Potipher's Wife

You have got to love the women in the Bible that all you know about them is who they were married to.

This woman was classic. She was the epitome of women using their womanly wiles to try to get what she wanted.

She wanted Joseph. The handsome Hebrew slave.

Joesph was the one she wanted because He did not want Her.

That really got under Potipher's wifes skin.

She really did not like the fact that Joseph rejected her. So she told on Him. She was a tatlle tale. (Don't we teach our children not to tattle???) Anyway, she could not get Joseph to do what she would like him to do so when he ran and left his cloak in her clutches she called rape. She was totally a liar.

There is not much else to say about Potipher's wife except that she did not get her way so she decided to pout and make someone else pay for her trying to be unfaithful to her husband.

Tamar

So this past week I was reading about Tamar. Her life, what we know of it, was a very interesting one. Tamar was married to Judah's oldest son. God saw that the oldest son was wicked so God killed him. So after that the culture said that the next son was to carry on the line of the husband that passed away. Well the second son did not want to do that so when Tamar and the second son had sex he "spilled his seed" on the ground. That is wicked in the Lords eyes so the Lord killed him too. Then Tamar was supposed to be given in marriage to the third son when he became of age. So Judah sent Tamar back to her father's house to live until the third son became of age to marry. So Tamar went back to her father's house and lived dressed in widow's clothes.

In this time frame Judah's wife had passed Judah went through his time of mourning and then procedeed to bring his sheep to the shearers. Tamar heard about this and also heard that the third son was of age to marry, and Judah had not sent for her.

So Tamar dressed in clothes that covered her face, and made her look like a shrine prostitute. She stopped Judah, who wanted to have blessing on his crops and flocks, and in that culture having sex with a shrine prostitute made the men feel like they are going to be blessed by the gods. This just shows that the peoples faith was not in the One True God but in many gods. So if one did not answer your prayer then you would have the "assurity" that one of them would.

So Tamar got pregnant by Judah, all to secure a son for her first dead husband, and she got items of Judah's that would not be mistaken for any one else's items. After she got those items she went back to her father's house and changed back into her widows garments. When Judah found out that Tamar was pregnant he wanted her killed. So to ensure her life she sent word and items to Judah and told him that I am pregnant by the person that owns these.

At once Judah knew hat Tamar had doen a more righteous thing than he had done by with holding his third son from her.

So now my question is. Why did Tamar not get punished by doing something that was morally against God. I was wondering what I was supposed to learn from this story. At first glance it almost looks like if some one else wrongs you it is ok to take matters into your own hands. But if you are taking matters into your own hands how is that relying on God and waiting on Him and His plan.

Can't wait to see what I will learn from the next woman from the Bible.

Sisters

So I have been reading about Rachel and Leah. The devotional book I am reading puts them in that order. Rachel was the youngest daughter of Laban, Leah the older. Jacob met up with Rachel at a well close to her house when she came out to water her father's flocks. He was so smitten with her that he came up and kissed her and decided right then that he was going to marry her. (should have checked with her father first). Laban liked the idea of giving his daughter to a kinsman, but the culture in that time was that the older daughter married first.

So here comes the deceit on the deceiver. Laban promised to give Jacob Rachel after 7 years of service. Which he did, he just gave him Leah first.

Jacob did not love Leah, did not want to be married to Leah, he only wanted Rachel.

Thank goodness there is only one wife per husband in this culture.

Reading about the sisters, and last Wednesday we talked about watching our words and this started me thinking about what comes out of my mouth and what comes out of others mouths.

It also started me thinking about what kind of words would have been exchanged between Leah and Rachel. Rachel had the love of her husband and she knew it. There are times recorded in scripture where you can tell the words that were recorded between Rachel and Leah were probably just the tip of the iceberg.

Instead of Rachel empowering her sister and using the power of her husbands love to make her sister feel loved she used it to push a wedge between herself and her sister.

Rachel had the love of her husband but no children. Leah did not have the love of her husband but gave her husband 6 sons and a daughter.

The sisters were using what the other did not have to make the other sister jealous. I am not sure if Leah was doing it at first to make her sister jealous or to grab some love from her husband. In the scripture after the first son was born it was recorded that Leah said maybe my husband will love me know that I have given him a son. It did not work.

Jacob ended up living with Leah longer than Rachel. Rachel died in childbirth with Benjamin, Leah lived on to see Benjamin and Joseph grow up.

Our words are powerful. We need to make sure that we lift others up instead of tear them down.