The Tribe of Issachar (יִשָּׂשׁכָר "Reward; recompense", Standard Hebrew Yissaḫar, Tiberian Hebrew Yiśśâḵār) is one of the Hebrew tribes, which the Bible claims was founded by Issachar son of Jacob.

Traditionally, the tribes of Issachar and Zebulun were considered to have a symbiotic relationship, whereby Issachar would devote its time to the study and teaching of Torah, and Zebulun would financially support Issachar. In exchange, Zebulun would receive a share in the spiritual reward for Issachar's learning, which may be a mythological tale explaining a situation in which Zebulun was a tribute-paying vassal state of Isachar. In modern times, although the identity of Issachar and Zebulun are unknown, these terms are still used by those engaged in such a partnership.

Sea Peoples

The tribe may be the same as the Shekelesh mentioned in egyptian accounts (Shekelesh is taken to mean men of Sheker). The Shekelesh were part of a tribal confederation known as the Sea Peoples, which also included Peleset (the Philistines), Danua (possibly Dan), Tjekker (thought to mean of Acco, and thus may refer to Manessah ), Weshesh (technically Uashesh, and thus may refer to Asher).

Records only state that the Sea People attacked Egypt, and other nations, but not where they came from or where they went to. As such there has been much speculation, with some thinking they either invaded, or returned home to, coastal Canaan, and subsequently their federation for some unknown reason split, with some tribes joining the Israelite federation.

It must be stressed, however, that a majority of modern scholars think that the Sea Peoples (apart from the Peleset, whom they agree are the Philistines) were predominantly of Greek island origin, though this fails to explain why the Egyptians depict them as being circumcised or having semitic names. Contrasting with the majority opinion is the current fact that no supporters of the standard view have identified which location(s) the sea people actually originate from successfully, and as such the issue is one of the major outstanding problems of this period of history.