Lesson 11: “How Can I Do This Great Wickedness?

”, Old Testament Gospel

Doctrine Teacher’s Manual, 46
Genesis 34; 37–39
Purpose
To help class members (1) learn how to make all experiences and circumstances work together for their good
and (2) strengthen their commitment to obey the Lord’s standard of sexual morality.
Bringing us up to speed.
Isaac tells Jacob that he does not want him to marry a Cannanite
Genesis 28 1 AND Isaac called Jacob, and blessed him, and charged him, and said unto him, Thou
shalt not take a awife of the daughters of bCanaan. 2 Arise, go to aPadan-aram, to the house of
b
Bethuel thy mother’s father; and take thee a wife from thence of the daughters of cLaban thy
mother’s brother. 3 And God aAlmighty bbless thee, and make thee cfruitful, and multiply thee,
that thou mayest be a dmultitude of people; 4 And give thee the blessing of Abraham, to thee,
and to thy aseed with thee; that thou mayest inherit the land wherein thou art a stranger, which
God gave unto Abraham. 5 And Isaac sent away Jacob: and he went to Padan-aram unto Laban,
son of Bethuel the aSyrian, the brother of Rebekah, Jacob’s and Esau’s mother.
Jacob goes to Laban and wants to marry Rachel. He works for 7 years to earn the right to marry Rachel,
and Laban tells him that he must marry Leah (being the first born.) He marries Leah then has to work
for seven more years to marry Rachel. Between Rachel, Leah and two other handmaids, they have 12
sons and one daughter.
Genesis 31: 3 And the LORD said unto Jacob, aReturn unto the land of thy fathers, and to thy
kindred; and bI will be with thee.
In returning to the land of Canaan, Jacob knew that he would meet again with his brother Esau.
Genesis 32: 11 aDeliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau: for
I fear him, lest he will come and smite me, and the mother with the children.

Q: Why was Jacob afraid to see Esau?

Q: How did Jacob prepare to meet Esau? (See Genesis 32:13–20.)
Q: How did Esau react to Jacob when they met again? (See Genesis 33:4, 8–11.)
1 AND Jacob lifted up his eyes, and looked, and, behold, Esau came, and with him four hundred
men. And he divided the children unto Leah, and unto Rachel, and unto the two handmaids.

2 And he put the handmaids and their children foremost, and Leah and her children after, and
Rachel and Joseph hindermost.

3 And he passed over before them, and abowed himself to the ground seven times, until he
came near to his brother.

4 And Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck, and kissed him: and they
wept.

5 And he lifted up his eyes, and saw the women and the children; and said, Who are those with
thee? And he said, The children which God hath graciously given thy servant.

6 Then the handmaidens came near, they and their children, and they bowed themselves.

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 7 And Leah also with her children came near, and bowed themselves: and after came Joseph
near and Rachel, and they bowed themselves.

8 And he said, What meanest thou by all this drove which I met? And he said, These are to find
grace in the sight of my lord.

9 And Esau said, I have enough, my brother; keep that thou hast unto thyself.

10 And Jacob said, Nay, I pray thee, if now I have found grace in thy sight, then receive my
present at my hand: for therefore I have seen thy face, as though I had seen the face of God, and
thou wast pleased with me.

11 Take, I pray thee, my blessing that is brought to thee; because God hath dealt graciously
with me, and because I have enough. And he urged him, and he took it.

12 And he said, Let us take our journey, and let us go, and I will go before thee.

13 And he said unto him, My lord knoweth that the children are tender, and the flocks and
herds with young are with me: and if men should overdrive them one day, all the flock will die.

14 Let my lord, I pray thee, pass over before his servant: and I will lead on softly, according as
the cattle that goeth before me and the children be able to endure, until I come unto my lord
unto Seir.

15 And Esau said, Let me now leave with thee some of the folk that are with me. And he said,
What needeth it? let me find grace in the sight of my lord.

16 ¶ So Esau returned that day on his way unto Seir.

Q: What can we learn from Jacob and Esau about resolving family conflicts?

Jacob arrives in Caanan

Genesis 33 18 ¶ And Jacob came to Shalem, a city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan,
when he came from Padan-aram; and pitched his tent before the city.

19 And he bought a parcel of a field, where he had spread his tent, at the hand of the children
of Hamor, Shechem’s father, for an hundred pieces of money.

20 And he erected there an altar, and called it aEl-elohe-Israel.

Genesis 35 1 AND God said unto Jacob, Arise, go up to Beth-el, (which means “House of God” or the
temple) and dwell there: and make there an altar unto God, that appeared unto thee when thou
a
fleddest from the face of Esau thy brother.

2 Then Jacob said unto his household, and to all that were with him, Put away the strange agods
that are among you, and be bclean, and change your garments:

3 And let us arise, and go up to Beth-el; and I will make there an altar unto God, who answered
me in the day of my adistress, and was with me in the way which I went.

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 4 And they gave unto Jacob all the strange gods which were in their hand, and all their earrings
which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem.

The “gods” were literal gods that Rachel and Leah worshiped and stole from their
father’s house.
What “strange gods” may be among us?
President Spencer W. Kimball said:
○ “The Lord has blessed us as a people with a prosperity unequaled in times past. The resources
that have been placed in our power are good, and necessary to our work here on the earth. But I
am afraid that many of us have been surfeited with flocks and herds and acres and barns and
wealth and have begun to worship them as false gods, and they have power over us. Do we have
more of these good things than our faith can stand? …
○ “In spite of our delight in defining ourselves as modern, and our tendency to think we possess a
sophistication that no people in the past ever had—in spite of these things, we are, on the whole,
an idolatrous people—a condition most repugnant to the Lord” (“The False Gods We Worship,”
Ensign, June 1976, 4, 6).
Q: How can we “put away [our] strange gods … and be clean” and worthy to attend the temple? (See
Genesis 35:2; Psalm 24:3–4; 2 Corinthians 7:1; Moroni 10:30, 32.)
Q: How do these things compare to the preparations we make to go to the house of the Lord?
How did these preparations affect Jacob’s relationship with God?

6 ¶ So Jacob came to aLuz, which is in the land of Canaan, that is, Beth-el, he and all the people
that were with him.

7 And he built there an altar, and called the place El-beth-el: because there God appeared unto
him, when he fled from the face of his brother.

8 But Deborah Rebekah’s anurse died, and she was buried beneath Beth-el under an oak: and
the name of it was called bAllon-bachuth.

9 ¶ And God appeared unto Jacob again, when he came out of Padan-aram, and blessed him.

10 And God said unto him, Thy name is Jacob: thy name shall not be called any more Jacob, but
a
Israel shall be thy name: and he called his name Israel.

11 And God said unto him, I am aGod Almighty: be bfruitful and multiply; a nation and a
company of cnations shall be of thee, and dkings shall come out of thy loins;

12 And the aland which I gave Abraham and Isaac, to thee I will give it, and to thy seed after
thee will I give the land.

13 And God went up from him in the place where he talked with him.

Joseph is sold into slavery by his brothers.

Teach and discuss Genesis 37.
Jacob’s eleventh son was Joseph; as the eldest son of Jacob and Rachel, Joseph received the birthright when
Reuben, eldest son of Jacob and Leah, lost it through unrighteousness (1 Chronicles 5:1–2).
Read Genesis 37:1-11

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1 AND Jacob dwelt in the land awherein his father was a bstranger, in the land of Canaan.

2 These are the agenerations of Jacob. bJoseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock
with his brethren; and the lad was with the sons of Bilhah, and with the sons of Zilpah, his
father’s wives: and Joseph brought unto his father their evil report.

3 Now Israel loved aJoseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age:
and he made him a bcoat of many ccolours.

4 And when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated
him, and could not speak peaceably unto him.

5 ¶ And Joseph dreamed a adream, and he told it his brethren: and they hated him yet the
more.

6 And he said unto them, Hear, I pray you, this dream which I have dreamed:

7 For, behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and, lo, my sheaf arose, and also stood
upright; and, behold, your sheaves stood round about, and made aobeisance to my sheaf.

8 And his brethren said to him, Shalt thou indeed reign over us? or shalt thou indeed have
dominion over us? And they hated him yet the more for his dreams, and for his words.

9 ¶ And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it his brethren, and said, Behold, I have
dreamed a dream more; and, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made
obeisance to me.

10 And he told it to his father, and to his brethren: and his father rebuked him, and said unto
him, What is this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed
come to abow down ourselves to thee to the earth?

11 And his brethren aenvied him; but his father observed the saying.

Q: How do you react when members of your family offend you or receive better treatment than you do?
Q: How can we overcome feelings of jealousy or anger toward family members or friends?
Israel (Jacob) sends Joseph to check on his brother in Shechem. They’ve moved on to Dothan. As they
approach, they said, Gen 37: 19 “Behold, this dreamer cometh.” The brothers wanted to kill him, but Reuben
intervened. They cast him into a pit. Judah suggests that they shouldn’t kill him because he is their brother, but
he suggests that they sell him to the Ismaelites. They took Joseph’s coat and put goat’s blood on it. They sold
their bother for 20 pieces of silver to Potiphar, a officer of Pharaoh’s and a captain of the guard.
Joseph refuses to “sin against God.”
Teach and discuss Genesis 39.
7 ¶ And it came to pass after these things, that his master’s wife cast her aeyes upon Joseph;
and she said, Lie with me.

8 But he arefused, and said unto his master’s wife, Behold, my master bwotteth not what is with
me in the house, and he hath ccommitted all that he hath to my hand;

9 There is none greater in this house than I; neither hath he kept back any thing from me but
thee, because thou art his wife: how then can I do this great awickedness, and bsin against God?

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 10 And it came to pass, as she spake to Joseph aday by day, that he hearkened not unto her, to
lie by her, or to be with her.

11 And it came to pass about this time, that Joseph went into the house to do his business; and
there was none of the men of the house there within.

12 And she caught him by his garment, saying, Lie with me: and he left his garment in her
hand, and afled, and got him out.

13 And it came to pass, when she saw that he had left his garment in her hand, and was fled
forth,

14 That she called unto the men of her house, and spake unto them, saying, See, he hath
brought in an Hebrew unto us to mock us; he came in unto me to lie with me, and I cried with a
loud voice:

15 And it came to pass, when he heard that I lifted up my voice and cried, that he left his
garment with me, and fled, and got him out.

16 And she laid up his garment by her, until his lord came home.

17 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:

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

19 And it came to pass, when his master heard the words of his wife, which she spake unto him,
saying, After this manner did thy servant to me; that his wrath was kindled.

20 And Joseph’s master took him, and put him into the aprison, a place where the king’s
prisoners were bound: and he was there in the prison.

Q: How can we follow Joseph’s example when we are tempted?

The scriptures emphasize that while Joseph was in prison, the Lord was with him (Genesis 39:21–23).
21 ¶ But the aLORD was with Joseph, and shewed him mercy, and gave him favour in the sight of
the keeper of the prison.

22 And the keeper of the prison committed to Joseph’s hand all the prisoners that were in the
prison; and whatsoever they did there, he was the adoer of it.

23 The keeper of the prison looked not to any thing that was under his hand; because the LORD
was with him, and that which he did, the LORD made it to aprosper.

○ Elder Hartman Rector Jr. explained: “[The] ability to turn everything into something good
appears to be a godly characteristic. Our Heavenly Father always seems able to do this.
Everything, no matter how dire, becomes a victory to the Lord. Joseph, although a slave and
wholly undeserving of this fate, nevertheless remained faithful to the Lord and continued to live
the commandments and made something very good of his degrading circumstances. People like
this cannot be defeated” (in Conference Report, Oct. 1972, 170; or Ensign, Jan. 1973, 130).
Shechem, Reuben, and Judah commit serious moral sins.

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Teach and discuss Genesis 34:1–12; 35:22; and Genesis 38:1–30. Do not discuss at length the sins of these men;
use them as a contrast to the faithfulness of Joseph.
• • Point out that not all of Joseph’s family members and acquaintances were as valiant as Joseph was
when facing temptation. How did Shechem, Reuben, and Judah react to sexual temptation?
• • Notice the language in Genesis 34:3 that describes Shechem’s feelings for Dinah: “And his soul clave
unto Dinah … and he loved the damsel.” Why is this description inconsistent with Shechem’s actions?
(If Shechem had truly loved Dinah, he would not have defiled her. Help class members understand that
often people use the excuse “We are in love” to justify immoral activity, but people who truly love each
other will not cause each other guilt and suffering to gratify physical passions and desires. Behavior that
makes it hard to pray, makes people unworthy to enter the temple, or breaks up families is not motivated
by love.)
• • When Jacob blessed each of his sons at the end of his life, he referred to Reuben’s moral transgression
and described Reuben as “unstable as water” (Genesis 49:3–4). How is this a valid comparison? What
did Jacob tell Reuben would result from his being “unstable as water”?
• • Compare the price that Joseph paid to be virtuous with the price that Reuben paid to be immoral. What
did Reuben lose because of his immorality? (See 1 Chronicles 5:1–2.) What are the spiritual and
temporal consequences of sexual sin today? Why does the Lord place such importance on being morally
clean?
• • Church leaders have consistently taught that obedience to God’s commandments is true freedom. How
do we see this in the life of Joseph? How did disobedience result in less freedom for Shechem, Reuben,
and Judah? How can choosing to keep the commandments make us more free than choosing to break
them? (See John 8:31–36.)
Conclusion
Testify that with the Lord’s help, all of our experiences and circumstances can work together for our good.
Testify also of the value of remaining morally clean in thought and action. Challenge class members to evaluate
the movies, magazines, and other media and use only those that reflect the Lord’s standard of sexual morality.
Encourage class members to be as committed as Joseph was to obeying the law of chastity.

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