Isachar was born in a time when there were many righteous Jaredites, but also many who were not following the ways of God. His parents did follow the teaching of the prophets and looked forward to the coming of Jesus Christ.
Isachar was born with a fun, mischievous smile on his face. When he first smiled, his parents immediately noticed how quirky it looked. Not in a bad or mean way–just quirky, a fun quirkiness. His quirky smile went along with his light-colored hair, fair skin and strong physique. As he learned to talk, he quickly learned that he enjoyed making others laugh. He would say hilarious things, especially for someone so young. He loved to mercilessly tease his siblings, so much so, that oftentimes he got into trouble. He didn’t mean to hurt anyone’s feelings, he just loved to try to make others laugh and found humor in just about every imaginable situation. Thankfully for Isachar, his parents knew his ability to make people laugh was a gift from God so they did not want to discourage his gift; they instead taught him how to bridle his gift so he would not hurt others’ feelings and make others feel uncomfortable. Isachar’s mother, especially, would not allow him to find humor at others’ physical features without permission; since physical features are something out of people’s control.
Isachar’s family allowed him to give performances to his family and extended family. During these performances, he made everyone laugh. He found humor in their everyday lives and would find a way to include that in his routines. He still had his quirky smile, which endeared him to audiences. As he grew older, they invited other friends to his performances. Eventually, he was doing his comic routines at the settlement theater.
Government and other economic situations made it a difficult time for the Jaredite people and Isachar’s comic reliefs provided stress relief for all–young and old, rich and poor.
Isachar was also an outstanding athlete; both of his parents were well-known athletes. At a young age, Isachar showed great promise in the various games and athletic events that the Jaredites participated in. As he grew older, he excelled in all athletic events that he attempted. Since he brought humor into anything he did, he brought great comic relief to his teammates and would even have the competition laughing. His gift of humor helped to bring a strong sense of comradery to his team.
Because of Isachar’s athletic fame, many Jaredites attended his comedic performances. One of Isachar’s favorite topics in his comedic routines was to poke fun of athletics. Since he was an athlete, he figured that by finding humor in something that he was involved in, he would not offend anyone. He also found humor in parenting, the government (although he needed to be somewhat careful with what he said), economics, industry, other types of performers, plus whatever he could create to make his audience laugh.
Isachar’s performances usually sold out as he kept his prices low so families would be able to attend together. All of his performances were family friendly as he eventually married and had children of his own. However, at one point in his career, he was approached by some men who desired to make a profit from Isachar’s performances. They offered him a arrangement where he would make much more income from each performance and they, in return, would receive a portion of what he earned. They also wanted Isachar to put an edge to his comedy routine, adding more inappropriate content. They tried to convince Isachar that as he did that, he would attract an audience that could pay more for his performance and more people from other villages would attend his performances. Ultimately, he would be able to travel to many different villages and earn a fantastic wage.
Because Isachar loved his family and wanted to do more for them, he decided to accept the agreement. He figured that he did not need to add too much inappropriate content, just enough to make these men happy, even though deep down, it would not be pleasing to his wife. Most importantly, this type of humor would not be pleasing to Jesus Christ, whom he worshipped. He justified his plan believing that he would not present inappropriate entertainment for long, just long enough to give his family some of the things they desired. Isachar provided the basic necessities for his family; however there were times when they wished something more.
The first night that Isachar performed his new routine, he received mixed reviews. There were many who were invited by Isachar’s sponsors who loved the performance. The families were distraught and most vowed that they would not return to watch any more of Isachar’s performances.
Isachar loved his new found fame, fame and attention from a different group of people that normally would not watch him. His wife, Rosene, and her parents were quite upset with the direction that Isachar took his performance. Isachar promised them that it was temporary; he was excited to make more income and give Rosene and their children some of the things that they desired. She told him that she didn’t want the things, things didn’t matter to her; their eternal relationship, marriage, and family mattered. Isachar assured her that he would not do this routine for long, just long enough to provide for the family’s desires.
After more performances, with Isachar making more money than he ever had for previous performances, he brought home a beautiful hair piece for Rosene’s hair. She had beautiful long dark hair that contrasted with her bright blue eyes and fair skin. The hair piece was made of gold and silver, embedded with four blue sapphire crystals to match her striking blue eyes. She was awed and amazed at the beauty of the hair clip. Isachar lovingly clipped it in her hair, pulling her hair away from her face, then took her to a mirror and told her how beautiful she looked. Rosene loved the hair clip and especially how it looked in her hair and helped to bring out the color of her eyes. She knew it had to be expensive and knew the only way Isachar could purchase it was because of the increase of his income.
Isachar continued to perform his comedic acts with inappropriate materials. He became well-known for his ability and gift to make people laugh. He began traveling and performing at other settlements and cities. People came from all over to watch his performance.
At home, Isachar built a bigger house and furnished it with exquisite furnishings. Rosene actually began to enjoy the lifestyle from Isachar’s greater income. She justified Isachar’s performances thinking that they really were not too bad; they could be worse.
Isachar set a boundary with what type of comedic materials he used. However, his sponsors slowly pushed him to add lewder and cruder comedy to his routines and charged audiences more and more to attend his performances. Isachar was uncomfortable with this, but thought that he would only do this type of comedy for another year or so, then he and his family would have all their financial needs and wants taken care of, for now and for the future.
One day while Isachar was away from home on a performance road trip, his 3-year old daughter, Chloe, playing with her sister in the trees by their home, stumbled upon an unexpecting rattlesnake. She frightened the snake, so in self-protection, the snake bit her on the heel of her right foot. She screamed because of the pain and because she knew the dangers of rattlesnakes. Chloe’s older sister was right behind her, picked her up and carried her home. Her older brother, seeing the swelling in her foot ran to his grandparent’s home to beg his grandfather to come and give her a blessing. The grandfather quickly ran to Chloe. Another sibling ran to the market to find their mother and to ask the local healer to help Chloe. The oldest son found a courier, wrote a quick message and sent him to the city where he knew his father was performing that day. The courier secured the note into his leather satchel and took off galloping on his brown and white colored horse.
Chloe was in an immense amount of pain, her leg swelled to three times its usual size. The blessing helped to ease the pain somewhat, but not enough to make the discomfort go away. The healer brought herbs and mixed several herbs together and put a poultice on the bite. She also made a tea and put a cloth in the tea, wrung out the tea, then wrapped the cloth around Chloe’s leg. After several hours, she continued to get worse. Thankfully, she lost consciousness so she did not feel the pain. Friends and family gathered outside the home and prayed for Chloe. The prophet, hearing about what happened to Chloe, came and gave her another blessing, this blessing promised healing.
Once Isachar received the message about Chloe, he told his sponsors that he had to cancel the rest of the shows and go home to his daughter. The sponsors were very upset as they would lose money. Isachar did not care; he left and travelled as fast as his horse was able to go. He prayed as he rode, actually, the first time that he prayed in several months. He loved his little Chloe and would do anything for her. As he rode and prayed, he recognized how far he strayed from the truth of the gospel. The changes he had made were slow and subtle so he couldn’t see how far he had strayed. He felt great sorrow, he cried, he pled with God to save his Chloe. He told Father that he would change, he would get back on the right path. His worldly possessions now meant nothing to him, not if he didn’t have Chloe.
When Isachar arrived home, he ran into the house and kissed his unresponsive daughter on the forehead and told her that Daddy was home. With his family surrounding them, he told Chloe that Daddy was going to stay home and repent of those things he had done wrong. He begged Chloe to stay with them. He told her that he wanted to watch her grow up to be a beautiful young woman, to get married and have her own family. He apologized for putting worldly possessions ahead of her and the family. He promised Chloe that he wanted to put Jesus Christ back into their lives and live how Jesus wanted them to live.
The healer remained with Chloe and use different herbs and tinctures on her, trying to heal the effects of the snake’s venom. Despite the blessing from the prophet that told her that she would be healed, she seemed to continued to worsen. Isachar and Rosene barely left her side. They prayed together, they prayed with their children. Extended family and friends continued to pray. Isachar’s heart was broken, Rosene’s heart was broken, yet they continued to watch over Chloe and continued to pray.
When Chloe’s situation seemed hopeless, Isachar walked out to the woods near their home. He again pled with God to save his sweet daughter. He promised Heavenly Father that he would use his gift of humor in a righteous way; he would no longer compromise what he knew to be right and true. Even if Heavenly Father needed to take Chloe home to Him, he would still change his life. He expressed to Father that he loved Chloe and wanted her to be his daughter forever and he would do whatever it took to make that happen. As Isachar pled with God, Rosene and two of their children ran out to him and told him to come to Chloe, that she was awake! They ran back to the house where Chloe was trying to sit up and drink water that the healer was giving to her. When she saw Isachar, she smiled, his same quirky smile, and stretched out her arms for a hug. Everyone laughed and cried. Chloe was fine, she was miraculously healed, and lived to fulfil Isachar’s desire for her to get married and have a family.
Isachar and Rosene decided they did not need all the nice furnishings they acquired so they chose to give them away to those who did not have much. However, Rosene kept and cherished the hair clip Isachar gave her. Isachar began again to do comedy routines; however, this time his routines were family-friendly. What surprised him is that, if he chose to travel, he could earn more income than when he worked with the sponsors. He chose to do some traveling, but nearly as much as before and he took his family with him whenever he could. Even though Isachar earned a good income, he, Rosene, and their children chose to keep their life simple and give to others when they could. Despite the challenging times they lived in, they stayed steadfast to the teachings of the prophets and to the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Jaredite Stories 