Blogging Through the Book of Mormon

39:10-11 - It seems like some people just have the worst luck, and in this case, it happens to be Joseph. He was sold into slavery by his turd brothers, and God blessed him with prosperity for his master’s house, but now his master Potiphar’s wife is coming after him. We discussed yesterday some of the reasons why Joseph’s response to her when he declined her proposition, was so profound. The IM makes another point that is profitable, saying, “Joseph’s answer to the advances of Potiphar’s wife shows his great personal righteousness. King Benjamin taught the Nephites that ‘when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God.’ If that principle were to be stated negatively, it would read, ‘when ye are exploiting or sinning against your fellow beings, you are only sinning against God.’ Joseph understood this principle perfectly and answered Potiphar’s wife by pointing out that it would be a terrible thing to take advantage of his master in this way. He ...

39:7 - The household of Potiphar has been thriving under Joseph’s care and Potiphar trusts Joseph enough that he has completely taken a hands-off approach to his business dealings, this is a really big deal as people in Potiphar position don’t get there by taking a hands-off approach to anything. But here comes the rub, at some point Potiphar’s “wife case her eyes upon Jospeh; and she said, Lie with me.” This is an absolutely no-win situation for Joseph and as soon as she propositions him, he must have known that his days in Potiphar’s household were numbered. If Joseph refuses, she could resort to any number of retaliatory actions, including but not limited to: falsely accusing Joseph of inappropriate behavior, making it her personal life mission to make his life miserable, etc. We know that anciently women didn’t have any rights, so she couldn’t really go much legally, or that she probably didn’t have any choice when it came to marrying Potiphar to begin with, and surely Potiphar wa...

39:1-6 - As if the Judah and Tamar event was never mentioned, we get back to Joseph's story. Last we heard from him at the end of chapter 37, Joseph was sold to Midianites as a slave and then sold to Potiphar, who was "an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the guard," in Egypt. We don't know exactly what Potiphar's responsibilities were as "captain of the guard," it has been speculated as being anything from the highest ranking official in the Egyptian military, to Pharaoh's personal bodyguard, or the head of the police force, or even the man in charge of the executioners, which will come up here shortly. As a slave to Potiphar, "the Lord was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man." Now in what ways could Joseph have been prospered by the hand of the Lord, because personal prosperity and enslavement don't usually go together. Let's look at Joseph's father Jacob's prosperity that came to him while he was a servant to Laban. Jac...

38:20-30 - The terms of Judah's arrangement with the prostitute he had sex without without seeing her face as to recognize her as his daughter in law, was that he pay her a "kid" which is a baby goat I think, but he had to go get the kid from the field, so he left some of his identifiable personal affects with her as collateral. After he has sex with her, he doesn't even take the kid to her himself, he sends his friend "the Adullamite" to find "the harlot, that was openly by the way side." He didn't see her where Judah said she would be, so he asks around the people there and they all answer, "there was no harlot in this place." the friend returns to Judah saying, "I cannot find her; and also the men of the place said, that there was no harlot in this place." Judah basicall says, "no worries, don't sweat it, I tried to pay her but it just didn't work out, let's not make a big deal about this." I'm ...

38:12-19 - With Tamar living at her father’s house, Judah is just living his best life, but at some point Judah’s wife, who is only referred to as “the daughter of Shuah,” dies. One of the sources that I listened to mentioned that this was noted in the record because it was meant to signify that Judah did not commit adultery, so what else was he supposed to do with no wife? Not have sex with prostitutes? I mean, come on, be reasonable. Judah goes “unto his sheepshearers to Timnath, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite.” So Judah isn’t keeping to his own kind either, just like so many of his demonized kinfolk. I don’t know if this was the turning point for Tamar, when she realized that Judah wasn’t going to honor his commitment to her as her father-in-law, maybe she thought that with Judah’s wife dead, that he would marry her instead, which is probably what he should have done by way of his culture. Shearing the sheep seems to play a big part of the story here because it is mentioned...

38:1-11 - Chapter 38 seems like a stick thrown into bicycle spokes, because in 37 and 39 we are focused on Joseph and his “adventures.” I spent some time yesterday looking around to see if I could find some other meaning on this chapter and why not only is it here at all but why it’s here specifically in the narrative. I assumed that this is thrown in where it is because it’s telling a chronological story, but I don’t think that’s the case. Long story short, I didn’t find a whole lot of subtle meaning in chapter 38 but there are a few things to note. Judah, the brother who’s bright idea it was to sell Joseph into slavery instead of letting him starve to death in a pit, leaves his family. I don’t know if it was a temporary journey or if it was a permanent resettlement. In his travels, he comes across a Canaanite woman “and he took her, and went in unto her.” First, marrying outside of the faith is what caused so many problems with Esau, so it seems a little unfair to have it be no big ...

37:19-22 - After all these years and all the demonstrations of favoritism show to Jospeh, what is the final straw that angered the boys enough to want to kill him? In verse 19, it gives the answer, “and they said one to another, behold, this dreamer cometh.” It was Joseph’s dreams, or more likely his talking about the dreams that really pushed the anger over the edge. TB makes a note that their extreme reaction to Joseph’s dreams indicates that they most likely believed that they were real and that they would in fact one day be subservient to Joseph, but if they kill him, well, problem solved. The bright idea that they have is to “slay him, and cast him into some put, and we will say, Some evil beast hath devoured him: and we shall see what will become of his dreams.” Interestingly, Reuben is the one who pumps the brakes here, suggesting that they don’t kill him, ‘but cast him into this pit that is in the wilderness, and lay no hand upon him.” His suggestion is to throw him in a pit a...