Sermon Tone Analysis

Sunday December 3, 2006

Genesis: Genesis 39:19-20-Potiphar Imprisons Joseph

Lesson # 248

Please turn in your Bibles to Genesis 39:1.

This morning we will continue with our study of Genesis 39.

By way of review of this chapter, we have noted the following:

Genesis 39:1 briefly summarized Genesis 37:36, where an Egyptian officer, Potiphar, who was captain of Pharaoh’s bodyguard, purchasing Joseph from the Ishmaelites.

Genesis 39:2-6 presented to us the record of God blessing the captain of Pharaoh’s bodyguard, Potiphar on account of Joseph.

Genesis 39:6b-7 gives us the account of Potiphar’s wife tempting Joseph to commit adultery with her.

Genesis 39:8-10 records Joseph withstanding the sexual advances of Potiphar’s wife.

In Genesis 39:11-18, we saw Joseph again rejecting Potiphar’s wife sexual advances and in frustration she accuses Joseph.

This morning we will note Genesis 39:19-20, which records Joseph being imprisoned by Potiphar as a result of his wife’s accusations.

Genesis 39:1, “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.”

Genesis 39:2, “The LORD was with Joseph, so he became a successful man.

And he was in the house of his master, the Egyptian.”

Genesis 39:3, “Now his master saw that the LORD was with him and how the LORD caused all that he did to prosper in his hand.”

Genesis 39:4, “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.”

Genesis 39:5, “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.”

Genesis 39:6a, “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.”

Genesis 39:6b, “Now Joseph was handsome in form and appearance.”

Genesis 39:7, “It came about after these events that his master's wife looked with desire at Joseph, and she said, ‘Lie with me.’”

Genesis 39:8, “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.’”

Genesis 39:9, “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?”

Genesis 39:10, “As she spoke to Joseph day after day, he did not listen to her to lie beside her or be with her.”

Genesis 39:11, “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.”

Genesis 39:12, “She caught him by his garment, saying, ‘Lie with me!’ and he left his garment in her hand and fled, and went outside.”

Genesis 39:13-14, “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.’”

Genesis 39:15, “When he heard that I raised my voice and screamed, he left his garment beside me and fled and went outside.”

Genesis 39:16, “So she left his garment beside her until his master came home.”

Genesis 39:17-18, “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; and as I raised my voice and screamed, he left his garment beside me and fled outside.”

Genesis 39:19, “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.”

Genesis 39:20, “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.”

The original Hebrew text of Genesis 39:17 reveals that when speaking to her husband, Potiphar’s wife does “not” accuse Joseph of raping her as she does before her servants but rather simply accuses him of disrobing in front of her, which is indicated by the following:

In Genesis 39:14, Potiphar’s wife speaks to her servants and makes the accusation that “he (Joseph) came in to me to lie with me” but in Genesis 39:17 she says to her husband that Joseph “came in to me to make sport of me.”

In Genesis 39:14, when speaking to her servants, she uses the expression ba’ `elay lishkav `immi (aB* yl^a@ bK^v+l!

yM!u!), “he came in to me to lie with me.”

In Genesis 39:17, when speaking to Potiphar, she uses the expression ba’ `elay (yl^a@-aB*), “he came in to me.”

In Genesis 39:14, when speaking to her servants, she uses the verb shakhav (bk^v*) (shaw-kahv), “lie,” which is never used for loving marital intercourse in Genesis but only for illicit or forced sex and in the context of Genesis 39:14 refers to rape.

However, in Genesis 39:17 when speaking to her husband she omits the word!

Therefore, we can see that when speaking to her servants, Potiphar’s wife accuses Joseph of rape as indicated by her use of the verb shakhav.

However when speaking to her husband, she does “not” accuse Joseph of rape as indicated by her omitting the verb shakhav.

Although the verb bo, “he came in” is used in Scripture at times as a euphemism for sexual intercourse, it is never used in Scripture with reference to illicit sex.

Also indicating that when speaking to her husband, Potiphar’s wife did “not” accuse Joseph of rape is that Genesis 39:19 does “not” say that Potiphar’s anger burned directly against Joseph, which we would expect but rather it says that he simply got angry.

Further indicating that Potiphar’s wife did “not” accuse Joseph of rape when speaking to her husband is that when Potiphar goes to punish Joseph, he gives him a light sentence by throwing him into prison rather than executing him, which would have been expected, especially from someone who was Pharaoh’s chief executioner.

Genesis 39:19, “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.”

Genesis 39:20, “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.”

It appears that when speaking to her husband, she is insinuating that Joseph simply disrobed as a preliminary to rape and this indicated in Genesis 39:18 by her statement, “he left his garment beside me.”

Genesis 39:17-18, “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; and as I raised my voice and screamed, he left his garment beside me and fled outside.”

Therefore, it appears that she secretly hoped that by having Joseph imprisoned, she might be able to finally break Joseph so that he sleeps with her.

The fact that she did not accuse Joseph of attempted rape when speaking to Potiphar but rather accuses him of disrobing in front of her reveals that she did not want Joseph killed because she hoped to break down his resistance so that he would have sex with her.

The fact that Potiphar throws Joseph into prison rather than executing him indicates that Potiphar didn’t really believe his wife’s story but for the sake of saving face in front of his servants and to prevent his wife from impugning his character so as to ruin his career and reputation, he imprisons Joseph.

The fact that Potiphar simply imprisoned Joseph and did not severely beat him and execute him was a light sentence for such an accusation of attempted rape, which was to be punished with a thousand blows and rape upon a free woman was even more severe.

Psalm 105:18 reveals that Joseph’s feet were put in shackles and his neck in irons.

Psalm 105:18, “They bruised his feet with shackles, his neck was put in irons.”

Since he could not disprove his wife’s accusations, he had no other recourse but to imprison Joseph.

He could not have taken his Hebrew’s slave word over his Egyptian wife’s since she would have been outraged if he did and spread it all over town thus ruining his reputation and career.

The fact that he imprisons Joseph for the charge of disrobing in front of his wife and does not execute him immediately indicates that Potiphar knew both his wife and Joseph too well to really believe that he received the truth from his wife.

Also, further indicating that Potiphar did not believe his wife’s story is that Joseph never runs since if he were guilty of any crime, he would have run to escape punishment but the fact that he never runs indicates that he has no guilt and therefore, did not commit any crime.

If what Potiphar heard from his wife were true then he would be justified in his anger against Joseph but the Scripture does “not” say that Potiphar’s anger burned against Joseph but rather it simply says that “his anger burned.”

Genesis 39:19, “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.”

The fact that Potiphar does “not” really believe his wife’s accusations against Joseph as indicated in that he does not execute Joseph but rather imprisons him indicates quite clearly that he was angry because he lost the services of the most efficient business manager in all the land of Egypt.

Also, Potiphar would be angry with his wife for placing responsibility for the trouble on him for bringing in an alleged sexual predator in their home for her to deal with.

This is indicated in that when Potiphar’s wife speaks to him about Joseph, she calls Joseph “your slave” indicating that she is placing the blame for this alleged incident with Joseph on him since he gave Joseph his authority and freedom.

Genesis 39:20, “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.”

“Jail” is composed of the noun bayith (ty!B^) (bah-yith), which means, “house” and the articular noun sohar (rh^s)) (so-har), which means, “prison,” thus a “prison house” and was a fortified prison and was usually attached to the dwelling of such an officer as Potiphar.

It was partly a underground dungeon according to Genesis 41:14, though the brick-built walls rose considerably above the surface of the ground, and were surmounted by a vaulted roof, somewhat in the form of an inverted bowl.

Now, Genesis 39:20 records that Joseph was imprisoned “where the king’s prisoners were confined,” which housed state criminals.

In general, the Egyptian prisons, like other prisons in the ancient Middle East, were used solely for the purposes of detention where accused persons were cast into these until the charges against them could be investigated.

Two passages in Genesis 40 make it clear that the prison referred to is located nowhere other than in Potiphar’s house, probably in a dungeon in the basement.

Genesis 40:3, “So he (Pharaoh) put them (Pharaoh’s chief baker and cupbearer) in confinement in the house of the captain of the bodyguard, in the jail, the same place where Joseph was imprisoned.”

Genesis 40:7, “He (Joseph) asked Pharaoh's officials who were with him in confinement in his master's house, ‘Why are your faces so sad today?’”

If we compare these passages of Scripture we know that Joseph was imprisoned in a house which belonged to the “captain of the bodyguard” (Genesis 40:3), and we know this captain to be Potiphar (Genesis 39:1).

Furthermore, Joseph is said to have been in confinement “in his master’s house” (Genesis 40:7), which we know was Potiphar’s house.

Therefore, the jail that Joseph was put in was located on the premises of Potiphar’s estate, which also explains why the chief jailer so quickly placed matters under Joseph’s charge and so Joseph would have been well known to the chief jailer.

Finally, it is consistent with the doubts that Potiphar may have had concerning the truthfulness of his wife’s accusations.

Even if he did believe his wife, Potiphar could continue to benefit from Joseph’s uncanny abilities if he confined him in the prison that was found in his own house.

So we can see that Joseph has been demoted in the sense that he was banned from the penthouse and bound in the prison.

He went from the top floor to the basement.

I’m sure Potiphar went down to Joseph each day to discuss business with him and all of the areas which used to be under Joseph’s direct control and so Joseph was now only a consultant to Potiphar.

Now, if we could we have our deacons pass out the communion elements and let us take a few minutes to meditate upon the Lord and prepare ourselves for the Lord’s Supper.

1 Corinthians 11:23-24, “For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, ‘This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.’”

1 Corinthians 11:25, “In the same way He took the cup also after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.’”

1 Corinthians 11:26, “For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes.”