Chapter VI.
On the blessing of Issachar, which is mystically explained about Christ the Lord.
Issachar desired the good, resting among the lots, and seeing that rest is good and the land is fertile, he laid his shoulder to work and became a farmer (Gen. XLIX, 14 et seq.). Issachar is called wages, and therefore he is related to Christ, who is our reward; because we obtain him as our hope of eternal salvation not with gold or silver, but with faith and devotion. Therefore David also speaks of him, saying: Behold the inheritance of the Lord, children are a reward, the fruit of the womb (Ps. CXXVI, 3). And Moses says of this: A reward for those who dwell by the sea (Deut. XXXIII, 19). This is the one who desired what is good from the beginning, and did not know how to desire what is evil. Of whom Isaiah also says: Before a child knows how to call his father or mother, he did not believe in evil, choosing what is good (Isa. VIII, 4). He rested between the lots of the old and new Testaments, or in the midst of the prophets. Therefore, he appeared as a mediator between Moses and Elijah, to show us that he finds rest in their words, through whom many who renounce their sins believe in the living God; or that they themselves are witnesses of his resurrection and blessed rest.
Therefore, in order to call the Gentiles to the grace of his resurrection (for it is indeed a rich and fertile land that produces eternal fruits, fruits a hundred and sixty times over), he subjected his shoulder to work, subjecting himself to the cross, in order to carry our sins. And so the Prophet says: His authority is on his shoulder (Isaiah 9:6), that is, the power of divinity over the bodily passion, or the cross surpassing the body. Therefore, he placed his shoulder on the plow, enduring all insults, subjected to labor in such a way that he was wounded because of our iniquities, and weakened because of our sins. And he became a farmer, knowing how to sow his land with good wheat, and plant fruitful trees with deep roots.