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Today we went to church. The Sunday School presidency had the responsibility of teaching the fifth Sunday meeting for Priesthood/Relief Society. The bishop asked the youth to be there, too.
Brian May taught about keeping Christ the center of our lives, especially through trials, which are inevitable. At least that is what I got out of it. He showed a very touching video of the experiences in Liberty Jail.
I taught the following. I love the story of Tamar. You might think that Tamar is a skanky woman. I won't judge her, as she IS a type of Christ. Imperfect people are types of Christ all the time. In fact, we are commanded to have his image in our countenances.
Go to John 12:13. When the Savior rode the donkey colt into the city, which he purposely chose himself, the people turned out and cheered him on. They threw their cloaks down so the colt would not step on the earth. They waves palm branches in the air. Both the donkey and palms were signs of royalty in Jewish culture and in the prophecies, and they all knew it. So did the Pharisees and it was at this time that they finally decided to murder him. In Solomon's temple were carvings of palm trees, covered in gold leaf, to symbolize the glory of God. (see 1 Kings)
Back to Tamar.
Judah, the forerunner of the Jewish people was a wicked man. He was a serial adulterer, among other things. But God had promised Abraham that the Savior of the world would be born through his lineage. Abraham-Isaac-Israel-Judah.
You can see this in Matthew 1. The genealogy of Christ follows through these prophets to Judah, to his son Pharez, by the woman Tamar, who was not his wife. Likewise through David the one-time prophet turned adulterer and murderer, and then Solomon, the one-time prophet turned seeker of evil spirits and witches. The Savior still came to this earth through imperfect people, through a royal lineage.
Judah was essentially the king of the Jews. His son, Er, would be prince of the Jews. Er married Tamar, who then became princess of the Jews. Er was wicked and slain by the Lord, without leaving any children to Tamar. Under Mosaic Law, Onan his next brother, was to provide Er with children through Tamar, if you know what I mean.
Onan, also wicked, refused to comply and was slain by the Lord. This left Tamar without any posterity to take over as Jewish royalty. Judah, should have provided for her as his royal daughter-in-law. But he did not. Wickedly, and in violation of the Mosaic Law, he sent her home to her family, childless.
She returned home. How, we do not know, as Genesis 38 doesn't say, but she heard that Judah was going to pass down a certain road near her place. So she dressed herself in a veil and as a harlot (prostitute) and sat on the intersection of the roads so Judah would see her, knowing Judah would not resist a harlot.
He came along and summoned her.
"Let me come in unto you."
"Ok. What will you give me?"
"A kid from my herd."
"What will you give me as collateral until I get the kid?"
"I'll give you my signet ring, my bracelets, and my staff." (moron...)
"Deal."
The do the deed, and Judah leaves, and Tamar goes home.
Naturally, and Tamar was no dummy and knew this, Judah, never came back to give her the kid, but she had his personal property, unique to himself.
When she started to show, at about three months, word got out to Judah that his daughter-in-law was pregnant and not married. This was punishable by death under Mosaic Law.
"HAVE HER BURNT!" cried Judah, the reprobate hypocrite. Give me five minutes with him. Just five.
She is brought before him, because after all, he IS basically the king of the Jews, to account for her actions.
She says, "The man who owns these things is the one who got me pregnant."
She produces the signet, bracelets, and staff.
Judah acknowledges that she is more righteous than he, and turns her lose. Notice that he would not hold her accountable anymore, for that would also mean allowing himself to be stoned or burnt for the same offense. I'm only asking for five minutes.
She goes on and bears Phares, the forerunner of the Savior.
So Jesus Christ ends up being born of Tamar and Judah.
Look in the Bible Dictionary. "Tamar" means "palm tree".
She is a type of Christ.
She was a righteous woman who descended from her exalted position as the Princess of Israel to obtain that which was legally and spiritually due her, namely, a righteous posterity and the honor and glory due her as the daughter of the king.
In the same way, Christ, the Son of God, namely the Prince of Glory, was already the God of creation in the pre-mortal life, and condescended to become a man, to lower himself to obtain that which was rightfully his. This is, namely, the honor and glory of his people.
Judah, wickedly refused to acknowledge Tamar's position and sent her away to be executed for the very thing he was guilty of. She ended up getting her dues, anyway.
The Jews utterly refused to acknowledge Jesus Christ as the Son of God and sent him away to be executed. He ended up getting his dues, anyway.
I like Tamar. What a spunky chick.
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I rode yesterday and today for a total of 26 miles and grand total of 2,383. This puts me in Worden, MT, which looks like this. Notice they can only give sidewalks to some residents:
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