Issachar Men for Today’s Families and Churches
Ken Idleman reflects on the men of Issachar as a model for spiritually mature fathers and leaders. Drawing from Moses, Joseph, Daniel, Jeremiah, and Joshua, he calls Christian men to embody humility, integrity, fidelity, sensitivity, and leadership for the sake of their families and the family of God.
- Issachar men are described as spiritually grounded fathers who understood the times and knew what God’s people should do.
- The article identifies five needed qualities in Christian men: humility, integrity, fidelity, sensitivity, and leadership.
- The closing challenge urges fathers and Christian men to live sacrificially for the emotional, physical, and spiritual welfare of their families.
By Ken Idleman
“… from Issachar, men who understood the times and knew what Israel should do—200 chiefs, with all their relatives under their command” (1 Chronicles 12:32, New International Version).
The 200 men referenced in 1 Chronicles 12:32 were fathers, the heads of clans… families that made up the tribe of Issachar, the third largest of the 12 tribes of Israel. They were part of the gathering that had assembled at Hebron to crown David king of Israel. They were assigned the duty of prophetic discernment. They were entrusted with the mission to observe, to listen, to ultimately ‘understand the times,’ and to know the will of God for his people. These 200 descendants of Issachar were a select group of men. They were especially revered and respected. They were spiritually grounded … wise, thoughtful, bold, faithful, influential and unwavering. These godly fathers not only determined the fate of the ‘relatives under their command,’ they directed the destiny of the entire nation of Israel! They were the compass, the rudder, the navigational leadership for the people of God in the Old Testament.
And Issachar men are desperately needed in our twenty-first century world! Men on whom we can depend to be spiritually mature. Men who are role-model fathers who provide godly counsel both in their own households as well as the larger community. Chuck Swindoll writes: “Our younger generations have broken contact with God and have been molded instead by the entertainment media’s godless influence. We have watched as movies have regressed from no cursing, to bleeping out cursing, to promoting vile profanity. We have watched as pornography has moved from illegal, to age-appropriate, to free-web access. We have watched as dating couples have gone from kissing, to shacking up, to multiple partners and deviant sex.” But all is not lost! There is an army of Christian men in the world who can step up and provide a new direction, a new purpose and a new hope for our vulnerable next generation … Issachar men who understand these changing times and will be committed to navigate them strategically to bless their nuclear families and the family of God.
God is calling Issachar men to stand up and be counted. God is calling men who will commit to be spiritually mature fathers … men who will discern the times, give the blessing of wise counsel and be a worthy example for others to follow. So, what should these modern Issachar men look like? Let’s discover the answer to that question in the lives of Moses, Joseph, Daniel, Jeremiah and Joshua.
Men of Humility
Numbers 12:3 – “Now Moses was a very humble man—more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth.”
This statement about Moses’ humility was not a boastful claim by the writer himself, but an inspired statement of fact. Moses possessed the character trait that the Creator God looks for in men more than any other … humility. It showed itself in a number of ways throughout his life.
He was tending sheep for his father-in-law in Midian when God called him to lead the Israelites out of bondage in Egypt and into the Promised Land. Moses appeared prostrate and barefoot before a bush that was burning without being consumed. His response to God’s calling was a question. “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” (Exodus 3:11). He further explained his feelings of inadequacy by saying, “Pardon your servant Lord. I have never been eloquent … I am slow of speech and tongue … Pardon your servant, please send someone else” (Exodus 4:10, 13).
Again and again the people grumbled against Moses, but he did not react with anger and defensiveness. He allowed the Lord to be his vindicator. And even when he was undermined by his brother, Aaron, and his sister, Miriam, he allowed God to be his defender. All this and more is evidence of Moses’ humble spirit.
But manhood in the twenty-first century world is definitely not associated with humility. Acting like a man today is being your own best friend, taking care of number one, serving yourself first, doing your own thing, grabbing for the gusto, staying ahead of the competition, doing whatever it takes to ‘win.’ But our ultimate model is Jesus about whom it was said, “He made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant … He humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!” (Philippians 2:7-8). The Issachar man does not see himself as the king of his castle, but rather the servant, like Moses and Jesus.
Men of Integrity
Genesis 39:10 – “And though she spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her or even be with her.”
Joseph was a model of unimpeachable character. He was a man of wholehearted purity in both his motives and his behavior. The word integrity comes from the word integrated. It means to be one … to be one person living in one body. Integrity is the polar opposite of duplicity. A duplicitous man is deceitful. A man of integrity is integrated, whole, complete. What you see is what you get. He can be trusted. Joseph was such a man.
His story is that he was reared in a dysfunctional home. His mother, Rachel died when he was age 10, his father was a dishonest polygamist and his ten older brothers were abusive. He was exiled from his family at age 17 to serve as a slave in Egypt. Later he was falsely accused of sexual aggression and unjustly imprisoned for 13 years. But, again and again in his Biblical biography we read these words, “The Lord was with Joseph ….” Eventually, through a series of providential events, Joseph transitions overnight from the prison to the palace becoming prime minister of Egypt.
Joseph’s integrity was tested throughout his life without a single recorded character flaw. He has been called the ‘Jesus of the Old Testament.’ Twelve chapters are devoted to his story without a recorded moral failure. His integrity was tested in the same way ours is today … by how we handle money (especially other people’s money) and how we handle our body … that is, by how we steward our silver and our sexuality. Issachar men know what is going on in the world with its avarice and lust. But they see through it. They know that the way of financial integrity and moral purity is truly the good life. Like Joseph, they will leave a legacy of righteous character that will bless their children and grandchildren.
Men of Fidelity
Daniel 6:3 – “Now Daniel so distinguished himself among the administrators and the governors by his exceptional qualities that the king planned to set him over the whole kingdom.”
If there is a single word that sums up the character of Daniel it would have to be the word fidelity, or faithfulness. It is demonstrated from the first chapter of his book in the Old Testament. Although Judah had been taken captive by Babylon, Daniel managed to surface as an exceptional leader. He was “without any physical defect, handsome, showing aptitude for every kind of learning, well informed, quick to understand and qualified to serve in the king’s palace.” (Daniel 1:4).
But the deeper quality that distinguished Daniel even more than his obvious gifts of appearance, aptitude, and achievement was his fidelity, his loyalty to his God and his friends. When he was welcomed into the palace of the king for an internship of sorts, there was an assigned/prescribed diet of royal food and wine that Daniel was conscience bound not to indulge. He resolved “not to defile himself” (Daniel 1:8). And he didn’t!
Later, when he was elevated above the administrators and governors, they began to try and find charges against Daniel, but they were unable to do so. “They could find no corruption in him, because he was trustworthy and neither corrupt nor negligent” (Daniel 6:4). But they were able to manipulate the king to require prayers only to himself. It became the irreversible law of the Medes and Persians. But Daniel faithfully prayed to God three times a day on his knees. He was caught and thrown into the lion’s den, but God sent an angel to shut the mouths of the lions. And Daniel’s faithfulness to God literally produced a revival in the government of Babylon. He was also faithful to his friends Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Daniel’s manhood encouraged them to be faithful to God in spite of the threat of a fiery furnace if they did not bow down to a golden idol. Daniel was an Issachar man. And Issachar men, like Daniel, are faithful to God, their wives, children, families, churches, employers and friends … no matter what.
Men of Sensitivity
Jeremiah 15:16 – “When your words came, I [Jeremiah] ate them; they were my joy and my heart’s delight for I bear your name Lord God Almighty.”
Perhaps the two most emotional books in the Bible are both authored by Jeremiah. Forbidden by God to marry and have children, he had an especially tough calling as a prophet and no one with whom to share life but the Lord. God in his great mercy foresaw the terrible conditions that would come upon the land. In his deep compassion he spared Jeremiah the added emotional stress and personal heartache of taking care of a family in such dire conditions.
Known as the ‘weeping prophet,’ Jeremiah was God’s spokesman to the southern kingdom of Judah before the imploding nation ultimately fell to Babylon and was led into captivity. God sent Jeremiah to warn the people of their impending demise—a warning they did not heed. His descriptions of the awful consequences of Judah’s decades of disregard for God are heart-rending in the book of Lamentations. But the emotionally dark verbal valleys are punctuated with prophetic pronouncements of hope like Jeremiah 29:11, “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’”
Issachar men are a collection of 200 fathers who are vigilant as they oversee their families and the nation. They are honoring their wives. They are warning and disciplining their children. They are providing the meaningful touch and the verbal affirmation their family needs. And they have deep compassion for people around them going through hard seasons. They are sensitive, reminding them of God’s promise in Jeremiah 20:7, “I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord. They will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will return to me with all their heart.”
Men of Leadership
Joshua 24:2, 15 – “Joshua said to all the people … if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve … as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”
Like Joshua, Issachar men are initiatory fathers and intentional spiritual leaders for their families and in the larger community. They courageously lead out. This is difficult for some men to do. We men are sometimes not great at verbalizing feelings, passing along blessings or expressing convictions. But, dads listen … there are times when we need to swallow our pride, step up to the plate and say it. Don’t leave anything unsaid that will bless your family and other families that need your exemplary leadership. Be willing to give your life for the emotional, physical, and spiritual welfare of your family and the family of God.
Patrick Morley, in his book The Man in the Mirror, tells a heart-wrenching story about an ill-fated Alaskan fishing trip. A group of fishermen had landed in a secluded bay and had a great day fishing for salmon. But, when they took off in their seaplane the next morning, they got only a few feet off of the water before crashing back down into the sea. One of the pontoons had been punctured and had filled with water. The seaplane slowly began to sink. There were three men and Mark, the twelve-year-old son of one of the men. They prayed and jumped into the icy cold waters to swim ashore. But, the rip tides were strong. Two of the men made it and looked back. Their companion, who was also a strong swimmer, did not swim to the shore because his son was not strong enough to make it. They watched that father with his arms around his son as they were both swept out to sea. He chose to die with his son rather than to live without him. He chose to die with his son so his son would not die alone.
There is a fact of life that some wives and most kids don’t know. We love them so much that we would die for them. In any gathering of Christian men—Issachar men—if asked whether they would do the same thing for their son or daughter, would leap to their feet in wholehearted agreement. Since we would die for them, let’s live for them demonstrating our spiritual leadership by our humility, our integrity, our fidelity, and our sensitivity.
Author: Ken Idleman
Ken Idleman serves as vice president of leadership development for The Solomon Foundation. He served as the fourth president of Ozark Christian College and then as senior pastor of Crossroads Christian Church in Newburgh, Indiana.
