Today's Favorite Verse: Genesis 39:12, 17-18

Today's Favorite Verse: Genesis 39:12, 17-18

"And she caught him by his garment, saying, Lie with me: and he left his garment in her hand, and fled and go him out.

And she spake unto him according to these words, saying, The Hebrew servant, which thou hast brought unto us, came in unto me to mock me:

And it came to pass, as I lifted up my voice and cried, that he left his garment with me, and fled out."

What a difference between Joseph and the way his brother Judah acted in the earlier chapter. Joseph, even though he was trying to remain chaste, appears to be caught up in what today is called a "Me too" situation. In this case Potiphar's wife lies about what Joseph did. Motivation being she's upset her advances were not reciprocated. What this reinforces is that all matters may not seem as they appear at first sight. There is a need to listen but also investigate. The other thing this shows is never be alone with someone of the opposite sex. Even though Joseph was just going about his business as usual, the situation was taken advantage of by Potiphar's wife, when there was no one there to witness what happened between them. We can never let our guard down.

Day 2198

Today's Favorite Verse: Genesis 38:8

Today's Favorite Verse: Genesis 38:8

"And Judah said unto Onan, Go in unto thy brother's wife, and marry her, and raise up seed to thy brother."

Since I didn't understand much about it I tried to read up on this type of marriage. It doesn't appear to be any law or principle given by God. It was a customary law at the time, that a widow with no children had claim on her husband's next oldest brother or closest living male relative. It was called a "Levirate marriage"

"The custom of a widow marrying her deceased husband’s brother or sometimes a near heir. The word has nothing to do with the name Levi or the biblical Levites but is so called because of the Latin levir, meaning “husband’s brother,” connected with the English suffix -ate, thus constituting levirate. This system of marriage is designated in Deut. 25:5–10 (see also Gen. 38:8), is spoken of in Matt. 22:23–33; it also forms a major aspect of the story of Ruth (Ruth 4:1–12)." (Bible Dictionary)

This custom under Moses became a law. I'm thinking now that this was more like the 12th Article of Faith: "We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law." Because it was a customary law, it became a law that Moses upholds. I'm not terribly convinced that it is a law of God. I'd need to do a lot more reading on that.

This is all making me thinking of something I heard in General Conference today about principles and laws. I believe it was Elder Bednar's talk "The Principles of My Gospel". Looks like that should be the first talk I go back and study. I know it's important for me to understand the true principle, for not everything will be spelled out, due to there being different societal customs. I see in this chapter the issue really wasn't that Judah should have had Shelah marry Tamar his daughter-in-law. The real issue was Judah breaking the law of chastity, and Tamar's deception to get what she wanted. It's really easy to get distracted with outward things, when really the principle and laws of God broken are extremely clear.

Day 2197

Today's Favorite Verse: Judges 16:28

Today's Favorite Verse: Judges 16:28
"And Samson called unto the Lord, and said, O Lord God, remember me, I pray thee, and strengthen me, I pray thee, only this once, O God, that I may be at once avenged of the Philistines for my eyes."

I do believe Samson was conditionally given the gift of great physical strength. I feel really bad that he instead chose to use this gift to his own devices. If he had served the Lord instead of himself the outcome would have been so different. The downfall of Samson was his uncontrollable lust for undesirable women. Women that betrayed him for a price. His story demonstrates the penalty of breaking the law of chastity, and where it leads you.

I know this verse has Samson calling on the Lord to give him strength one last time. I don't think the Lord did it to avenge the loss of Samson's eyes though. In away I feel Samson took his own life, the ultimate defiance of God's will for his life. With his suicide he also took out 3,000 Philistines. I think defeating the Philistines was God's purpose for his life. The problem is Samson did things his way and not the Lord's way. If Samson had worked with the Lord maybe he could have lead a great army against the Philistines, and killed those same 3,000. I am sure the Lord would have given him strength to have been victorious over them. He could have been a marvelous example of the power of the Lord. I wondered if he could have been another Ammon (Alma 17). Samson's story is a great example of predestination, yet still having our agency to choose.


Day 802