The Temptation of Joseph

The Temptation of Joseph
Genesis 39

Reading: Gen 39:1-20 Temptations of Power, Sex, and Bitterness

I. The Story
Waltke--The events of the biblical narrative often echo previous events. These echoes declare that God is sovereign over history. God instructed Noah to build an ark. Then he brought all creatures to Noah to redeem the covenant people and accomplish the salvation of creation in the midst of natural disaster. Now God leads Joseph to build storehouses, and all people are brought to Egypt. In the midst of the natural disaster of famine, God will redeem the covenant people and rescue the world.

a. Potiphar has purchased Joseph.
i. He was the head of the army of Egypt—a high position.
ii. He was named after one of the deities of Egypt.
William A. Ward, “Egyptian Titles In Genesis 39-50”
…attached to the royal palace guard seems indicated by the description of him as “an officer of Pharaoh” and the fact that he himself could throw Joseph into the prison where the prisoners of the state were kept (Gen. 39:1, 20). Only an officer close to the palace would have this kind of authority.
IRONY…If Joseph was actually made Vizier, he thus had direct personal control over Potiphar.
Joseph as “overseer of the house” of Potiphar (Gen. 39:4).

b. Through the desert to Egypt: his brothers having sold Joseph, the teenager is transported across the Sinai to the fertile Nile delta.
i. He left an arrogant brother.
ii. He arrived in Egypt responding to his circumstance in a remarkably different manner.
1. He had accepted his “special status” in the family.
a. His brothers did away with him because he was prideful.
2. With Potiphar’s wife, he denied any special privileges.
a. She did away with him because he was humble.
c. From a slave in the desert to a slave in a household.
d. From the head of a household to a dungeon.
e. From a cell in a dungeon to head of the prison.
f. From head of the prison to prime minister of the land.
Along the way…
II. The Meaning of the Story
a. Temptation of Power—What temptation? Why refused? How declined?
Joseph is placed in a privileged position, though a slave, as the head of household for a man of high position.
i. Difficult to wield power without being overwhelmed by that power.
ii. Potiphar’s wife is all about power, using that power over Joseph. Her power has corrupted her heart.
In contrast…
iii. Joseph used power he was granted to bless those under his influence.
1. Potiphar
2. Later, The head jailer, The cupbearer and the baker in prison, The nation, His family

iv. He was mistreated at the hands of power: [Swindoll]
1. Underserved treatment from family.
2. Unexpected restrictions from circumstances, …either physically or emotionally.
3. Untrue accusations from people.
James descries the tongue as a fire (James 3:5-6). In one day its careless, untrue statements can completely incinerate a reputation that has taken years to build.

b. The Temptation of Sex
i. We know why Potiphar’s wife was seductive.
1. She was power-mad.
Sarna: Sikba ‘immi--Come to bed with me! Her clipped proposition portrays brutish lust.

2. She was flexible.
Further, the attack had flexibility: if Joseph could not be stormed he might be coaxed, for a refusal to be so much with her could look quite unreasonable.
3. She was persistent.
Kidner: v.10—the constant pressure, day after day, was profoundly searching: it was this that would find out Samson twice in his career (Jdg. 14:17; 16:16).

4. She was effective:

Hamilton The word used for the article of clothing by which Potiphar’s wife grabbed Joseph (begged) is the same as that used in the previous chapter to describe the clothing that Tamar …removed (v.14), then put back on (v.19), the widow’s garb.
…it could refer both to an outer garment (2 K. 7:15) and an inner garment (Ezek. 26:16).
By using begged at this point, the narrator may be implying something about Joseph’s own emotional involvement in this story. He is on the verge of acting faithlessly to his master.

This makes Joseph more believable and his story more encouraging to us.
1. His resistance to temptation was being worn down by her persistence.
2. Just before he collapsed, he RAN away.

Knowing Potiphar’s wife was so seductive…

ii. Why did Joseph say “no”?
Kidner Joseph’s reasons for refusal (8,9) were those that another man might have given for yielding, so neutral is the force of circumstances.
1. His freedom from supervision and
2. His rapid promotion, which have corrupted other stewards (Is 22:15-25; Luke 16:1ff.), and
3. His realization that one realm only (9) was barred to him (which others, from Eve onwards, have construed as a frustration) were all arguments to him for loyalty.

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

iii. How Did Joseph say NO?
Gen. 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?”
Kidner:
a. By giving the proposition its right name of WICKEDNESS (9)
a. he made truth his ally, and
b. “GREAT EVIL”—not just wrong because she’s married, but because she’s not his wife = adultery & fornication
c. contrast Judah, who’s story of consorting with prostitutes we’ve just read

Kidner --saved his honour at the cost of his prospects; the NT recommends it (
19-20—Death was the only penalty Joseph could reasonably expect. His reprieve presumably owed much to the respect he had won; and Potiphar’s mingled wrath and restraint may reflect a faint misgiving about the full accuracy of the charge. But the unfolding story makes it obvious that God who had brought him here was preserving him for his task.
Prison—the Hebrew root suggests a round structure and therefore perhaps a fortress, which is the term used by LXX.

b. by relating all to God (9c) he rooted his loyalty to his master deep enough to hold---“sin against God”

c. by adding a technique that Joseph did NOT have available:

Heb. 3:13 But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called “Today,” so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

The temptation of Power
The temptation of Sex
c. The Temptation of Despondency, Despair, and Bitterness.
i. Joseph irritated his brothers; then had a change of heart in the desert.
1. Could he see why he was suffering?
ii. Joseph irritated Mrs. Potiphar, was unjustly jailed.
1. Could NOT see why he was suffering!
2. I’M DOOMED REGARDLESS!!
Imprisoned in a round, plastered, like the cistern in Dothan??

3. When I do bad things, I deserve punishment.
4. When I do well, I don’t deserve punishment.
iii. Dilemma:
1. How well must I do to avoid justice?
2. How poorly must I do to deserve justice?
3. MORALISM HAS ONLY ONE SOLUTION TO EVERY PROBLEM:
a. make perfect choices.
iv. This is the pathway of all human religion.
v. GOSPEL: ANOTHER, LATER, JOSEPH WAS CAST INTO JAIL UNJUSTLY, SUFFERING CONDEMNATION WITH GUILTY CRIMINALS .
vi. INSIGHT THAT MORALISM CANNOT GIVE…
1. If Joseph had not been sold into slavery,
2. if Potiphar’s wife had not unjustly accused him,
3. if Potiphar had not had mercy on him and sent him to prison,
THEN, Jacob and his clan would not have survived the famine to come.
God was with him!
God was with him!
Westermann
The unifying motif in chapter 39 is that God was with Joseph. The presence of God is an essential part of blessing.
…Yahweh is on Joseph’s side, showering him with success, and this comes to have a wider effect on the house of the Egyptian as soon as Joseph ahs been appointed overseer. For blessing has a growing and pervasive power, just as it does in the story of Jacob in Laban’s houe.

Gen. 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.

Gen. 39:21 But the LORD was with Joseph and ıto him, and gave him favor in the sight of the chief jailer.
Gen. 39:23 The chief jailer did not supervise anything under Joseph’s charge because the LORD was with him; and whatever he did, the LORD made to prosper.

Psa. 1:1 ¶ How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked,
Nor stand in the path of sinners,
Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!
Psa. 1:2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
And in His law he meditates day and night.
Psa. 1:3 He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water,
Which yields its fruit in its season
And its leaf does not wither;
And in whatever he does, he prospers.

III. Takeaways
Hamilton--Wisdom literature does not outlaw adultery because God disallows it …The sanctions in Prov. 6 include: self-destruction (v.32); wounds, loss of respect, and public disgrace (v.33); a husband bent on revenge (v.34); no way to buy oneself out of trouble )v.35). Prov. 7;23 comes the closest-perhaps—to connecting adultery and the death penalty: “he does not know that it will cost him his life.” In short, the sanctions are not historical but rational.

1. Practical advice: Run!
I Cor. 6:18 Flee immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body.
2Tim. 2:22 But keep away from youthful passions, and pursue righteousness, faithfulness, love, and peace, in company with others who call on the Lord from a pure heart.
2Pet. 1:4 Through these things he has bestowed on us his precious and most magnificent promises, so that by means of what was promised you may become partakers of the divine nature, after escaping the worldly corruption that is produced by evil desire.
2. God hates adultery not because He wants to stamp out fun!
…violates His covenant model: no broken covenants
…violates His triune nature: the Godhead interrelate as Father, Son, and Spirit; the angels are not welcomed into that circle; humans participate only indirectly; thus, swirling partners misses the model

This is not about Doing Better! This is about reordered LOVES.
Where does God reorder our loves?
i. Transform a heart, through the desert.
ii. God gave sight to the blind, in the darkness of a dungeon.