1
Issachar, the fifth son of Jacob and Leah. The sinless child of hire for mandrakes. He appeals for simplicity.
THE copy of the words of Issachar.
2For he called his sons and said to them: Hearken, my children, to Issachar your father; give ear to the words of him who is beloved of the Lord.
3I was born the fifth son to Jacob, by way of hire for the mandrakes.
4For Reuben my brother brought in mandrakes from the field, and Rachel met him and took them.
5And Reuben wept, and at his voice Leah my mother came forth.
6Now these mandrakes were sweet-smelling apples which were produced in the land of Haran below a ravine of water.
7And Rachel said: I will not give them to you, but they shall be to me instead of children.
8For the Lord has despised me, and I have not borne children to Jacob.
9Now there were two apples; and Leah said to Rachel: Let it suffice you that you have taken my husband: will you take these also?
10And Rachel said to her: You shall have Jacob this night for the mandrakes of your son,
11And Leah said to her: Jacob is mine, for I am the wife of his youth.
12But Rachel said: Boast not, and vaunt not thyself; for he espoused me before you, and for my sake he served our father fourteen years.
13And had not craft increased on the earth and the wickedness of men prospered, you would not now see the face of Jacob.
14For you are not his wife, but in craft were taken to him in my stead.
15And my father deceived me, and removed me on that night, and did not suffer Jacob to see me; for had I been there, this had not happened to him.
16Nevertheless, for the mandrakes I am hiring Jacob to you for one night.
17And Jacob knew Leah, and she conceived and bare me, and
on account of the hire I was called Issachar.
18Then appeared to Jacob an angel of the Lord, saying: Two children shall Rachel bear, inasmuch as she has refused company with her husband, and has chosen continency.
19And had not Leah my mother paid the two apples for the sake of his company, she would have borne eight sons. For this reason she bare six, and Rachel bare the two: for on account of the mandrakes the Lord visited her.
20For He knew that for the sake of children she wished to company with Jacob, and not for lust of pleasure.
21For on the morrow also she again gave up Jacob.
22Because of the mandrakes, therefore, the Lord hearkened to Rachel.
23For though she desired them, she cat them not, but offered them in the house of the Lord, presenting them to the priest of the Most High who was at that time.
24When, therefore, I grew up, my children, I walked in uprightness of heart. And I became a husbandman for my father and my brethren, and I brought in fruits from the field according to their season.
25And my father blessed me, for he saw that I walked in rectitude before him.
26And I was not a busybody in my doings, nor envious and malicious against my neighbor.
27I never slandered any one, nor did I censure the life of any man, walking as I did in singleness of eye.
28Therefore, when I was thirty-five years old, I took to myself a wife, for my labor wore away my strength. And I never thought upon pleasure with women; but owing to my toil, sleep overcame me.
29And my father always rejoiced in my rectitude, because I offered through the priest to the Lord all first-fruits; then to my father also.
30And the Lord increased ten thousandfold His benefits in my hands; and also Jacob, my father, knew that God aided my singleness.
31For on all the poor and oppressed I bestowed the good things of the earth in the singleness of my heart.
32And now, hearken to me, my children, and walk in singleness of your heart, for I have seen in it all that is well-pleasing to the Lord. '
33The single-minded man covets not gold, he overreaches not his neighbor, he longs not after manifold dainties, he delights not in varied apparel.
34He does not desire to live a long life, but only waits for the will of God.
35And the spirits of deceit have no power against him, for he looks not on the beauty of women, lest he should pollute his mind with corruption.
36There is no envy in his thoughts, no malicious person makes his soul to pine away, nor worry with insatiable desire in his mind.
37For he walks in singleness of soul, and beholds all things in uprightness of heart, shunning eyes made evil through the error of the world, lest he should see the perversion of any of the commandments of the Lord.
38Keep, therefore, my children, the law of God, and get singleness, and walk in guilelessness, not playing the busybody with the business of your neighbor. But love the Lord and your neighbor, have compassion on the poor and weak.
39Bow down your back to husbandry, and toil in labors in all manner of husbandry, offering
gifts to the Lord with thanksgiving.
40For with the first-fruits of the earth will the Lord bless you, even as He blessed all the saints from Abel even until now.
41For no other portion is given to you than of the fatness of the earth, whose fruits are raised by toil.
42For our father Jacob blessed me with blessings of the earth and of first-fruits.
43And Levi and Judah were glorified by the Lord even among the sons of Jacob. For the Lord gave them an inheritance, and to Levi He gave the priesthood, and to Judah the kingdom.
44And do you therefore obey them, and walk in the singleness of your father; for to Gad
has it been given to destroy the troops that are coming upon Israel.
2
KNOW you therefore, my children, that in the last times your sons will forsake singleness, and will cleave to insatiable desire.
2And leaving guilelessness, will draw near to malice; and forsaking the commandments of
the Lord, they will cleave to Beliar.
3And leaving husbandry, they will follow after their own wicked devices, and they shall be dispersed among the Gentiles, and shall serve their enemies.
4And do you therefore give these commands to your children, that, if they sin, they may the more quickly return to the Lord. For He is merciful, and will deliver them, even to bring them back into their land.
5Behold, therefore, as you see, I am a hundred and twenty-six years old and am not conscious of committing any sin.
6Except my wife I have not known any woman. I never committed fornication by the uplifting of my eyes.
7I drank not wine, to be led astray thereby;
8I coveted not any desirable thing that was my neighbor's.
9Guile arose not in my heart;
10A lie passed not through my lips.
11If any man were in distress I joined my sighs with his,
12And I shared my bread with the poor.
13I wrought godliness, all my days I kept truth.
14I loved the Lord; likewise also every man with all my heart.
15So do you also these things, my children, and every spirit of Beliar shall flee from you, and no deed of wicked men shall rule over you;
16And every wild beast shall you subdue, since you have with you the God of heaven and earth and walk with men in singleness of heart.
17And having said these things, he commanded his sons that they should carry him up to Hebron, and bury him there in the cave with his fathers.
18And he stretched out his feet and died, at a good old age; with every limb sound, and with strength unabated, he slept the eternal sleep.