Righteousness Displayed, Persecuted, and Vindicated

Introduction

There are few things so infuriating as a false accusation. When someone places blame on an innocent for a variety of nefarious reasons. It corrupts justice, punishes the innocent, and when the lie is found out makes it less likely that someone will take such an accusation seriously, making true sufferers more likely to go without justice themselves. What is even more infuriating, however, is when they believed despite logical evidence. When Potiphar locked Joseph up, he must have put little thought into the fact that he was believing his wife, a woman of consistently questionable character, over the slave he trusted so much that he didn’t even supervise his duties or regulate his power over his house. Situations like this are truly enough to get your blood boiling, and we can wonder if there is any justice in the world. How could God let Joseph, who had already seen painful betrayal once, suffer it a second time? While Joseph would not have been able to answer that question fully at the time, he knew that the presence of God stayed with him through such betrayal and suffering, and this gave him success, hope, and joy in his true inheritance: knowing God.

Righteousness Displayed (7-9)

This text presents Joseph as a righteous man, that is, a man who has a right relationship with God. This does not mean that Joseph is sinless, nor does it mean that he is made righteous by his good works. Rather, the text assumes he is counted as righteous in the same way Abraham was in Genesis 15:6; by faith. The word righteous is not in this text but I use it because of the repetition of the phrase, “The LORD was with him.” That is to say, the Lord was his companion, helper, and provider and Joseph, in faith, experienced this special presence of God because he was counted as righteous.

Last week we say how Joseph’s righteousness and the presence of God being with him has brought success to his work and thus had made him a witness and a blessing to his Egyptian master, rather than being taken in by their values, religion, and morals. Joseph brings the presence of God with him into the world and that is what makes him a blessing to the world.

The text continues from verse 6 which was the peak of Joseph’s success in the house of Potiphar and than we get this little detail that brings us into our text today, “Now Joseph was handsome in form and appearance.” This brings us into the beginning of the end of the glory days in Potiphar’s household. In this story, we witness the fall of Joseph’s favour, but more importantly we see what happens when righteousness and wickedness collide. There will never be peace for long when God’s people are in the world, and we see the temporary peace that was there quickly disturbed by this unfaithful woman.

Joseph’s Rejection of the Adulteress (3 Reasons)

In verse 7 we are told that Potiphar’s wife cast her eye on Joseph. His good looks combined with his success attract a wayward character. The language she uses when she says “lie with me” is crude, equivalent to the crude ways of demanding sex that people use today. This is obviously not the first time she has been led away from her husband by her own lust. Her temptation is direct, explicit, and crude. Many worldly men dream of a sexual partner so loose and direct sexually, but this temptation would not only appeal to Joseph’s sexuality but also to a desire for power. Joseph has gotten a lot of power in Potiphar’s house, now he has the power to enjoy the one thing he cannot have. An affair with her would assure him anything he wanted, maybe even his freedom. She is as the tree of the knowledge of good an evil, and he righteously refuses her forbidden fruit. His refusal is not quick and unexplained, he defends his righteous behaviour and in this way he displays the way of righteousness to her. While she is led by passions and desires unbridled by morality or reasoning, he is guided by reason and by the instruction of God. He does this with three arguments.

Abuse of Trust

His first argument is that to sleep with her would be an abuse of trust. This argument is found in verse 8 where Joseph says,

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.

Joseph goes from weakest argument to the strongest. Instead of simply saying, “well, you’re married, so no.” He begins this structured argument beginning with pointing out the general trust that Potiphar had given him. Verse 6 says that Potiphar left all that he had in Joseph’s charge. He left all of his wealth in the hands of a slave, that is a crazy amount of trust. Imagine a millionaire putting all of his money, all of his stocks, all of his property in the hands of one person and he never even looks at it. That’s the responsibility that Joseph has been given. It’s a position that could easily be taken advantage of, but Joseph truly desires the good of his master and refuses to be the kind of person who abuses trust. A righteous person is a man who could be entrusted with worlds of wealth and handle it faithfully and with integrity. They are not like Judah who, before he betrayed his Lord openly, betrayed him and his fellow disciples financially when he would help himself to the common purse (John 12:6). Someone who abuses another’s trust is not acting like our Heavenly Father, who is faithful to all his promises without exception. We are called to mirror this kind of faithfulness.

Abuse of Potiphar’s Marital Rights

The second argument was that to sleep with her would be to deny his master’s marital rights. This is found in the words in verse 9, “nor has he kept back anything from me except you, because you are his wife.” Potiphar has the right to be the only sexual partner for his wife, just as a wife has that same right of her husband. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 7 that husbands and wives have a right to each other’s bodies in love and respect. Thus to sleep with another person’s spouse is actually to steal their God-given rights away from them. When you get married you agree that your body doesn’t just belong to you now, you concede the physical right to say who you get to be with, who you get to sleep with, and even who you get to fall in love with. Potiphar’s wife is discarding the rights of her husband and is asking Joseph to do the same, but Joseph will not infringe on another man’s right to his wife’s body.

Violation of God’s Will

The third and most powerful argument that Joseph makes is found at the end of verse 9

English Standard Version Chapter 39

How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?”

Ultimately, this argument is all that really matters. We can talk about the rights of a husband, but God is the one who holds all right. As Creator and sustainer of the universe, he has the right to be obeyed, followed, worshipped, and reflected by his image-bearers. God created sex and therefore has a right to say what it is for and in what circumstances it is OK. There aren’t a whole lot of rules in that regard, there’s actually a lot of sexual freedom but always in the context of a marriage between a man and a woman. Premarital sex, adultery, homosexual sex, sex that includes multiple partners, everything that goes outside of that simple formula is sinful in God’s eyes. There is no such thing as a victimless sin since God is always the offended party, even of the sins of our heart and mind. Joseph is showing where his ultimate allegiance lies and who he chooses to represent. Ultimately, it is his relationship with God that keeps him from sleeping with another man’s wife.

Righteousness demonstrated by temptation

This temptation proves Joseph’s righteousness, it demonstrates that his integrity is consistent with his profession. He has nothing to hide. When righteousness is tested by the world, it shows itself for what it is. When someone is truly right with God, they shine brighter in the midst of this wicked and vile world.

Righteousness Persecuted (10-20)

The next thing that happens when the righteous encounter the wicked is persecution. Initially after their holiness is proved to be genuine the world then moves to more extreme measures to break image of the God that they rebel against every day in their own heart. Persecution is a lot like someone who breaks a mirror because they don’t want to be reminded of the large cancerous growth on their face that is slowly killing them. They don’t wish to be reminded of the God they are supposed to be following and the sin that they are devouring to their own death. It’s expected, and even understandable on a level. Sin is ugly, is deadly, and is vain and they know it but don’t want to be reminded of it by seeing someone who is following the God they should be following. So the world will either repent or persecute, and this happens in a few different ways.

Persecuted Through Ongoing Temptation (10-12)

The first way that she persecutes him through temptation. While we may not think of temptation as persecution, the temptations that the world pushes on believers are meant to root out anything that points them to God. Like all persecution it is an oppression, not of us but of him who is in us. Now, that doesn’t make us victims if we give into temptation. When we sin, that is 100% our responsibility and we cannot truly repent of that sin if we don’t acknowledge that. It’s not the world’s fault, it’s outs. But, the temptations to sin are an offensive move against God’s people that God takes very seriously. Listen to the words of Jesus in Matthew 18:7

English Standard Version Chapter 18

7 “Woe to the world for temptations to sin! For it is necessary that temptations come, but woe to the one by whom the temptation comes!

But in the next verse we see our responsibility verified,

English Standard Version Chapter 18

8 And if your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life crippled or lame than with two hands or two feet to be thrown into the eternal fire.

So although the temptation to sin is a persecution from the world, giving into sin is never anyone’s fault but our own. In our text, after Joseph had refused this woman’s advances she continues to try to wear him down in verse 10, day after day. In fact, he takes care not to be with her at all, removing any doubt that Joseph was perhaps entertaining the temptation. The world tries to wear us down from our purity to the Word of God and a godly lifestyle. Christ in his time on earth embraced the experience of these temptations while at the same time never giving into them.

Hebrews 2:18 ESV

For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.

Christ’s victory over sin is a victory for us to. The reason temptation is a persecution for the Christian is because it is spiritual warfare that we must wage, just as Joseph had to put off and deny sin over and over again. We are given the ability to do the same with Christ in us through the Holy Spirit.

In Joseph’s life, it wasn’t so much the initial temptation that was his trial as the following ones where she tried to wear him down day after day. Satan’s attempts to disable a godly witness are unwavering and what he can’t do in one blow he will attempt through many cuts. Just as Christ suffered temptation for 40 days and also for the rest of his life so temptation endures while the righteous live among the wicked. It is a test, not only of resistance, but also of endurance.

Persecuted Through Falsehood (13-18)

The second way that Joseph finds himself persecuted is through falsehood. Although he attempted to stay away from the temptress as best he could, one day she caught him alone and he fled. Her disgusting story which discredits this innocent man as a dishonourable rapist is a form of revenge for her not getting what she wanted. She was likely a woman controlled by her lusts and perhaps used to getting every man she laid her eyes on. Now here is one she cannot have and if she cannot have him she’ll make him pay.

The world does not allow for dissension and will discredit those who do not follow it’s current trends or values. Throughout Scripture we see the wicked lie about the righteous in order to remove them from the picture. This is a sort of back-handed compliment for us. If she has to lie about Joseph and spread false accusations, in a sense he should rejoice that there was nothing true or legitimate for her to say about him. He was blameless. The world is going to lie about us, and this only shows that they have no true accusation to bring. If they did, they would use it. In Daniel 6:5 Daniel’s enemies admit that they could find no fault in him, and so went on to deceive the king for the their nefarious ends. Satan falsely accused Job to God and through his friends when he was blameless in God’s sight. Most importantly, our Lord was falsely accused of sin.

Matthew 26:59 ESV

Now the chief priests and the whole council were seeking false testimony against Jesus that they might put him to death,

Even Peter lied about Christ in his hour of suffering.

Matthew 26:72 ESV

And again he denied it with an oath: “I do not know the man.”

To be falsely accused of wrongdoing is a patently Christ-like suffering. It is a testimony of our walk before God if the world needs to make up falsehoods in order to demonize us before others, and rather than frustrating us this should cause us to rejoice with the Apostles who counted it joy to suffer the way Jesus had suffered. The early church was accused of everything from normalizing incest to burning the city of Rome. Being lied about is simply part of following Christ faithfully.

Remember, this is only persecution if the accusations are actually false. If someone charges you with sin, make sure you search your own heart carefully before assuming it is slander. We are often blind to our faults and failings and we must take every opportunity to seek holiness by the power of the Spirit. There are many ways that the world lies about God’s people. They will revise church history in order to demonize the heroes of the faith, they will reword our creed in order to charge us with hate speech and bigotry, they will take a false prophet and paint all Christians with the same brush. In your life friends may say you are an extremist, a cult member, they may accuse you of sins you never commited. You may pay for those lies just as Joseph did in jail. In the midst of these lies, rejoice that you are suffering like Jesus and continue to persevere.

Persecuted Through Force (19-20)

Finally, Joseph is persecuted through force. This actually begins before the lies back in verse 12. The Hebrew wording translated, “she caught him” is the same wording used in other parts of Scripture to refer to rape. She’s not asking him, she’s telling him and she’s going so far as to try to force him to commit adultery with her. This is why Joseph does not reason with her this time, he just runs and unfortunately runs so desperately that he leaves his outer cloak in her hands. Due to her lies he is thrown in prison. This is the kind of persecution we are most familiar with. When the world cannot wear us down with temptation, or cannot get us to back down by slander, they move to force us out of the picture. Again, the rightoeus walk in the footsteps of Christ in this way,

Matthew 27:26 ESV

Then he released for them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, delivered him to be crucified.

When the Jews demanded Christ be put to death and a rioter be released, they placed themselves on the side of the wicked against the righteous. Jesus was put to death, like many Christians around the world who bear his name.

There can be a danger of being hyper-sensitive to persecution. If we are being persecuted, the response is not to go around whining about persecution. We must suffer persecution like Christ who “opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.” (Isaiah 53:7) Joseph is sent to prison and this represents another low in his life. In one day everything Joseph had gained in his slavery is lost.

Righteousness Vindicated (21-23)

But all hope is not lost. After Joseph hits this low we are reminded of something in verse 21, “But the LORD was with Joseph.” This is incredibly comforting for anyone who has suffered at the hands of another. Although Joseph has been forsaken, his reputation ruined, and falsely confined to prison the LORD has not left this young Hebrew slave.

English Standard Version Psalm 27

10  For my father and my mother have forsaken me,

but the LORD will take me in.

Joseph’s Character Attested in Prison (21-23)

We know that God was still with Joseph because, despite being in prison, God gives him the same success he had given him in the house of his master. He is given favour in the sight of the keeper of the prison and is put in charge of all the prisoners who were in the prison. This goes to the point that the keeper of the prison would pay no attention to anything that was in the hands of this prisoner and slave. In other words, Joseph’s own character vindicates him. Although he was thrown in prison for being untrustworthy, this becomes a proof that he has remained faithful both to his human master and to his heavenly master. Despite temptations, lies, and force Joseph remained in the presence of God and God remained with him.

Joseph Continues to be a Blessing

Out text ends on a positive note, “And whatever he did, the LORD made it succeed.” We have to remember that God is actively at work through all of these experiences. It is his glory that he is working at all towards, a glory that was shown most fully at the resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ. Just as God showed he was with Joseph by making him successful in prison, The Father showed his power was with Jesus in his resurrection from the dead. Christ rose for many reason, but part of it was to verify that he had not been defeated by death or abandoned by God. Christ came to redeem the world and, just like Joseph, whatever he did God the Father made it succeed.

And what exactly was accomplished by his success? Again, the same blessing that Joseph brought to Potiphar and now to the jailer, the blessing to the nations, the blessing of the presence of God. Through his death, Christ has made the presence of God available to all. In Christ, we have the same ministry of bringing the blessings of God to the world, and when we set ourselves to that great task we have the assurance of Christ presence with us.

Matthew 28:20b ESV

teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

We could be in any circumstance, suffering the trials of temptation, lies, and force to try to destroy our faith, but if the LORD is with us he will cause us to succeed. He will use us for his glory as vessels of glory. He will bless those around us with the sweet aroma of Christ.

Conclusion

Throughout the story of Joseph, we are reminded time and time again how small our perspective is. Last week I mentioned a movie about this story I watched as a kid, Joseph: King of Dreams. At the part of the movie when Joseph is thrown into prison it plays a wonderful song titled, ‘You Know Better than I.” The words go

“You know better than I,

You know the way,

I’ll let go of the need to know why,

for you know better than I.”

These echo the words of Christ in the garden of Gethsemane,

Luke 22:42 (ESV)

“Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.”

Just like we trust a doctor or dentist during a painful operation that they know what they are doing despite how unnecessarily hard it seems to us, faith in God means walking in the footsteps of Christ, even when those footsteps lead to a roman scourge or a bloody cross to carry. If we abide in Christ at all times and entrust ourselves to him, no lie can defeat the truth of our testimony, no temptation can drag us off the straight and narrow, and no force and destroy our soul though they destroy our body. Just as God raised Joseph from this prison to be chancellor of Egypt, just as he raised his own son from a grave made of our own sin and guilt, he will raise us from this body of flesh and this world of death into the eternal glory of his presence. Like Joseph, it is true of you who are in Christ, “the LORD is with you.”