August 29, 2004

Reading through the Bible in one Year: 1 Chronicles 15-19, Psalms 102-104

Weekly Memory Verse: John 1:12

Good Evening Brothers and Sisters,

I realized after I mailed yesterday's study that I had forgotten to change the Bible reading for the day.  I included both readings in the header of today's study.

Genesis 39:1-23 (NASB95)
¹ Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt; and Potiphar, an Egyptian officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the bodyguard, bought him from the Ishmaelites, who had taken him down there. ² The Lord was with Joseph, so he became a successful man. And he was in the house of his master, the Egyptian. ³ Now his master saw that the Lord was with him and how the Lord caused all that he did to prosper in his hand. ⁴ So Joseph found favor in his sight and became his personal servant; and he made him overseer over his house, and all that he owned he put in his charge. ⁵ It came about that from the time he made him overseer in his house and over all that he owned, the Lord blessed the Egyptian’s house on account of Joseph; thus the Lord’s blessing was upon all that he owned, in the house and in the field. ⁶ So he left everything he owned in Joseph’s charge; and with him there he did not concern himself with anything except the food which he ate. Now Joseph was handsome in form and appearance. ⁷ It came about after these events that his master’s wife looked with desire at Joseph, and she said, “Lie with me.” ⁸ But he refused and said to his master’s wife, “Behold, with me here, my master does not concern himself with anything in the house, and he has put all that he owns in my charge. ⁹ “There is no one greater in this house than I, and he has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do this great evil and sin against God?” ¹⁰ As she spoke to Joseph day after day, he did not listen to her to lie beside her or be with her. ¹¹ Now it happened one day that he went into the house to do his work, and none of the men of the household was there inside. ¹² She caught him by his garment, saying, “Lie with me!” And he left his garment in her hand and fled, and went outside. ¹³ When she saw that he had left his garment in her hand and had fled outside, ¹⁴ she called to the men of her household and said to them, “See, he has brought in a Hebrew to us to make sport of us; he came in to me to lie with me, and I screamed. ¹⁵ “When he heard that I raised my voice and screamed, he left his garment beside me and fled and went outside.” ¹⁶ So she left his garment beside her until his master came home. ¹⁷ Then she spoke to him with these words, “The Hebrew slave, whom you brought to us, came in to me to make sport of me; ¹⁸ and as I raised my voice and screamed, he left his garment beside me and fled outside.” ¹⁹ Now when his master heard the words of his wife, which she spoke to him, saying, “This is what your slave did to me,” his anger burned. ²⁰ So Joseph’s master took him and put him into the jail, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined; and he was there in the jail. ²¹ But the Lord was with Joseph and extended kindness to him, and gave him favor in the sight of the chief jailer. ²² The chief jailer committed to Joseph’s charge all the prisoners who were in the jail; so that whatever was done there, he was responsible for it. ²³ The chief jailer did not supervise anything under Joseph’s charge because the Lord was with him; and whatever he did, the Lord made to prosper.^[1]

In chapter 37 we discussed how that Joseph had the qualities of a prophet since he had held to a righteous standard with his brothers.  Joseph is consistent with that quality and holds to moral purity as he works for the Egyptian as a slave in his house.  Joseph was more concerned with what God thought in his life than being consumed with the short lived pleasure of sin. 

If you read the narrative carefully you will see that Joseph was very careful to avoid her approaches, and to avoid being around her.  He was so serious about his convictions that he ran from the house on her last attempt.  This should stand as an example of to all of us regarding sexual sin.  Joseph avoided it at all costs, making sure to stay away from it.  Where is the mark of purity and integrity in our lives today?  Joseph demonstrated what it took to remain pure, even to the point of being thrown into prison for it. 

Potiphar seems to have warned Joseph about his wife, and that she was off limits.  I wonder if he knew her nature.  When she brought an accusation against Joseph, Potiphar did not hesitate to react to her story.  It could have been that Potiphar did not trust Joseph completely due to Joseph's looks.  As far as I know this is the only time in the Bible that someone was mentioned for their good looks, other than Rachel, Joseph’s mother, perhaps he favored his mother.  Another point on this is the way that the wife is accusing Potiphar of bringing the Hebrew into the house to mock them.  She sounds like that she has been guilty of unfaithfulness before, and since Joseph isn't going along with the plan, she is going to use him in a different way.  By tearing him down she is hoping to build up herself in the sight of her husband.  This time instead of being unfaithful, she is trying to appear that she has been faithful.  I read in one commentary that the tunic was like a long t-shirt that went from the shoulder to the knees; in order to pull it off would have meant that extreme effort was put forth.  He didn’t just run, he had to fight to get away.

If Joseph defended himself, as a slave, he was expendable; capital punishment was swift in those days.  Joseph went from being the object of her lust to the object of her hatred.  Then he was put in prison just like a lamb going to slaughter, he wasn't able to defend himself at all.

One note in Joseph's defense though, Potiphar must not have believed her entirely.  According to ancient writings, adultery was punishable by 1000 blows, rape was even more severe.  If you consider that Potiphar’s wife was married to a military leader that was in a high place in the government. This would have increased the severity of the punishment.  Therefore being cast into prison was a very mild punishment for the crime.  This demonstrates that Potiphar did not believe his wife.  Please consider this note:

 Deuteronomy 22:23-27 (NASB95)
²³ “If there is a girl who is a virgin engaged to a man, and another man finds her in the city and lies with her, ²⁴ then you shall bring them both out to the gate of that city and you shall stone them to death; the girl, because she did not cry out in the city, and the man, because he has violated his neighbor’s wife. Thus you shall purge the evil from among you. ²⁵ “But if in the field the man finds the girl who is engaged, and the man forces her and lies with her, then only the man who lies with her shall die. ²⁶ “But you shall do nothing to the girl; there is no sin in the girl worthy of death, for just as a man rises against his neighbor and murders him, so is this case. ²⁷ “When he found her in the field, the engaged girl cried out, but there was no one to save her. ^[2]

 “16–20 When her husband returns, she tells him the story, but once again it is adjusted to make the maximum impact on him. “The arousal of ethnic prejudice (‘the Hebrew’) again goes with social incitement, but in the reverse direction. With Potiphar now … addressee, Joseph is no longer termed ‘man’ but ‘slave’ just as ‘us’ shifts in reference (and solidarity) from the household to the master and mistress. To sting her husband into action, she again throws on him part of the blame, though by another clever adjustment of psychological tactics, in a manner less shrill and more cautious” (Sternberg, Poetics, 425). Whereas she had provoked the slaves by saying “He [i.e., Potiphar] brought a man into us to fool with us,” she addresses Potiphar more circumspectly, so as not to insult him. “The Hebrew slave came into me” puts the blame fully on Joseph and at the same time reminds Potiphar that he is a mere slave and a foreign one at that. “Came into me” is deliberately ambiguous; it may be taken literally, but it is also a euphemism for sexual intercourse (16:2; 30:3; 38:8–9). Having first accused Joseph, she then implicates her husband, “the one you brought in to us.” Finally, she discloses what Joseph has been doing “to fool with me.” This is subtly different from v 14, where she had said “to fool with us,” which could simply mean “insult”; here Joseph’s purpose in coming in to her is said to be sexual intimacy. But the clause could also be read as subordinate to “the one you brought in,” in which case she is not simply blaming her husband for acquiring a foreign slave but implying that Potiphar had acquired him deliberately to harass his wife. “The second reason obviously would be a sharp rebuke to the husband, suggesting that he had perversely invited trouble by introducing such a sexual menace into the household, but the wife is cunning enough to word the accusation in such a way that he will be left the choice of taking it as a direct rebuke or only an implicit and mild one” (Alter, Art of Biblical Narrative, 10).

Her account has the desired effect. Potiphar is furious, and Joseph is put in prison. This is a somewhat unexpected punishment, because convicted rapists were executed when both parties were free citizens (Deut 22:23–27). A slave assaulting his master’s wife would certainly expect no better fate. But for some reason Joseph escaped the death penalty. Presumably his protestations of innocence, though unrecorded, were sufficient to convince Potiphar that his wife might not be telling the whole truth, so Joseph was given a lighter sentence. ”^[3]

Hebrews 12:11 (NASB95)
¹¹ All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness. ^[4]

Sometimes life doesn't give a fair shake to people.  Joseph was obviously in the right, and yet he was sent to prison as an innocent man.  God still blessed him there though.  Notice Joseph's attitude, he doesn't seem to be depressed or down in the dumps about being in prison, he makes the best of the situation, and soon moves into management of the prison where he is held.  It is interesting that twice his clothes were used to convict him, one time to convince Jacob that he was dead, and this time to convict him of a crime that he did not commit, thus making him almost as good as dead.  Yet he did not allow it to get him down, life goes on...

What happened to Joseph was not really that much different than what we experience.  He experienced a mild amount of success, and with the success at running Potiphar's house, came problems.  One set of problems was that he had to suffer temptation, and he suffered from unjustified slander.  Life is not always pretty, and it doesn't always go our way.  There is a misconception that traps people into believing that if they just do good and live a righteous life they will be immune from problems in life.

It’s Sunday, and typically this is a short study, sorry about getting carried away.  If you wish to add to the study be sure to write in.

Questions for thought:

What do Joseph’s actions teach us about avoiding temptation and immorality?

Father, as we consider Your word today, give each of us a desire to hold to the integrity of being faithful to You and to Your word.  Make each one of us lights in a dark place, witnesses to a world that has forgotten You.

In Him,

Joe Turner.