enjoyment of life in such things. This... is acquired by means of charity toward the neighbor, that is, by means of mutual love; and it is what is called conscience.

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