Good Morning Yamon Ki Yesepar;

Genesis 49:14-15  “Isachar is a strong donkey couching down between two burdens; And he saw that rest was good, and the land that it was pleasant; and bowed his shoulder to bear, and become a servant unto tribute.”

What a strange blessing to give to this tribe.  Isachar means one who is a hired laborer, or one who labors under a burden, but it could also mean one who brings a reward.  Thus a comparison to a donkey carrying a load would fit.  But the remez here is  that part which says “He saw that rest was good, therefore he bent his shoulder to bear. The syntax would not allow rest to refer to the “land that was pleasant,” although translators will translate it this way as it would seem contradictory to use the proper syntax. For then you have Isachar resting by putting their shoulder to the load, which would be the exact opposite of “rest.”   Such seeming contradiction led the sages to realize that there was a deeper spiritual meaning in this passage.

The word “rest” is “menukah.”  Here the verb is a defective verb; it should really have a holem between the nun and chet.  This is suggesting a play on words between two roots,

“navach” and “manach.”   Navch is the root word for Noah which means a resting place but also satisfaction, delight, a sweet fragrance.  “Manach” is right in line with the name Isachar because it means to bring a gift or reward.   Isachar saw that the “rest” was good or “tov” which means it brings one into harmony with God, or to put on the same wavelength as God, to use a modern illustration.

Thus the blessing makes more sense in light of the play on words.  For Isachar, one who labors under a burden, found that it could be a resting place which would bring a sweet reward.  The use of the chet in both words would then confirm the use of the word
”tov,” that the reward for carrying this heavy burden is a  unity or harmony with God.

Thus, the sages would teach that like Isachar, when we labor under a heavy burden for the sake of God, we can discover that it carries a special reward,  that is, a unity or harmony with God.

But soft, I had this thought. I wonder if Paul had this ancient teaching in mind when he wrote Galatians 6:2: “Bear ye one another’s burdens and fulfill the law of Christ.”  For you see, we are to give our heavy burdens to Jesus (Matthew 11:28-20) and only Jesus can bring us into a unity with God.  Could it be that Paul realized that by bearing one another’s burden, we are sharing that burden with Jesus so as to not only create a unity or harmony with Him but with the body of Christ as well? Such would be a true navach and manach.

Just a thought.

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