The Book Of Joshua. Day 45, The Land West Of The Jordan: The Allotment For Issachar

Joshua has been drawing lots to assign the seven remaining tribes their portions of the promised land. Today we look at the allotment for Issachar.

"The fourth lot came out for Issachar according to its clans. Their territory included: Jezreel, Kesulloth, Shunem, Hapharaim, Shion, Anaharath, Rabbith, Kishion, Ebez, Remeth, En Gannim, En Haddah and Beth Pazzez. The boundary touched Tabor, Shahazumah and Beth Shemesh, and ended at the Jordan. There were sixteen towns and their villages. These towns and their villages were the inheritance of the tribe of Issachar, according to its clans." (Joshua 19:17-23) On the map below we find Issachar in dark green right above West Manasseh and below Zebulun and Naphtali.

Now we'll take a look at the prophecy Jacob made regarding the descendants of his son Issachar. "Issachar is a rawboned donkey lying down among the sheep pens. When he sees how good is his resting place and how pleasant is his land, he will bend his shoulder to the burden and submit to forced labor." (Genesis 49:14-15) The word translated as "rawboned" can also mean "strong". Issachar's tribe was strong in numbers, according to the census of its fighting men. But Jacob's words indicate that due to the goodness of the land, the people of Issachar would become complacent and would be willing to become subject to others in order to continue enjoying the land. They had the numbers to fight invaders and oppressors but grew spiritually and militarily lazy. You've probably heard the expression, "Use it or lose it," in regard to mental or physical strength, but the same expression could be used for spiritual strength as well. I'm not saying it's possible for a person to lose their salvation but that it's possible for a person to lose their zeal for the Lord. It's possible to become complacent and lazy, especially when the living is easy, and to lose our enthusiasm for the word of God and for prayer. 

What drives us to our knees faster than anything? It's adversity isn't it? What is most likely to keep us off our knees? It's prosperity. That's why we must keep up our spiritual training in both good times and bad. If we become lazy and soft during the good times, how will we fight temptation when it comes? We might find ourselves doing what Jacob said Issachar would do: bending under the pressure instead of standing tall. We might find ourselves submitting to our enemy instead of resisting him. 

Moses said this about Issachar when he blessed the tribes of Israel: "Rejoice, Issachar, in your tents." (Deuteronomy 33:18b) He issued no warning about any troubles to come; he only made mention of the tribe of Issachar's enjoyment of their  inheritance in the promised land. There's nothing wrong with enjoying the blessings God has given us. In fact, it would be a sin not to be grateful for them. It would be wrong not to live in and enjoy and be satisfied with what He has bestowed upon us. But as we said above, we must not allow our prosperity to make us lazy. Instead we are to do what Jesus instructed His disciples to do: "Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation." (Matthew 26:41, Mark 14:38) Temptation doesn't always take the form of Satan offering us something the Lord has told us is wrong (for example, committing adultery or stealing). Temptation can take the form of allowing all our time to be taken up so that we crowd God out of our daily lives---so that we don't devote part of each day to prayer and to reading and meditating upon His word. Our enemy does sometimes hit us with the things we typically think of as temptations but I suspect Satan is far happier when he manages to tempt us into spiritual laziness. A spiritually lazy person is not going to be an effective witness for the Lord. A spiritually lazy person is not going to display power and strength in the way they live their lives and a spiritually lazy person is not going to be sharing the gospel with others and leading them to salvation. 

Also a spiritually lazy person will not be able to stand firm when the things we typically think of as temptations are thrown at them. They will give in to the temptation to do something the Lord has said not to do. And a spiritually lazy person will buckle under the strain of adversity when hard times come. Adversity is unavoidable. It comes into everyone's life from time to time because we live in a fallen world where bad things happen even to good people, therefore we must keep ourselves spiritually fit so we don't give in to despair in troubled times. I'm reminded of what King Solomon said on this subject: "If you falter in a time of trouble, how small is your strength!" (Proverbs 24:10) 

I confess I've faltered sometimes when trouble has hit me out of the blue. I believe I'd have fared far better if I'd been more diligent in prayer and in Bible study during the easy times. I'd have had more spiritual muscle to help me fight anxiety and discouragement. Today's passage encourages me to be more careful about working on my spiritual fitness in good times and in bad. Jesus wouldn't have told us to "watch and pray" if it wasn't important for us to watch and pray. This is what we need to be doing every day of the year.