Joseph & Potiphar's Wife

1. How does the context inform the meaning of this passage? Please consider: a) the literary context (passages before and after the passage), b) the historical context (circumstances of the audience), and c) the biblical context (citations/allusions or historical connections to other books that the author is making).

LITERARY -

As to the context, we have already noted that this chapter continues the story of Joseph’s sale to Potiphar (37:36). The Judah-Tamar narrative serves to raise the tension in the Joseph story, while Judah’s sexual promiscuity serves as a foil for Joseph’s conduct. The theme of the Lord’s presence with Joseph reaches all the way back to God’s covenant promise to Abraham to be his God (17:7–8), while the theme of the Lord blessing Joseph and through him “the Egyptian’s house” (39:5) reaches all the way back to God’s original promise to Abraham, “In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (12:3). These themes recur especially with Jacob when he leaves the Promised Land (as Joseph has done here): at Bethel the Lord promised him his special presence (28:15; cf. 31:3), and through him the Lord also blessed the house of Laban (30:27). This narrative about Joseph’s rise and fall in Potiphar’s house (39), will be followed by his rise in prison and being forgotten (40), and will climax with his rise to power in Egypt (41).

His daughter Dinah is sexually assaulted by a neighboring family/nation Shechem. This spurred her brothers to seek justice for their sister when they father seemed passive about the situation. So learning from their father’s example, they decieve, Hamor and his son Shechem, who wanted to have Dinah given in marriage to his son Shechem. They agree to intermarry only if all the males in their family/kingdom circumcise themselves. WHen they do, the brothers rush in to overthrow the land and sack all the possessions of the land.

This puts Israel (Jacob) in a precarious spot with his neighboring nations. THe admonishes his sons for their rash behavior and they admonish their father for not pursuing justice for Dinah. Instead of truth and righteousness and seeking justice for Dinah, Jacob is more interested in keeping peace with the pagan nations that surround him. In the absense of Divine Law, his sons establish they own form of justice.

The narrator further enables us to discern his message by the repetition of keywords. The name Yahweh is used eight times in this chapter (vv. 2, 3 [2×], 5 [2×], 21, 23 [2×]). This eightfold use of God’s covenant name stands out here because in the entire Joseph story it is used only once more (49:18; plus three times in the Judah story [38:7 (2×), 10]). Moreover, the narrator repeats four times that “the Lord was with Joseph” (vv. 2, 3, 21, 23). Three times he links this presence of the Lord with Joseph’s success/prosperity (vv. 2, 3, 23). Twice he mentions the Lord’s blessing on “the Egyptian’s house” (v. 5, verb and noun). “The word ‘all’ (kol) is insisted upon five times, clearly exceeding the norm of biblical repetition and thus calling attention to itself as a thematic assertion: the scope of blessing or success this man realizes is virtually unlimited; everything prospers, everything is entrusted to him.”

THE POINT: Mankind, without a God’s Law (Holy Standard), cannot function equitable within the world. We will either compromise or establish our rule for our selves.

IN CHAPTERS 35 & 36 - Jacob is not only protected from the plots of the surrounding nations, but God reaffirms his covenant with he and his household.

Apparently, Jacob’s sons had drifted into having household gods like their surrounding neighbors…they were dispensing judgment and justice on a faulty foundation.

The word “hand” (yād) is used eight times. The “hand” implies power. Joseph is bought from the “hand” of the Ishmaelites (v. 1, literal Hebrew). The Lord prospers Joseph’s hand (v. 3), and Potiphar puts all that he has into his hand (vv. 4, 6, 8). Unfortunately, Joseph’s garment falls into the hand of his master’s wife (vv. 12, 13) and he ends up in prison. In prison, however, the chief jailor commits to Joseph’s hand all the prisoners (v. 22), and pays no heed to anything that was in Joseph’s hand (v. 23). Another keyword is “garment” (beged), which in the “hand” of the woman becomes evidence of wrongdoing. It is repeated six times (12 [2×], 13, 15, 16, 18). Finally, Westermann suggests that the words “see,” “cast eyes” function at crucial turning points in this narrative: “One can, in fact, understand the entire episode from the perspective of three kinds of seeing that occur: the Egyptian looks at Joseph (v. 3); his wife looks at Joseph (v. 7); the woman sees the garment left behind [v. 13].”

So God intervenes and affirms the 3 P’s - His power, presence and provision. This covenant renewal and El Bethel strikes fear into his neighbors and protects God’s covenant people from disaster. This is not common grace for Jacob’s family…this is sovereign grace.

At the end of Chapter 35, we see two significant but passing notes: Rachel passes away while giving birth Benjamin & Isaac finally passes.

HISTORICAL -

Chapter 36 gives us the generations of Esau

HISTORICAL -

When God strikes fear in their hearts as Jacob journeys to Bethel, this is note to Israel of Moses’ day…God has already guaranteed your victory.

BIBLICAL -

The life of Joseph foreshadows the life of Jesus Christ. As Joseph moved from his high position as his father’s designated heir to enslavement in Egypt to his exaltation as ruler of Egypt, so Jesus moved from his exalted position with his Father, to his humiliation on earth, to his exaltation to the Father’s right hand. In this particular episode, we can also detect specific parallels between Joseph and Jesus: As God was with Joseph, so God was with Jesus (Luke 2:40; John 1:32); as Joseph was a blessing to one family, so Jesus was a blessing to all the families of the earth; as Joseph was tempted by Potiphar’s wife to take a shortcut to power, so Jesus was tempted by Satan to take a shortcut to power (Matt 4:9); as Joseph was silent when falsely accused, so Jesus was silent when falsely accused (Matt 26:63), and as the innocent Joseph was punished with prison, so the innocent Jesus was punished with death.

2. How has the author organized this passage? Please a) show the structure in sections with verse references and b) explain what strategies you used to see this structure.

The Blessing of God in Potiphar’s House (v.1-6)

The Challenge of Living to Please God (v.7-10)

V.5 - 11 - The Prophetic Role of Joseph

The Unrelenting Assault of our Enemies (v.11-20)

The Blessing of God in the King’s Prison (v.21-23)

V. 12- 28 - The Despisement of Joseph

V. 29 - 36 - The Mourning of Jacob

3. Drawing on your work to this point, state the author’s aim for his audience (in one short sentence).

God’s grace is sufficient for God’s people as we live life in a barren land

Reminded 5x in the first 6 verses [7x in the whole passage] that God is with Joseph…this is the main point of the text.

The Lord is with his people both in prosperity and adversity.

4. What parts of this passage connect to the gospel of Jesus Christ? What part of the gospel is in view?

The life of Joseph foreshadows the life of Jesus Christ. As Joseph moved from his high position as his father’s designated heir to enslavement in Egypt to his exaltation as ruler of Egypt, so Jesus moved from his exalted position with his Father, to his humiliation on earth, to his exaltation to the Father’s right hand. In this particular episode, we can also detect specific parallels between Joseph and Jesus: As God was with Joseph, so God was with Jesus (Luke 2:40; John 1:32); as Joseph was a blessing to one family, so Jesus was a blessing to all the families of the earth; as Joseph was tempted by Potiphar’s wife to take a shortcut to power, so Jesus was tempted by Satan to take a shortcut to power (Matt 4:9); as Joseph was silent when falsely accused, so Jesus was silent when falsely accused (Matt 26:63), and as the innocent Joseph was punished with prison, so the innocent Jesus was punished with death.

5. Drawing on your work to this point, what conclusion will you argue to your audience (in one short sentence)? What applications will you make for your audience?

THEME:

To assure God’s people of his presence with them in times of prosperity as well as times of adversity.

APPLICATIONS:

Perhaps you can relate to this. You may be dealing with a difficult and challenging situation in your life: you are experiencing painful trials that have radically changed your prospects for the future and condemned you to a life you would never have chosen for yourself. What is God doing? Perhaps he will use your suffering to bring you into contact with someone who needs to see the Lord at work. It may be a fellow patient or a nurse or doctor at the cancer clinic, or perhaps a neighbor or friend who is watching you endure your trial. Maybe there is someone near you who needs to see what “the Lord is with us” looks like in the midst of suffering, pain, and loss. It is one thing to declare that “the Lord is with us” when there isn’t a cloud in your sky. It is quite another to be able to confess that “the Lord is with us” in the valley of deep shadow.

THE SECRET INGREDIENT OF JOSEPH’S RESOLVE - Taking Pleasure in God (v.9b)

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Inward work of the Spirit in Joseph’s life - HEART CHANGE

If there is one lesson to be learned from the experience of Old Testament Israel, it is this: having God’s perfect law and a powerful experience of God’s deliverance is not enough. As the Lord reminded Israel through the prophets, they needed new hearts (Jer. 31:33; Ezek. 36:26)

6. What is your sermon title and your preaching outline?Possible Outline -

Sermon Title - The Ups and Downs of life with God

Sermon Outline -

Sermon Outline -

God blesses His people and the world as we live obediently and righteously in the world. (v.1-6)

Pleasing God is the impetus to Resisting Sin (v.7-10)

Obedience doesn’t guarantee that life will always go well. (v.11-20)

God’s real work…Grace that is sufficient (v.21-23)

The Blessing of our Obedience

The Secret Sauce of our Obedience

The Relentless Assault against our Obedience

Sufficiency of Grace in our Obedience

7. QUOTES:

He wants to make sure that you don’t miss the point that just because life is hard and isn’t turning out the way that you hoped, that doesn’t mean God is against you or that his wonderful plan for your life has been derailed. God can be with you in Egypt, in bondage, and in a set of frustrating circumstances where you are experiencing the consequences of other people’s sins against you, just as much as he is with you in the sunnier days in Canaan, where everything seemed to be going according to (your) plan. - Diguid

Joseph clearly did the right thing. He did not want to offend either God or his master. He fulfilled the law by loving his neighbor and God. — Tremper Longman

Once again a garment of clothing plays a role in Joseph’s fate. Earlier the ornate robe was used as evidence that he had been mauled by a wild beast. Potiphar’s wife uses his cloak as evidence that he had tried to rape her. As Provan puts it, “Joseph is not a lucky man where clothing is concerned.”

Potiphar’s wife complained to the household servants and to her husband when he finally returned home that Joseph had made sport of her. The verb “make sport” (tshq) has sexual connotations as we saw in when Abimelek saw Isaac “caressing” (from the verb tshq) Rebekeh. This sexual meaning is likely also at play in the description of the revelry of the Israelites in the presence of the golden calf (). Interestingly, Potiphar’s wife recruits the support of the household servants by saying that he was making sport of “us,” thus including the servants. By trying to rape her, she claims, Joseph was raping all of them. We do not know what Joseph’s relationship to the other household servants was like, but his favored status and his ethnicity may have already engendered a level of jealousy that she is here attempting to intensify.

Potiphar’s wife wants to sleep with Joseph. She is attracted to him because he was “well-built and handsome” (). We have no idea whether she was beautiful or not, but she was a person of power and to refuse her took courage. Joseph, after all, was a slave; she was the mistress of the house. Why did he refuse her? For Potiphar and even more importantly for God. As Provan puts it, sleeping with Potiphar’s wife “would represent a failure to love God and to love his neighbor.”