Joseph and Potiphar’s Wife (Gen 39)

Introduction

If you have your Bible, please turn it to Genesis 39.

We’re back to a rather familiar passage—one that most people have read and heard from a rather young age (even if they didn’t quite understand all the details). It’s one that often carries applications that don’t actually take into consideration the most important detail of the text and you know exactly what I mean. You’ve probably heard this passage taught as a polemic against temptation—as in, “be like Joseph when temptation comes and run”—or, you’ve heard this passage taught as a desperate cry for integrity—”be like Joseph even in private settings”—but, while those two ideas are true—that you should run from temptation and have integrity, those aren’t the most important idea of the whole passage.

Rather, I would argue that the most important idea within this passage is a phrase that’s repeated multiple times throughout the chapter. I’m not going to tell you what that phrase is, yet—I want to read the text first, but I don’t think it’ll take much for you to see that repeated phrase. And I’m suggesting that that repeated phrase is the whole point of the chapter—thus, our application is based on that repeated phrase.

Keep this in mind as we read Genesis 39.

Genesis 39 ESV

1 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.

As we study this passage, we’re going to split the passage in two: (1) Joseph Acts in Integrity (1-18) and (2) Joseph’s Imprisonment (19-23). Again, we’re looking at an account in Scripture that is familiar, but I think we’ve all heard this passage taught with the side-points as the main point and the main point actually disregarded. Whereas the majority of folks reading this passage focus on Joseph’s integrity and his willingness to run from temptation, my argument is that the main point is the phrase “because the LORD was with him.” That’s what the main point of this passage is and that’s what our application is based on.

The goal for today is for you to see that as a Christian, you can abstain from temptation, you can act in integrity—not because of your own ability or your own desire, but because the LORD is with you. The beauty of this is that when you recognize that the LORD is always with you, you get the basis for the application for today: (1) The Lord is with you and He has set you free from sin, (2) The Lord is with you even when you struggle with the temptation to sin, and (3) The Lord is with you even in the lowest points of your life.

So, lean into Him—seek Him and trust Him, follow Him and obey Him.

Prayer for Illumination

Joseph Acts in Integrity (1-18)

Joseph’s Role in Potiphar’s House (1-6) — So Joseph, a young man (about 17) in which we don’t really see anything negative about in Scripture (unless you take his bad report to mean a morally bad report), has been sold into slavery.

We see this initially in Genesis 37 when his brothers attack him, throw him into a pit, and then sell him to a traveling group of traders.

That’s the last instance in which we saw Joseph before we turned our attention to Judah and Tamar last week, which gave us another situation that was unusual and disconcerning.

Truthfully, we weren’t told too many details in ch. 37—just that he was sold to the Ishmaelites for 20 shekels of silver, which was a common amount for slaves at the time—and that they immediately took him to Egypt and sold him to Potiphar, who was an important Egyptian officer.

By the point we rejoin Joseph in Genesis 39, he’s living in the home of Potiphar.

And already, we can tell just how important Potiphar was just based on the household itself—the fact that Potiphar had enough slaves and resources that he needed an overseer in his home tells us that he’s rich.

Of course, we know that he’s the captain of the guard for Pharaoh, so it really ought not surprise us that he’s rich—he’s the person in charge of everyone who defends the Pharaoh and in Ancient Egypt, the Pharaoh was like god to the people.

Potiphar is a wealthy and important figure, but that’s not the importance of that detail. The importance of the detail is that Joseph, through God’s blessing was successful enough that Potiphar, the rich captain of the guard makes Joseph the overseer of the house.

Because God was with Joseph, everything that Joseph did was blessed by God

And because of this blessing, Potiphar trusted Joseph with having charge over his entire household.

This is such an important detail when you consider the life of Joseph as a whole.

Because Joseph eventually ends up doing this same job in a much grander scale to protect both Egypt and Israel at the end of Genesis—where do you think God trained him to do what he does at the end of Genesis? It’s here, as he heads up the household of Potiphar.

Despite being a slave, Joseph’s role in Potiphar’s household was great—he was really in charge of everything. So much so, that Joseph mentions that he was in charge of just about everything when Potiphar’s wife tempts him.

The Temptation of Potiphar’s Wife (7-18) — It was in this capacity, as Potiphar’s steward, that Joseph catches the eye of Potiphar’s wife.

Potiphar’s wife notices Joseph and she’s really straightforward with what she wants.

At the end of v. 6, we read that Joseph was handsome in form and appearance and v. 7 tells us that Joseph’s master’s wife cast her eyes on Joseph.

And the reasoning for her is for him to lay with her.

However, Joseph rejects her for two reasons: (1) because Potiphar trusts him and (2) to do so would be to do great wickedness and to sin against God.

We see that idea of Potiphar trusting him in the statement that all that he owns and everything in his household is at his command—that nothing has been held back from Joseph except Potiphar’s wife.

It’s an extreme trust that we see reflected in Pharaoh later on—when Joseph is in charge of Pharaoh’s household, Pharaoh doesn’t without much of anything from Joseph.

We see the realization that this would be an act of wickedness against Potiphar and an act of sin against God—something we all ought to remember, sin can both be an act of wickedness against a person and an act of wickedness opposing God.

Not all sins are acts of wickedness against other people, but all sins are acts of wickedness against God.

All sins are acts of open rebellion against the God who is King—it’s cosmic treason, but I digress.

In this account, Potiphar’s wife is persistent—she will not give up; and yet, Joseph continues to refuse.

And truly, good on him for wanting to not just keep the trust of Potiphar, but also good for him for refusing a temporal good time in light of eternity.

What I mean by that is that many young men and women in similar situations wouldn’t bother to refuse—they would jump right in thinking that the risk would be worth it.

Joseph has integrity—who he is in public is who he chooses to be behind closed doors—so, he continues to reject her, to not listen to her, to not lie beside her or to be with her.

In her anger, Potiphar’s wife lies about him (11-18)

In v. 11, Joseph goes into the house to do his work and none of the other men of the house was in the house—in her lustful desire for Joseph, he not just says “lie with me,” but she grabs him.

And in his desire to obey God, he runs from her—so quickly, that he loses his clothes as he runs out of the house.

Of course, in her anger, she decides to be vengeful and calls everyone together and lies about what Joseph did—and this is one of those situations in which Joseph did something right, but in doing so, life is about to become more difficult for him.

Potiphar’s wife accuses Joseph of attempting to rape her.

She makes this accusation initially to those who worked in the house, but when Potiphar, her husband comes home, she insists on the same story. v. 17, “The Hebrew servant, whom you have brough among us, came in to me to laugh at me. But as soon as I lifted up my voice and cried, he left his garment beside me and fled out of the house.”

Joseph is suffering yet another instance in which people around him are absolutely sinning against him.

Transition: Truthfully, by this point, you get a rather strong impression that things just seemingly get worse and worse for Joseph—he goes from the favored son, to the son in a pit, to a slave, and when there’s a modicum that things seem to be working out for him, Potiphar’s wife lies and things get worse again.

Look at vv. 19-23 with me:

Genesis 39:19–23 ESV

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.

Joseph’s Imprisonment (19-23)

Potiphar’s Anger Against Joseph and its Result (19-20)—v. 19 tells us as soon as Potiphar heard the words from his wife, “his anger was kindled and Joseph’s master took him and put him into . . . prison.”

Of course, Potiphar is going to trust his wife over his slave—even if we know better, he doesn’t.

So, his wife accuses Joseph of attempting to rape her—Potiphar doesn’t even hesitate, in anger, he imprisons Joseph.

And again, we can’t really blame Potiphar for this—I think we’d react similarly.

You might have noticed though, that Potiphar throwing Joseph in the king’s prison is different than how Potiphar could’ve reacted.

As the captain of Pharaoh’s guard, it was within Potiphar’s right and authority to have Joseph executed for Joseph’s perceived attack.

The fact that he imprisons Joseph rather than executes him suggests that perhaps Potiphar didn’t believe his wife entirely, but because she is his wife, he had to do something.

The location of Joseph’s imprisonment, “the place where the king’s prisoners were confined” suggests something other than just a dark and dreary dungeon.

Because of Potiphar’s wife’s lies, Joseph is thrown into prison.

But the situation isn’t as terrible as we might think it is because God’s providence is in action. God uses Potiphar’s wife’s sin against Joseph to kindle Potiphar’s anger, which then motivates him to imprison Joseph, while still preserving his life.

Being imprisoned in the king’s prison places Joseph in a location in which he will meet certain individuals that play a significant role later in Joseph’s life.

It’s really a continuation of God’s providential plan to save his people later in history.

We see God’s Kindness towards Joseph through this, but particularly in the last few verses (21-23)

Joseph’s in prison now, but v. 21 reminds us that “the LORD was with Joseph.” That’s the third time we’ve read that phrase in this passage. And in this case, we’re told that the Lord was with Joseph and God “showed him steadfast love and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison.”

Because of God’s kindness, his steadfast love, the keeper of the prison places Joseph in charge of all the prisoners in the prison.

And as He did before, God blessed all that Joseph did in that prison so much so that the prison keeper really didn’t pay much attention to what Joseph was in charge of—why? because everything Joseph did was blessed by God.

Note two things about this blessing from the Lord:

This was purely based on God’s steadfast love—not because of what Joseph did.

There are plenty who read a passage like this and make the assertion—well, if you have integrity like Joseph does, God will bless you with such great success.

If you run from lust or other types of sin like Joseph does, God is going to bless all your business plans.

But there’s more going on than that—and truthfully, to read this passage and make those assumptions turns a passage that’s really about God and His providence to save His people into a passage that’s all about me.

The reality is that all who believe are blessed by God, but God’s blessing doesn’t always result in success like this; and that’s alright.

In fact, if you look at church history, you’ll actually find that a lot of times those who are blessed most by God aren’t successful in ways like this.

Rather because God already had blessed them, they remain faithful.

Which, by the way, is a good way to look at this passage.

God didn’t bless Joseph because Joseph obeyed God—Joseph obeyed God because God had already blessed him.

Joseph didn’t earn favor by rejecting lust—God gave Joseph favor because of His steadfast love.

Transition: Really, the primary idea here is that the LORD was with Joseph. The LORD was with Joseph, that’s what sets Joseph up to be able to fight against temptation, that’s what causes Joseph to act in the way that he does, that’s what compels Joseph to keep trusting God even in prison.

And it’s the idea that God is with His people that lays the foundation for our application. Let’s talk about it.

Application

The Lord is with you and He has set you free from sin—we really need to start there in the first place because the fact that God is with His people and sets them free from sin is a Gospel matter.

One part of the Gospel is that prior to salvation you are totally depraved.

That doesn’t mean that you were the most evil you could’ve possibly ever been.

That means that until salvation, you couldn’t do anything to gain favor from God or earn your salvation.

In a moral sense, concerning salvation, until Jesus saves you, you can’t do any good thing that brings you closer to salvation.

Salvation is purely an act of God in your life—thus, until Jesus saves you, you’re chained in your sin and its consequences.

However, the moment that Jesus saves you, He set free from sin and its consequences.

This isn’t necessarily a main point of Genesis 39, but it’s a starting point that needs mentioned for two reasons:

If Joseph didn’t follow the Lord and had been set free from sin and its consequences, it really wouldn’t have mattered that he acted in integrity—yes, he would’ve done a good thing, but he still wouldn’t be a believer, the LORD wouldn’t be with him.

It wouldn’t really matter whether Joseph did right or not.

Likewise, if you don’t follow the Lord and He hasn’t set you free from sin and its consequences, it really doesn’t matter if you act rightly—whether its with integrity or whatever else it might be—because you still wouldn’t be a believer, the LORD wouldn’t be with you.

It wouldn’t really matter if you did right or not.

Because just doing good things doesn’t save—you need to repent, believe, and follow Jesus for salvation.

If you believe, the LORD is with you and He has set you free from sin and its consequences.

That doesn’t mean that you still won’t struggle with temptation—Joseph faced the temptation to sin with Potiphar’s wife even though the LORD had set Him free from sin and its consequences.

It just gives you better footing for resisting the temptation to sin—i.e., you’ll better understand why and how you ought to resist the temptation to sin.

It’s not to earn favor or earn righteousness—you resist sin because of God set you free from it. In Romans 6 part of Paul’s argument to reject sin is purely because Jesus has set you free from it so that it would no longer have dominion over you—so why would you allow it to reign in your mortal body?

Likewise, you don’t reject sin to puff yourself up or to think of yourself more highly than you ought to—your rejection of sin is the result of humility—you humbly reject sin because you humbly recognize that Jesus has saved you from it.

Again, that doesn’t mean that you won’t ever struggle with temptation to sin again; however, Joseph’s account reminds us that Lord is with you even when you struggle with the temptation to sin—again, we read and re-read that constant reminder that Yahweh was with Joseph.

And that’s really a statement of hope, isn’t it? — our tendency, much like David in the some psalms, is to assume that if we’re facing temptations to sin, that God is no longer with us.

But, the reality is that God is omnipresent—He’s everywhere simultaneously—even if we go to the deepest parts of the grave, even if we go to the highest heavens—God is there.

Likewise, it’s a great reminder that even when we do fall into sin, God doesn’t just abandon His people—in fact, we believe firmly that if you truly believe, you cannot lose your salvation (the perseverance of the saints).

And with that in mind, even when you sin, God is still with you, He hasn’t left you—rather, He’s calling you back to a right relationship with Him (e.g., Revelation—church in Laodicea).

Joseph struggled with the temptation to sin with Potiphar’s wife—in his case, he acted in integrity and rejected her advances.

Hopefully, when you struggle with the temptation to sin, you do the same.

However, when you do fall into sin, God won’t abandon you—you just need to repent and return to Him.

And finally, the Lord is with you even in the lowest points of your life—Joseph keeps experiencing lower and lower points in his life. From his brothers throwing him into a pit and selling him into slavery, to being slandered by Potiphar’s wife and being thrown into prison—and yet, the primary theme of the text remains the same—God is with Him even in the lowest points of HIs life.

Likewise, God is with you in the lowest points of your life whether it feels like it or not—and I really want to highlight that idea.

Our emotions, our feelings—when they’re in-check, they’re good—after all, emotions are a gift from the Lord.

When our emotions and feelings aren’t in-check, we tend to act at the very best, illogically, but at the very worst, sinfully.

Part of being able to keep our emotions and feelings in check is this constant reminder that God is always with us—and that works several different ways.

For instance, Joseph as he’s experiencing these different lows in life, could very easily allow those lows to cause him to fall into despair, discouragement, and depression—instead, through his knowledge of God and who God is, he keeps his emotions in check.

Likewise, life is a roller coaster of different experiences that results in a roller coaster of different emotions and feelings—we could very easily allow that roller coaster of emotions and feelings to dictate how we act and how we think—or we could allow our knowledge of God and who He is to keep our emotions in check.

A perfect example of this is found in our modern-day sitcom. Sitcoms are filled with varying storylines in which the characters find themselves in various situations that are amplified by emotions, which makes sense when you realize that sitcom is short for situational comedy.

So, in series like the Big Bang Theory, Full House, or even, King of the Hill are filled with situations in which the emotions of the characters drive the storyline—and if you watch a lot of sitcoms, you’ll walk away with a sense that if they would just talk to each other instead of letting their emotions run the scenarios, nothing bad would’ve happened, but then, we also wouldn’t have a tv show to watch.

The issue is that we often treat our own lives like this as well—so, we react to various situations through our emotions rather than thinking through the situation and seeking clarity.

So, we respond in often emotion-filled and irrational ways when we really ought to take a breath, think things through, and reflect before responding.

We really ought to take a breath, remind ourselves of who God is, and respond with the knowledge that God never leaves us and He is with us even in the lowest points of our life.

Friends, if you are His, God is always with you, so lean into Him and this truth. Allow the truth that He is always with you to compel you to seek Him more and to trust Him, follow Him, and obey Him—even when you struggle with temptation, even when you fall into sin, even when you’re facing life’s hardest moments—God is with you.

Pastoral Prayer