Gospel Doctrine OT c11
Joseph sold to slavery/Potiphar’s wife
___________________________________________________________________
Leah Zilpah Bilhah Rachel
1.Reuben 7. Gad 5. Dan 11. Joseph Ephraim/Mannaseh
2.Simeon 8.Asher 6.Nephtali 12.Benjamin
3.Levi
4. Judah
9. Issachar
10.Zebulun
Dinah
Genesis 37 Joseph Sold Into Slavery
Scan over Gen 37
???What do you learn from/about the brothers?
Joseph is obedient and diligent: He is asked to check on his brothers. He
travels 45+12 miles and wanders in fields to find them
Reuben tried to save Joseph
Judah has the idea to sell Joseph to the Middianites
Speaking of Judah, Gen 38 is about him and it is not favorable. It seems like it is set up as a contrast to the Joseph’s experience with Potiphar’s wife.
Genesis 39 Potiphar’s wife
Scan over Gen 39
Joseph was approx.. 17 yrs old when he was sold. He served approx. 13 yrs in Potiphar’s house (3-4 in prison)
???What do you learn? What stands out?
???What do you think about Temptation?
???Can we avoid it? Is it as easy as running away?
Will-power can be depleted. No matter how good you are, if you keep putting yourself in tempting situations, you will be depleted.
1 Cor. 10:12 – “Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.”
"The temptation itself created a cost. Imagine that your morning is full of temptation: muffin, croissant, Facebook, YouTube, saying something nasty to your boss (or kids, in my case), the morning is just full of temptation. And you've been able to resist all of that, good for you, but by the time you've resisted all of them, you've already paid the price. And the price you've paid is the price of depletion."
“The kids who resist temptation don't just sit there and stare at the marshmallow. They do things. They sit on their hands, they watch the ceiling, they sing a song, they turn around, they do things. That, I think, suggests that... there is training. And Walter Mischel did this very nice experiment in which he asked the kids to think about the marshmallows as clouds, and that basically eliminated the temptation to a large degree." (Dan Ariely)
Morality was Joseph’s temptation in this particular story.
Immorality vs Amorality
How do you stay virtuous? How do you teach your children?
God stayed with Joseph . Gen 39:2-3; 39:21-23
Why? What did Joseph do to keep God with him?
Where did Joseph find the strength to stay moral?
"The Lord needs to know if he can trust us to do the right thing in every situation. Joseph of Egypt had a fine position as Potiphar’s principal steward. Then the wife of Potiphar attempted to entice him to sin. Joseph was far from home and family. He was a trusted slave, but still a slave nonetheless. No one would know or care about his morals. To spurn the woman would certainly bring severe complications to his life, but he was true to his noble character. He fled sin, was caught, and imprisoned. He paid a price for his purity; yet to have done otherwise would have been a tragic flaw in his character. Nephi’s strength of character led him to obey a commandment. He could easily have been slain by the wicked Laban. Yet to not obey, when he had the testimony that the Lord would open the way for him to obtain the plates, would have been a flaw in his character. The Lord could trust Joseph and Nephi." (The Cs of Spirituality, Robert E Wells, Oct. 1978)
What do Nephi and Joseph have in common? The testimony that the Lord would open the way.
The bigger picture.
"Clearly the brothers, and apparently also Jacob, had misunderstood the nature of their bowing to Joseph. They understandably, but incorrectly took that to mean they would worship Joseph, or took it as some kind of measure of their relative value of worth. Wonderfully we learn that Joseph was elevated to his position in order to serve them. And, their bowing was an act of receiving their brother’s help, not meant to establish some kind of family pecking order." (Phillip Allred, LDSLiving Mag, Mar 4, 2014)
Servitude vs. Submission/ willingness to serve
Serving others:
"In this way – the same as Joseph had done during his lifetime – Joseph’s progeny are to become saviors to their brethren of Israel (and by extension the rest of Father’s children). During this last dispensation, Joseph’s descendants are charged with providing the covenants, ordinances, and saving truths of the gospel for the rest of the family. With this in mind, it is exciting to see our modern Temples as veritable spiritual granaries or storehouses where souls are literally delivered and saved while all around a famine seeks to lay waste precious mortal opportunities." (Phillip Allred)
"In this way – the same as Joseph had done during his lifetime – Joseph’s progeny are to become saviors to their brethren of Israel (and by extension the rest of Father’s children). During this last dispensation, Joseph’s descendants are charged with providing the covenants, ordinances, and saving truths of the gospel for the rest of the family. With this in mind, it is exciting to see our modern Temples as veritable spiritual granaries or storehouses where souls are literally delivered and saved while all around a famine seeks to lay waste precious mortal opportunities." (Phillip Allred)
Good quote on Morality, Immorality, Amorality:
It’s not immorality that we hate in movies, it’s amorality. Immorality, accurately portrayed complete with consequences, is a part of many good stories, including those from the scriptures.
But amorality, depicted without context or consequence, is an insidious evil that drags down all of society, particularly its younger members.
When dishonesty or violence or especially jumping into bed together on first acquaintance is depicted as the norm — portrayed as what everybody does — it can lead kids thoughtlessly into the same behaviors.
“Our Love-Hate Relationship with Movies” Richard & Linda Eyre, DesNews, Tues March 4, 2014
No comments:
Post a Comment