ISSACHAR, Is'sfl-kiir. (1) One of the tribes of Israel. descended according to the Book of Genesis (xxx. 17) from lssachar, the ninth son of Jacob and fifth of Leah. The name is ex plained as meaning 'there is reward,' and is interpreted by the Yahwistie writer by a refer ence to the 'mandrakes' with which Leah 'hired' her husband from her sister Rachel (Gen. xxx. 10) ; by the Elohist as Leah's reward for giving her handmaid Zilpah to Jacob (xxx. 18). A plausible conjecture is that the real meaning is Alfred laborer.' and that the name is due to the subject condition of the tribe at some period of its history (cf. Gen. xlix. 14-15). The tribe's lot in Palestine included the Plain of Esdraelon, but the Cannanites were but imperfectly dis possessed. Deborah and 13arak are supposed to have belonged to the tribe, also Baasha. third king of Israel (I. Kings xv. 27). The reference to Issachar in the blessing of Moses (Dent. xxxiii.
18-19) has been thought to refer to sanctuaries in the territory of the tribe which were visited by non-Israelites (probably Phoenicians) to the advantage of the lssacharites.
(2) A character in Drvden's .1 bsalant and itehitnphel, representing TImmas Thyme. mur dered because of his attentions to Lady Elizabeth Percy.
A lake in the Cen tral Asiatic Province of Semiryetehensk, Russia, lying to the south of Lake Dalkash (Map: Asia, G 4). It is about 38 miles in width and 112 miles long. with an estimated area of over 2000 square miles. It receives a number of small streams, and its water is brakish; its' shores are low and sparsely inhabited. The chief set tlement is Przhevalsk. situated on the eastern shore and named in honor of the famous explorer Przhevalsky.