13 “Zebulun will dwell at the seashore;
And he shall be a haven for ships,
And his flank shall be toward Sidon.
14 “Issachar is a strong donkey,
Lying down between the sheepfolds.
15 “When he saw that a resting place was good
And that the land was pleasant,
He bowed his shoulder to bear burdens,
And became a slave at forced labor.
16 “Dan shall judge his people,
As one of the tribes of Israel.
17 “Dan shall be a serpent in the way,
A horned snake in the path,
That bites the horse’s heels,
So that his rider falls backward.
18 “For Your salvation I wait, O LORD.
19 “As for Gad, raiders shall raid him,
But he will raid at their heels.
20 “As for Asher, his food shall be rich,
And he will yield royal dainties.
21 “Naphtali is a doe let loose,
He gives beautiful words.
Issachar is one of the most interesting ones too me. That anything would be worth becoming a slave for, even ‘pleasant’ lands, is a mystery. Perhaps I’ve never known that type of lifestyle, and so I can’t understand it. Many countries lived with it for centuries and centuries, but growing up in America, freedom is hard to let go of, for any price. In another light, freedom of an individual was so important, that God made a law that debts should be forgiven every seven years. In those days, if you owed a debt, you were working as a slave to pay it back. Regardless of how much you owed, after seven years, you would be released from that bond (unless you chose to serve your master and become a bondslave). Which reminds me of another perspective on this. As a Christian, we are freed from sin, because we choose another master (Jesus Christ). We become his bondslave, so that we are freed from the debt of sin, and the slavery therein. Wow. So I’m free, only because I choose to be a bondslave. So I can forgive Issachar for thinking pleasant lands were worth the ‘hard’ load. My freedom from sin is certainly worth anything that my God would ask of me.