Issachar is a strong ass couching down between two burdens:
Issachar is a strong ass - literally, a male donkey of bone; i:e., stout, strong-bodied.
Couching down between two burdens, х robeets (H7257) beeyn (H996) hamishpªtaayim (H4942)] - reclining among the folds or enclosures. The word is in the dual number, because the folds apparently consisted of two divisions, for accommodating different kinds of cattle. The donkey being a strong and sprightly animal in the East, the comparison of a man or a people to that animal is among the Orientals reckoned honourable; and we may be certain that it was not used in a disparaging sense in this valedictory address of the patriarch. The points of resemblance designed to be indicated by this image were all good qualities-patience, docility, a capacity of great labour and endurance, associated with strength and activity; so that the men of Issachar would be stalwart farmers and shepherds, living in quiet security, and attending industriously to their agricultural pursuits.