Genesis Chapter 39

Joseph In Egypt

Now the Book of Genesis returns to the life of JOSEPH. The trials and tribulations allowed in Joseph’s life serve to test and form his character, his very identity, his soul. God uses these trials to transform Joseph into the image and likeness of his Creator, God and Savior. We need to remember that ALL that God allows in our lives is also for our ultimate transformation. Keep in mind that at our conversion, we received SALVATION. Yet, the lifelong transformation is our SANCTIFICATION. And yes, it DOES take a lifetime to accomplish! We are not GLORIFIED, truly completely transformed into the likeness of Jesus, until after we leave this earth. In Genesis 37 we saw how Joseph’s pride, a bit of arrogance and self-reliance caused his downfall. Can we identify? As we seek to learn from Joseph’s choices and reliance on God; it should cause us to also seek to rely on our Savior and Lord, and seek to follow the Holy Spirit in all we think, say and do.

Remember: SIMILE: Resemblance; ALLEGORY: comparison by representation; METAPHOR: Representation; HYPOCATASTASIS: An implied resemblance or representation; TYPE: A figure or example of something future; ANALOGY: Resemblance in some particulars between things otherwise unlike. We are about to embark on an exciting journey following the life of Joseph to discover hidden prophesies and Truths that pertain directly to us and into the future! Remember, we believe we ARE in the last days!

39:1

We are given some very important information here. Egypt, during this Middle Kingdom Age, was a very powerful and unified land. It was a land of peace, an effective powerful government, and enjoyed general prosperity. These confident, powerful people were destined by God to receive not only Joseph, but also the Hebrew family of Jacob, into their haven of safety. Potiphar was a very high ranking Egyptian official, the Captain of the guard. Potiphar, with his position, no doubt had the privilege of selecting the very best slaves available; thus he chose Joseph to become one of his servant/slaves. Notice that the Ishmeelites were the ones who sold Joseph to Potiphar. These decedents of Ishmael were always to be in conflict with the decedents of Isaac. All of this had been prophesied during Abraham’s time.

39:2

Even during Joseph’s trials, the LORD was always with him. Immediately we are told that Joseph was a prosperous man in the household of his Egyptian master. To be prosperous means two very important things: God was with Joseph, AND Joseph was obedient to the Will of God. We can NEVER be prosperous outside God’s Will. We may foolishly think we are ‘prosperous’ because we may have money or material wealth, but none of those ‘things’ are true prosperity in God’s economy.

39:3

Potiphar sees and understands that the LORD was with Joseph and that the LORD made ALL that he did to be successful and flourish. Isn’t it interesting that even a Gentile Egyptian could see and understand that GOD was blessing this Hebrew slave! Notice that Joseph did not sit around, or complain, or refuse to do his best, or try to escape, or do any of the things we might assume we would do in our flesh; instead he did his very best, worked hard, and chose to obey God in EVERYTHING! Obviously, that time in the ‘pit’ taught him some very important lessons about being obedient and humble. It allowed him time to reflect on his own actions and words that led to his being thrown into the pit. Remember, he also heard his brothers say they were going to KILL him, so the pit was the better place to be! Do we reflect on what is happening to us and how we can learn from those trials? Is God allowing ‘trials’ in your life to teach you how to trust and obey Him? God is so good to us, when we fail to learn a lesson the first time, He allows more trials to give us more chances to learn His Eternal Lessons for our lives. Trust and obey God ALL the time, even in the trials. Too often we say we ‘Trust God’ yet our actions, attitude and mind set tell the truth about our hearts!

39:4

Potiphar is more than just pleased with Joseph, he is thrilled to have such a hard working, honest, trustworthy, wise and Godly servant. Potiphar then promotes Joseph into the position of supervising and running his entire household. In fact, he puts Joseph in charge of all he owns! When we do more than what we are paid for, or what is expected of us, on a consistent basis; those in charge will notice. We are not told how much time has gone by, but it appears that Joseph was an obedient hardworking go-getter from the very beginning.

39:5

Not only did God bless all that Joseph did, but from the very time that Potiphar elevated him to be his Overseer of all his house and all his holdings; God also chose to bless all that was in Potiphar’s house and all his fields. We can imagine that Potiphar was probably dancing for joy at the prosperity he was experiencing at the hand of Joseph.

39:6

Potiphar eventually puts everything, every decision, EVERYTHING into Joseph’s control and authority. In fact, he doesn’t even oversee anything, or check on Joseph. We are told he doesn’t even pay attention to anything EXCEPT the food he eats. This is a dangerous mind set he has allowed himself to be in. He has chosen to satisfy his appetites only. We are also told that Joseph was a very attractive man, very fine-looking. When things are prosperous and successful for us, do we then just satisfy our fleshly desires and wants? What do you do with the ‘extra’ time that God has given you? Do you seek after worldly pleasures as Potiphar did? When God gives us time to use at our own discretion, we should pray about how to ‘spend’ that time. Are you ‘spending’ your ‘free’ time on earthly desires, or are you focused on Godly choices? You see, our focus is either on earth or on heaven; NOT both. Spending time in prayer, seeking to discover the Truth of God’s Word for yourself, and God’s Will for your life; all these pursuits will lead you to a truly PROSPEROUS and SUCCESSFUL life, just like Joseph had. Not only that, but you can chose to be a Servant of the Most High God! I want to serve Jesus, how about you?

39:7

‘It came to pass’, means that some time had gone by. Potiphar’s wife also sees how successful this attractive, handsome Hebrew has been. Let’s face it ladies, we are attracted to handsome, successful men. She begins to ‘cast her eyes’ upon Joseph. Oh, oh, trouble brewing. Remember, Eve cast her eyes upon the forbidden fruit in the garden, and sin resulted. We must avoid even looking at that which is NOT allowed, or good, for us. I need to avoid even looking at that yummy dessert! So whatever the ‘thing’ is that we desire that is NOT GOOD for us, we should avoid even looking at it. Eventually, she asks, really demands, Joseph to Lie with her. It’s interesting that the Holy Spirit had the author emphasize, or capitalize the word LIE. It would have a double meaning: If Joseph were to engage in adultery with his Master’s wife; they would both have to continually Lie about their relationship. Who is the author of Lies? So who is behind this desire that Potiphar’s wife has? When we carefully analyze our attraction to ANY sin, we can see the author of all sin, which brings DEATH, is Satan. Romans 6:23a “The wages of sin is death…” That is EXACTLY what we EARN when we sin!

39:8-9

Joseph immediately refuses. He even tries to explain to her why this request would be wrong and evil. He points out that the ONLY thing his Master has kept from him is her, as his wife; as it should be, and that this action would be a GREAT EVIL! Notice that Joseph admits that in his present position, his Master has made him GREATER than himself. Joseph emphasizes that the GREAT EVIL would be a sin against his Master and against God! Joseph clearly understands that all EVIL, which is sin, is against self, others and God. He doesn’t try to sugar coat the sin, nor does he call it anything by what it is: EVIL. In our world today, much sin is ‘sugar coated’ and called ‘other names’ to try to thinly hide that it is SIN and EVIL. An affair, rather than Adultery; Abortion, or ‘Choice’ is MURDER of an unborn child. Gay, is Homosexuality, an ABOMINATION in God’s eyes. ‘Adult humor’ is VULGAR BLASPHEMY against God. All manipulation, stealing, lying, hatred, immorality, killing, cruelty… all these things are EVIL. Calling them by another name is a LIE. We can assume God was ‘testing’ Joseph to form in him a Godly and moral character. Not all trials are ‘painful’, some involve ‘temptation’, yet Joseph stood firm.

39:10-12

Yet this persistent woman doesn’t give up. She hounds him day after day. Yet Joseph continually ignores her. We can be certain that he is very uncomfortable and irritated with her persistence. Finally, she finds a time when no other men are in the household; and Joseph is in the house attending to his duties. She brazenly attacks him, grabbing him by his garments, presumably to try to tear them off him. Yet, he gets free of her, leaving his garment, or cloak, in her hands, and flees out of the house.

39:13-15

She now has his cloak in her hands. She is probably furious that he has repeatedly rebuffed and rejected her attempts to seduce him. So she now plots to destroy him! She calls to the men, presumably outside, and claims Joseph attacked her and she screamed with a loud voice, and then when Joseph heard her scream, he left his cloak, and ran out of the house. She probably knew the men saw Joseph come running out of the house, and wanted to concoct her own version of what had happened. Perhaps she feared Joseph would tell the other men what happened, and her husband would hear of it and would be furious with her; we don’t know, but we can be sure, she knew she was in trouble. Since she had NOT screamed, perhaps even the men knew she was lying.

39:16-19

She keeps his cloak with her as ‘evidence’, and probably rehearsed her ‘story’ of what happened to tell her husband, Potiphar. When he came home, she repeated her lies, telling him the Hebrew servant had mocked and insulted her. She insisted she screamed, and told him ‘this is the way your servant treated me.’ She showed his cloak to Potiphar, as ‘proof’. Potiphar’s wrath is kindled when he hears his wife’s words.

39:20

Potiphar has Joseph put in the royal prison, which housed prisoners that were connected with official life. Some translations refer to it as a ‘Round House” a tower where these types of prisoner’s were kept until their fate was decided. Potiphar is Captain of the guard, which is part of the ‘royal prison’. Common prisoners were not held in this prison. Potiphar could easily have had Joseph executed, yet for some reason; (perhaps he knew his wife was not telling the truth), but couldn’t bring himself to admit she had done anything wrong; he just had Joseph imprisoned. Remember, he knew that God was with Joseph. Notice that this is the second time Joseph’s cloak was used to bring a false report about him. In both cases he had been serving faithfully; yet in both cases, he ended up being held as a prisoner. Sometimes when something harsh and unfair happens to us, we cry out ‘why God, why are you allowing this unfair situation or treatment of me to happen??” We demand that God rescue us, or free us from the ‘unfair situation’. These are the times we must remember, Joseph, Daniel and Job, all of whom suffered ‘unfair situations’ and ‘trials’ for a good part of their lives. Yet, we know from God’s Word that He loved all of them deeply and was molding and forming their character, their very souls into His image and likeness. All of them would be used by God for eternal good. It takes deep, trusting faith to endure these kinds of trials. We should pray to seek after this powerful, deep faith in our own lives.

39:21-23

‘But’, a key phrase that tips us off to pay attention, as something unusual will be revealed. Despite this unfair imprisonment of Joseph, God is still with him, showing him His mercy and loving kindness. God gives Joseph favor in the sight of the Warden of the prison. Then the Warden gives all the care of the prisoners over to Joseph’s care. Joseph is eventually put in charge of all that was done in the prison. Can you imagine putting a ‘prisoner’ in charge of the prison?!, Yet that is what the Warden did with Joseph. Then the Warden also paid no attention to anything that was under Joseph’s control. Why? Because the LORD was with Joseph, and all he did was made to prosper in the prison. The Warden was probably also keenly aware of the fact that God was with Joseph.

What tremendous lessons of obedience and trust we are being given. Despite being falsely sold as a slave, Joseph remains faithful and true to Godly principals. Then, because he remained morally faithful and pure, he is persecuted by a wicked woman! Her lies cause him to be imprisoned unfairly and unjustly! Yet, despite all these continuing trials and tribulations, Joseph continues to Trust and Obey God in such faithfulness that the Bible says nothing evil about Joseph! Keep in mind that Joseph always kept the prophetic dreams in his mind; no doubt wondering how all of those dreams could possibly come to pass with his current situation. Yet he kept his faith in God, trusting that He was in control and would bring those dreams of great power and prosperity to a reality. Joseph knew in his heart that God had promised him that something marvelous was in his future. He refused to commit any sin, despite the temptations and pressures. We don’t even see him cry out to God because he suffered persecution for his faithfulness. Would you be that patient and trusting of God? What kind of patient faith and trust do we exhibit when we suffer for our faith? We all need to pray for the powerful strong faith of Joseph for our own lives. We CAN have this unbelievable faith and trust in God through the power of the Holy Spirit. Why not seek it for your own life?