Or HaChaim on Numbers 7:18/אור החיים על במדבר ז׳:י״ח

1 ביום השני, On the second day, etc. The reason the tribe of Issachar was accorded the honour of offering this sacrifice on the second day was that their prince represented a tribe which would become renowned for its command of Torah. This is why he preceded Reuben although the latter was the senior member of the tribes. Not only this, but also the prince of Zevulun was placed ahead of Reuben seeing that it was the generosity of that tribe which would allow the members of the tribe of Issachar to study Torah without worrying about where their livelihood would come from (compare Deut. 33,18 where Moses even blessed Zevulun ahead of Issachar).

2הקריב נתנאל בן צוער, Netanel the son of Tzuar offered his gift. In this instance the Torah mentioned the name of the prince before telling us that Netanel was one of the princes. This was also intended to demonstrate that his merit was such that he could have claimed the right to be number two in the lineup even if he had not been a prince. We do not find this again amongst all the other ten princes which follow. Netanel's name is a reminder of the Torah and the means by which it was acquired. Solomon refers to the Torah in Proverbs 4,2 as כי לקח טוב נתתי לכם, i.e. that what G'd has given (the Torah) is a good instruction. The means by which we acquired the Torah is reflected in Netanel's father's name בן צוער, an allusion to pain, צער. The message is that Torah can only be truly acquired through one's undergoing a process of afflictions. We are taught in Gittin 57 that the line אדם כי ימות באהל (Numbers 19,14) is a reminder that in order to truly acquire Torah one must "kill oneself" in the tent of Torah, i.e. in the hall of study by deeply immersing oneself in the mysteries of the Torah. Perhaps this is another reason why Netanel's name precedes his title, to hint that his tribe's immersion in Torah is already reflected in his very name. The first time the Bible mentions that the members of this tribe were outstanding Torah scholars is in Chronicles I 12,33 where the small number of delegates sent by this tribe to David's coronation is explained by the fact that these delegates were יודעי בינה לעתים, "aware of the need of the times." The manner in which their prince "killed" himself in order to study Torah may have contributed to the members of his tribe emulating him and becoming יודעי בינה לעתים.