This week, we are looking at part of the story of a man
named Joseph that is recorded for us in the very first letter in the Bible,
called the book of Genesis. Yesterday, we saw that even though Joseph had been
sold into slavery in a foreign land, the Lord was with Joseph. And as a result
of the Lord’s presence and activity in Joseph’s life, Joseph became a successful
man. In spite of living as a slave away from family and friends, Joseph was
prospering.
As Potiphar looked at his slave Joseph’s life, he saw the
evidence of the Lord’s activity in Joseph’s life, which resulted in Joseph
achieving success in whatever he was involved in. And as Potiphar watched the
success that Joseph was having, Potiphar promoted Joseph to the position of being
his personal servant. Joseph became Potiphar’s right hand man and was placed in
charge of all of the affairs of his estate. Joseph was appointed to oversee and
manage all of Potiphar’s property and servants.
Moses then tells us that from the time that Joseph
received his promotion, the Lord blessed the Egyptians house and that the
Lord’s blessing was upon all he owned.And here we see God’s promise to Abraham
in Genesis 12 coming to fruition in the life of Joseph. The Lord was blessing
Potiphar as Potiphar promoted Joseph.
And things seemed to be looking up for Joseph. As a
result of the Lord’s presence and activity in his life, Joseph had risen from
common slave, to household servant, to Potiphar’s personal assistant. Joseph’s
life seemed to be taking a turn for the better. And as things took a turn for
the better, we see Joseph come face to face with a temptation that flowed from
his success in the second half of verse 6:
Now Joseph was handsome in form and
appearance. It came about after these events that his master's wife looked with
desire at Joseph, and she said, "Lie with me."
When Moses says that Joseph was handsome in form and
appearance, this phrase literally means that Joseph was handsome in shape and
sight. Joseph was a buff, good looking dude. Potiphar’s wife, upon seeing
Joseph, looked with desire at him. Now this phrase literally means to lift up
one’s eyes at something. So Potiphar’s
wife saw Joseph and lifted her eyes with desire “whoa! What I would like to do
to him”. But Potiphar’s wife did not simply want to undress Joseph with her
eyes. Potiphar’s wife wanted to undress Joseph and acted on her desire by
propositioning Joseph: “Lie with me”. Have sex with me Joseph. Now that is
cutting to the chase.
Now imagine yourself as Joseph. Put yourself in his
shoes. Life for you has taken a turn for the better. You have been promoted to
be Potiphar’s personal assistant. You are in charge of his estate and his
servants. And Potiphar is a busy man as he is the captain of the secret service
for the Egyptian government. So Potiphar is gone a lot. And here comes his wife
and offers to have sex with you.
How would you respond? I mean, how would Potiphar find
out if you did have sex with his wife? You are in a position where you can
arrange the circumstances so that no one else would be around and no one would
ever know. So what would you do? How would you respond? We see Joseph’s
response in verse 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?"
Joseph responded to Potiphar’s wife’s offer to have sex
by rejecting the offer. And in his rejection of her offer, we see Joseph
provide the reasons for that rejection. First, Joseph rejects the offer because
it would violate the trust that Potiphar had in Joseph. Potiphar had given
Joseph a great deal of responsibility because he trusted him and Joseph was not
about to do anything that would fail to meet his expectations and violate that
trust.
Joseph then asks a rhetorical question that reveals the
second reason for his rejection of her offer: “How then could I do this great
evil and sin against God?" Notice that Joseph does not ask “how could I do
this great evil against your husband?” No, Joseph recognized the timeless
reality that, at the end of the day, our selfishness and rebellion against
others is ultimately against God.
You see, Joseph recognized the evidence of God’s presence
and activity in his life. Joseph recognized that God was using him as the
vehicle to reveal himself to Potiphar. Joseph recognized that this selfish and
rebellious crime against Potiphar would misrepresent God to him. And Joseph
understood that this crime and rebellion was ultimately against God and that he
would be accountable to God.
So, in light of all that God had done for him, how could
he even consider rebelling against him? Moses then reveals how Potiphar’s wife
responded to being rejected in verse 10:
As she spoke
to Joseph day after day, he did not listen to her to lie beside her or be with her. 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. She caught him by his garment, saying, "Lie
with me!" And he left his garment in her hand and fled, and went outside.
When she saw that he had left his garment in her hand and had fled outside, 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. "When he heard that I raised my voice and screamed, he left his
garment beside me and fled and went outside." So she left his garment
beside her until his master came home.
Moses reveals for us that Potiphar’s wife was persistent
and would not take no for an answer. However, while Potiphar’s wife was
persistent, Joseph was even more persistent. Moses tells us that Joseph did not
listen to her to lie beside her or be with her. In other words, not only
did Joseph refuse to have sex with her, Joseph avoided being in her presence
alone altogether. Joseph strived to live his life in a way that was above
reproach. Joseph strived to live in a way that no one would be able to point a
finger of accusation at him that was accurate.
Unfortunately for Joseph, he still had to enter into the
house to fulfill his responsibilities as Potiphar’s personal assistant. Moses
tells us that one day Joseph went into his house to do his work as usual. This
time, however, there were no other servants in the house. Potiphar’s wife,
taking advantage of this unusual situation, grabs Joseph by his clothes and
aggressively takes the initiative: Joseph let’s have sex. And once again Joseph
was even more persistent when it came to his rejection of her offer. Joseph
fled from Potiphar’s wife as she snatched some of his clothes off his back.
Rejected and spurned once again, the frustrated wife of
Potiphar releases her anger by falsely accusing Joseph of attempting to rape
her. And as evidence, she points to the very piece of clothing that she had
snatched from Joseph’s body. But this morning, notice how Potiphar’s wife
falsely accuses Joseph: "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. When he heard
that I raised my voice and screamed, he left his garment beside me and fled and
went outside."
Potiphar’s wife blames Potiphar for bringing a foreign
slave into their lives in order to make sport of us. Now the phrase make sport
literally means to play around or harass. So Potiphar’s wife shifts the blame
onto her husband by accusing him of sexual harassment and an unsafe home
environment in front of the rest of the slaves. Then she waits until Potiphar
returns home.
Friday, we will see Moses reveal for us a timeless truth
through Potiphar’s response to his wife’s accusation…
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