Isshachar In Finland. Genesis 49:14-15

To see Genesis 49:14-15 without my comments click HERE.

In this passage Jacob-Israel makes an end time prophecy regarding the tribe of Isshachar. In V.14 Jacob prophecies that Issachar would be a strong ass crouching between two burdens. This perfectly describes the nation of Finland in the way that they have a history of being stubborn in repelling attacks from neighboring countries. An example of Finland's stuborness is when they repelled the Russians during WWII and they were greatly outnumbered.

Finland is centrally located between Russia and Sweden in which both of these nations have battled for control of Finland during the 1700's and 1800's, while historically, Finland has tried to remain a neutral country. They also paid tribute to Russia after WWII for war reparations, fulfilling part of the prophecy of v.15. Most of the history of Finland is centered on them being a buffer between the stronger nations of Sweden and Russia. Their attempts to remain neutral have put them in the position for their capital, Helsinki, to be used as the place of signing for a great peace document called the “Helsinki Accords” which is an East-West agreement.

The crouching between"two burdens" (strong nations of Sweden and Russia), fulfills Jacob's prophecy for Issachar in our modern time. 

Evidence of Issachar's passing in this exact area comes from Numbers 26:23 which identifies one of the clans of Issachar as being called “Tola”. The Scythian tribal name that occupied the area of Finland as “To-Char-I” which is a composite word. To- from the word Tola and Char from the tribal name of Issa-Char forms the word “To-chari”.

Geographical evidence comes from the location of the Russian city of Tula, which is South of Moscow to the Caucasus Mountains. This is best summed up by Steven M. Collins in his book “The Lost Ten Tribes of Israel... Found!” when on pg. 406 when he writes “Plotting a course on a map from the Caucasus region past Tula would lead one directly to Finland and Scandinavia. This indicates that the tribe of Issachar took a more northerly route into Europe.”

One observation I have personally noticed is that the flag of Finland which is a sideways cross mounted on a white background is vaguely the configuration of the Israelite encampment in Numbers Chapter 2. If you envision the top of the flag being North, and the bottom being South, then the East column going to the right, which is much longer than the other 3 points would represent Judah's 186,400 men which had more than the numbers of people that were in the other 3 leading tribes. To the South would be the tribe of Reuben with 151,400, the West is Ephrahim with 108,100 and to the North is the tribe of Dan with157,600.