Joseph was put up for sale in Egypt in the slave market, and found himself in the service of Potiphar, a high-ranking army officer. His position was humiliating. He had no friends to explain what had happened and set him free. There was no chance of escape—as a Hebrew he would stand out in a crowd. In any case, he could not speak the language.
With good grace he accepted his humble status, rolled up his sleeves, and set himself, with his father’s tenacity and business skill, to advance his new master’s affairs. God added his blessing. ‘The LORD was with Joseph, and he became a successful man, and he was in the house of his Egyptian master’ (Genesis 39:2). He worked his way up to become Potiphar’s manager. Eventually, ‘he left all that he had in Joseph’s charge’ (v. 6). No doubt Joseph was well treated by his appreciative master, and would enjoy a degree of comfort and prestige as his responsibilities increased. But his heart must have ached for his distant family, and the cool mountains of his native land. He had no Bible to read to encourage him to believe and trust in God. The people of Egypt worshipped idols, and enjoyed a loose and self-indulgent life. There was nothing at all to keep him in the straight and narrow way. So when he faced his sternest test, Joseph deserves in full the credit for his victory.
Temptation
It came about like this. Joseph was a handsome fellow (v. 6). He probably inherited his good looks from Rachel, his mother. Potiphar was often away from home on official business. Potiphar’s wife, with what was probably a typical Egyptian morality, invited Joseph to go to bed with her. It would have been easy for the lonely man to accept her advances. ‘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. He is not greater in this house than I am, nor has he kept back anything from me except yourself, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?” (vs. 8–9). It reads like a sordid novel. But Joseph triumphed over the temptation, out of love and respect for God. When we remember he had worshipped God all alone from the day he had been taken from his father’s house, this was a monumental faith. Not many of us would have been so strong.
Adultery is wrong. It wrecks families, and leaves children loveless and insecure. It breaks a most solemn vow. Adultery was forbidden in the code that Joseph was taught by his father Jacob. Jesus condemned adultery in his commandments, nearly 2000 years later (Matthew 19:6). Society’s standards may change, but God’s standards have not changed over the centuries.
Only by constantly refreshing their minds with God’s commands and asking for His help, can His children keep themselves ‘unstained from the world’ (James 1: 27). Joseph’s test puts real meaning into the Lord’s prayer, “lead us not into temptation” (Matthew 6:13).
Potiphar’s wife was determined. Joseph’s stubbornness only increased her desire for him. When at last she saw he would not yield, her resentment turned to hatred, and she vented all her spite on him. She told Potiphar that Joseph had tried to rape her (vs. 11–18). There was no one to speak up for Joseph. In a rage, Potiphar hurled him into prison.
Injustice
What a shattering reversal of fortunes, and how utterly unjust! Joseph’s kidnapping by his brothers was nothing beside this malicious attack. After a career of faithful service, he had been condemned for a crime which he had resisted with saintly courage. Now he found himself immured in prison in a foreign land, with not a single person in the whole country to take his side. Could he still continue to believe in God after all that?
David wrote later of this episode in Joseph’s life: ‘His feet were hurt with fetters; his neck was put in a collar of iron; until what he had said came to pass, the word of the LORD tested him’ (Psalm 105:18–19),
This was now the third test of Joseph’s faith. The fact that he came through it all is a shining example for us, in our ups and downs in life, not to lose heart. ‘For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives. It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline?… For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it’ (Hebrews 12:6–7, 11), One day the dark clouds will pass away, as they did for Joseph, and the radiant light of God’s Kingdom will enable His children to see His hand in their lives. ‘He disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness’ (v. 10).
DAVID PEARCE
(to be continued)