Joseph in Egypt Revisited

 I wrote a lot about Joseph in 2022, so much so that it took two posts that you can find here and here. This year as I was reading the story again, I was thinking about how I would present it to 15-year-olds.  A lot of what I wrote about four years ago is interesting to a scriptorian but might not be very interesting to a teenager. In reality, what I ended up writing four years ago doesn't actually give anyone practical advice on how to live your life. I didn't end up teaching the lesson this week, but my co-teacher gave a beautiful lesson that has real application in a modern teen's life.  She first talked about Joseph fleeing Potiphar's wife and how we might apply the lessons from that story in our lives to avoid temptation and sin. Then she talked about all that Joseph went through and how, though it seemed terribly unjust at the time, it brought Joseph to the place he needed to be right when he needed to be there to save his family. 

As someone who is on the other side of 60, it is this message that resonated the most with me this year. The question I ask myself is, did Joseph's brothers have to sell him into slavery for him to end up in Egypt in time to save his family?  Did Potiphar's wife have to proposition him and did he have to languish four years in jail in order to catch Pharaoh's attention? 

I think the answer is no. I think that the Lord doesn't depend on other's bad decisions to accomplish his works. It is possible that if Joseph's brothers had been kinder to him, something else, perhaps less hurtful, might have happened to him to bring him into Egypt.  If Potiphar's wife hadn't propositioned him, maybe Pharoah would have met him anyway, since he was working for the Pharoah's captain of the guard. 

The encouraging thing about this story is that even when someone uses their free agency to hurt us or misuse us, God is great enough to figure out a way to help us accomplish our mission on earth anyway. If our brothers throw us into the pit, He can send Ishmaelites (I think it is significant that is was a branch of the covenant family) to save us.  If we are wrongly accused, He will give our cellmates prophetic dreams that will eventually lead to us being brought before Pharoah. If we are patient and faithful, the Lord will help us overcome any roadblock put in our way by the sins of others. 

And what if I am the betraying brother?  What if I am Potiphar's wife?  What if my actions cause someone else to be thrown into some kind of proverbial pit?  In my mind, the greatest blessing of the atonement is not that my sins can be washed away, it is that God's grace can somehow heal the negative consequences of my sins on others. My faults won't keep someone else from completing their mission. If I was at times a bad wife, a bad mother, or a bad friend, the atonement can heal my family, my spouse, or my friend. It is what I pray and hope for the most. It is what I hope and pray for every day.

Women at the Well

 This week in Come Follow Me, we read about Isaac and Jacob's attempts to find a wife.  In both cases, their bride is found at a well.  In Genesis 24 Abraham sends Eliezer to find a wife for Isaac among his kinsmen in Haran.  When Eliezer arrives, he prays for a sign from God about which woman should be Isaac's wife. Rebecca fulfills the sign by drawing water from the well for Eliezer and all his camels.  She turns out to be Isaac's cousin and agrees to return with Eliezer and marry Isaac. 

In the next generation Jacob has fled his home because Esau has threatened his life for taking his blessing.  Jacob goes back to the same set of relatives in Haran and sees his cousin Rachel at the well watering her flock. He falls instantly in love with her and ends up agreeing to work for her father for seven years in order to marry her. 

So what is up with women and wells?  Water is a complex symbol in the Bible. In the creation narrative, and in the story of Noah, water is a chaotic force that has to be subdued.  In both places this roiling chaotic water of the ocean is called תהום (tahom) (Gen 1:2  and Gen 7:11). In the Law of Moses, water is a symbol of cleansing. For example, Leviticus 14 explains the cleansing ritual for leprosy with involves both blood and running water. But in these stories the water represents the life force. 

My son and his wife live in New Mexico.  When we drive there from Utah, especially in the summer, it is really clear how water gives life.  As you drive everything is baren and dry, but if there is a river, you suddenly see trees and green plants. 

If you have read my blog about the fall, you know that Adam's name in Hebrew means "soil" or fertile dirt, and when the Lord is cursing him for taking of the forbidden fruit, he is called "dust",i.e. infertile or dried up dirt instead of soil. Eve's name mean "life". 

So how does dried up dirt become soil? By adding water. How can Adam become fruitful and multiply? By uniting with Eve. The life force, or fertility, in the Old Testament is therefore associated with water. 

If we think of water as a symbol of feminine life force, then the meetings at the well make total sense. Eliezer approaches a city looking for a wife for his master's son, and the one he chooses is the one that offers him the symbol of feminine life force.  Isaac + Rebecca = offspring just like dust + water = fertile soil. 

Even more symbolic is when Jacob meets Rachel.  Before he arrives she is not able to access the water from the well, but when he moves the stone from the well, she is able to water for flocks.  Her life force is enabled by his arrival.  Together they free the life force symbolized by the water in the well. 

Of course, the third time we see a woman at the well in the New Testament (John 4). In this case Jesus asks the woman of Samaria to draw water for him. She is surprised that he, a Jew, would ask water of her, a Samaritan woman. They both knew the stories of Isaac and Rebecca and Jacob and Rachel.  It is no wonder that the Samaritan woman was surprised at Jesus' request. When she hesitates, Jesus says that he "would have given thee living water."  What symbolism of water is Jesus referring to here? 

When we take the water of the sacrament which represents Jesus' blood,  or when we are baptized, we think of the cleansing symbol of water. Later, however, Jesus says to the woman, "the water I shall give...shall be...a well of water springing up into everlasting life."  That sounds more like the life-giving/fertility type of water symbol. The kind of water that turns dust into soil.

When Isaiah has a vision of the temple, he sees water gushing from under the temple (Ezekiel 47). In that vision the water gushing from the temple heals the earth and, "every thing shall live whither the river cometh." (v. 9) I think that in this vision the cleansing power of water and the life giving power of water are united in one symbol. 

I am not sure exactly where I am going with this, only that women in the Bible are associated with water, a symbol of life-giving power, and that is why wives are often found at wells.  The life-giving power that women have in these stories pertains to mortal fertility, since they allow their husbands to be fruitful and multiply, changing dust to soil. Jesus is also associated with life-giving water, but his water does not bring mortal life, but eternal life. That ability to bring eternal life is connected with the cleansing power of water and the life-giving power of water, and is possible through the atonement and the shedding of His blood for us. It is also associated with the temple, where God's promises of eternal life spread throughout the world, cleansing and healing the world.

Covenant Relationship in Genesis 18-23

 In Genesis 12 Abraham enters a covenant relationship with the Lord, which we discussed in my pervious blog. In the chapters we read in Come Follow Me this week we get to see what it means to be in a covenant relationship. One of the insights I gained this week is that a covenant is more than just an agreement--if you do this then I will do that.  Instead it is a relationship with God that grows as you and God learn to trust each other. 

There is a modern way of talking about relationships that deals with “bids” and how someone responds to them.  A “bid” is when someone does something to seek your attention or involvement in their life. How you respond to the bid largely determines how good your relationship is with that person. You can respond in three basic ways: you can turn toward them, away from them, or against them.  When you turn toward the person, you are acknowledging their need and offering some kind of support or aid. Turning away is when you change the interchange from being focused on the person, to being focused on something else, or on yourself. Turning against a person means that your reply to the bid with some kind of comment or action that feels like an attack. 

In Genesis 18-23 we see several short vignettes which involve either the Lord or the covenant family member putting out a "bid" and what response to the bid comes from the other party. The stories demonstrate that when the covenant family of Abrahams reaches out to the Lord, he responds by turning toward them. When God puts out a "bid" to one of the covenant family, they mostly respond by turning toward him, but not all. Those who do turn toward the Lord are blessed, but those who do not are punished. 

I taught this principle to my class of teenagers today.  Here are the stories we considered. We made a chart that showed who it was who made the bid and what the response was. 

Genesis 18: 1-5 Abraham entertains the three messengers

The Lord makes the bid to Abraham. Abraham turns to the Lord by welcoming the messengers with extreme hospitality, The Lord blesses Abraham and Sarah with the ability to have a child. 

Genesis18: 22-33 Bargaining over Sodom and Gomorrah

Abraham makes the bid to the Lord by asking him to Spare Sodom and Gomorrah if some righteous can be found.  The Lord turns toward Abraham by actively bargaining and giving the concessions Abraham seeks. In the end, even the lowest concession is not met, but the Lord still tries to save Lot and his family from the coming destruction.

 

Genesis 19: 12-26 Lot’s family escapes Sodom and Gomorrah

The Lord makes the bid by sending messengers to save Lot's family.  Lot's son-in-laws turn away because they are not willing to leave the city.  Lot's wife turns away as well and is destroyed. The people of the wicked cities turn against the messengers, threatening to kill them, and are destroyed. 
Genesis 21:15-19 Hagar and Ishmael are cast out

After Hagar and Ishmael are cast out from the family of Abraham they are about to die of thirst.  Hagar makes the bid, asking the Lord to save their lives. The Lord turns toward Hagar by providing water, but also by blessing her to be the matriarch of a great nation through Ishmael.

Genesis 22:1-3 Abraham is willing to offer Isaac

The Lord makes the bid by asking Abraham to sacrifice his miracle son. Despite the horrific nature of the bid, Abraham turns toward the Lord by preparing to sacrifice his son straightaway. 

Genesis 22:9-14 Abraham is spared from offering Isaac

Abraham make perhaps a silent bid to the Lord to not have to sacrifice his son.  The Lord responds by turning toward Abraham and sending an angel to stop the sacrifice.  He instead provides a ram for the sacrifice, and accepts Isaac as the heir to the blessings of the Abrahamic Covenant. 

In each of these cases when the supplicant made a bid to the Lord, the Lord blessed them beyond what was strictly needed.  When the Lord made a bid from one of the covenant keepers, and the person turned toward the Lord, the Lord blessed him. The time when the covenant keeper turned away, the outcome was dire. Through these repeated experiences the relationship between the family of Abraham and the Lord grew stronger because each came to see that the other could be relied upon to maintain the relationship and the covenant. 

In real life, even the faithful don't get exactly what they want when they petition the Lord.  That is not because he is not keeping up his part of the relationship, but because he knows better than we do what we really need in the eternal scheme of things.  If we both keep making and receiving "bids" from the each other, we come to trust each other so that when, in a specific situation, we don't receive what we would like from the Lord, we have enough relational cache that we are able to trust that God actually does know what is best for us. That helps us endure our trials with faith. 

But it is not just about getting through trials. When we continually put ourselves in a state of humility to ask and receive communication from God, we become refined, gain capacity, and become more like the Savior. What I realized this week is the the Covenant Path our church leaders keep talking about is more than just checking of a list of ordinances we need to complete.  It is a path of relationship building where each time we respond to the Lord and he responds to us, our relationship gets closer and we become more like him.