Genesis 39--Joseph and Potiphar's Wife

READ:  https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+39&version=ESV
LISTEN:  https://www.biblegateway.com/audio/mclean/esv/Gen.39

Joseph and Potiphar's Wife

39 Now Joseph had been brought down to Egypt, and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the guard, an Egyptian, had bought him from the Ishmaelites who had brought him down there. 2 The Lord was with Joseph, and he became a successful man, and he was in the house of his Egyptian master. 3 His master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord caused all that he did to succeed in his hands. 4 So Joseph found favor in his sight and attended him, and he made him overseer of his house and put him in charge of all that he had. 5 From the time that he made him overseer in his house and over all that he had, the Lord blessed the Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake; the blessing of the Lord was on all that he had, in house and field. 6 So he left all that he had in Joseph's charge, and because of him he had no concern about anything but the food he ate.

Now Joseph was handsome in form and appearance. 7 And after a time his master's wife cast her eyes on Joseph and said, “Lie with me.” 8 But he refused and said to his master's wife, “Behold, because of me my master has no concern about anything in the house, and he has put everything that he has in my charge. 9 He is not greater in this house than I am, nor has he kept back anything from me except you, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?” 10 And as she spoke to Joseph day after day, he would not listen to her, to lie beside her or to be with her.

11 But one day, when he went into the house to do his work and none of the men of the house was there in the house, 12 she caught him by his garment, saying, “Lie with me.” But he left his garment in her hand and fled and got out of the house. 13 And as soon as she saw that he had left his garment in her hand and had fled out of the house, 14 she called to the men of her household and said to them, “See, he has brought among us a Hebrew to laugh at us. He came in to me to lie with me, and I cried out with a loud voice. 15 And as soon as he heard that I lifted up my voice and cried out, he left his garment beside me and fled and got out of the house.” 16 Then she laid up his garment by her until his master came home, 17 and she told him the same story, saying, “The Hebrew servant, whom you have brought among us, came in to me to laugh at me. 18 But as soon as I lifted up my voice and cried, he left his garment beside me and fled out of the house.”

​19 As soon as his master heard the words that his wife spoke to him, “This is the way your servant treated me,” his anger was kindled. 20 And Joseph's master took him and put him into the prison, the place where the king's prisoners were confined, and he was there in prison. 21 But the Lord was with Joseph and showed him steadfast love and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. 22 And the keeper of the prison put Joseph in charge of all the prisoners who were in the prison. Whatever was done there, he was the one who did it. 23 The keeper of the prison paid no attention to anything that was in Joseph's charge, because the Lord was with him. And whatever he did, the Lord made it succeed.

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This passage is going to stand in stark contrast that that of the last blog.  Where Judah and his family failed miserably when it came to sexual purity, Joseph's integrity stands head and shoulders above that of his brother (and most of his brothers for that matter).  Perhaps that has something to do with Jacob keeping his favorite son so sheltered and close to home, or perhaps it has to do with his being sold into slavery and taken away from the affects of the Canaanites, or his clinging to God and everything that made him a child of God when he was a prisoner and slave in a foreign land--whatever the reason, we know that It's only through God's grace and His provision that Joseph was able to resist this temptation because the Lord provides the way of escape.

Joseph was a slave in Egypt in the house of Potiphar, the captain of the guard for Pharaoh.  Potiphar was an influential man and was a man used to needing to be away from home, and God blessed Joseph because of his integrity and faithfulness, even in the small things so that he Potiphar trusted Joseph with more and more until he oversaw the entire household with the exception of Potiphar's wife.

This gives us some indication that Potiphar was away from home for extended periods of time and it appears that Potiphar's wife would long for intimacy during these times and fantasized about being comforted by an affair with Joseph as he also seemed to be blessed in form and figure, and she found him very attractive.

Joseph sees that his giving into Potiphar's wife's advances as a sin against both Potiphar and God, and he continued to resist her advances day after day until one day she set a trap for him.  She sent all the other servants out of the house so that only her and Joseph were left inside.  He cornered him and tried to force him to lie with her, but she ran away naked with her holding his garment.  She had to think of something quickly to explain the situation and told everyone that Joseph had actually tried to rape her and that she had screamed and he ran away, leaving his clothes behind.

Joseph, through no fault of his own, ends up in prison for a crime he didn't commit, but he's exactly where God plans for him to be.  God is once again protecting him--first by getting him away from the Canaanites by making him a slave in Egypt and now providing a way of escape from the constant temptations and advances of Potiphar's wife by sending him to prison.  I'm sure this isn't the way he imagined God's provision when he prayed for deliverance, but the Lord moves in mysterious ways that we often times don't and can't understand.

God has placed Joseph here for a special purpose as he will continue to gain the trust of those in the prison, even the jailer (or maybe warden would be a better term) and the other prisoners.  This will lead to Joseph being God's prophet for them during a time a planned assassination attempt and saving the life of the Pharaoh from inside the prison, and would put things in motion for Joseph to become prime minister of Egypt and make preparations not only for Egypt but for the whole region (including his family in Canaan) who would be seeking food and shelter during a time of great famine.  We'll read about that as we study chapters 40 and 41 over the next few blog articles.