Bible Strands
Genesis 49:15
He saw that his resting place was good and that his land was pleasant, so he bent his shoulder to the burden and submitted to labor as a servant.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Jacob addresses his twelve sons collectively with a series of prophetic pronouncements concerning each tribe's future. This verse specifically describes the tribe of Issachar's assessment of his territory and his subsequent choice to work.
The words — The text uses מְנֻחָה (menuchah, "a resting place") and נָעֵמָה (na'umah, "pleasant") to describe the land. These terms establish the perceived quality that directly precedes the decision to labor.
The thread — The motif of land rest appears in Joshua 14:15, Judges 3:11, and 2 Samuel 7:1, where stability follows divine intervention or military cessation. These references consistently pair territorial peace with the end of conflict.
Why it lands — The verse states that Issachar perceived favorable conditions and voluntarily bent his shoulder to heavy labor as a servant. It asks the reader to observe how recognized security can produce calculated submission to obligation rather than autonomous independence.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And he saw that rest was good, and the land that it was pleasant; and bowed his shoulder to bear, and became a servant unto tribute.
Cross-references
- Joshua 14:15 (Hebron used to be called Kiriath-arba, after Arba, the greatest man among the Anakim.) Then the land had rest from war.
- Judges 3:11 So the land had rest for forty years, until Othniel son of Kenaz died.
- 2 Samuel 7:1 After the king had settled into his palace and the LORD had given him rest from all his enemies around him,
- Psalms 81:6 “I relieved his shoulder of the burden; his hands were freed from the basket.
- Ezekiel 29:18 “Son of man, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon caused his army to labor strenuously against Tyre. Every head was made bald and every shoulder made raw. But he and his army received no wages from Tyre for the labor they expended on it.
- Matthew 23:4 They tie up heavy, burdensome loads and lay them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.