Old Testament - Genesis 39 - March 9, 2022

 3/9/2022 – Genesis 39

The Ishmaelites who had purchased Joseph brought him to Egypt and sold him to Potiphar, the captain of Pharaoh’s guard. And yet as a slave in a foreign land, “the Lord was with Joseph and he was a prosperous man” (v 2) in the house of Potiphar. 

Potiphar was so pleased with Joseph and his abilities, that he made Joseph the overseer “over his house, and all that Potiphar had he put into his  (Joseph’s) hand.” (v 5) And then we are told that “the Lord blessed the Egyptian’s house for Joseph’s sake; and the blessing of the Lord was upon all that he had in the house, and in the field.” (v 5) The key to all this is that no matter where he was, or what he was doing, Joseph kept focused on the covenants he had made with the Lord. He stayed faithful and obedient to the Lord’s commandments, and he prospered. 

Then in these good times, Potiphar’s wife did her best to seduce Joseph each day, and Joseph told her why he would not follow her wishes: “Behold, my master wotteth (knoweth) not what is with me in the house, and he hath committed all that he hath to my hand; There is none greater in this house than I; neither hath he kept back any thing from me but thee, because thou art his wife: how then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?” (v’s 8-9). Potiphar’s wife physically grabbed Jospeh, pulling off his cloak. Joseph was in a seriously bad situation, and he did the proper thing…he ran! Potiphar’s wife was more than angry and she created a scene and claimed that Joseph had indeed accosted her. 

Potiphar was filled with wrath and immediately made Joseph a prisoner in the king’s jail. Joseph’s rises and falls continue, yet Joseph accepts each terrible situation and works to do good. He never falters in keeping the Lord’s commandments. V 21 tells us “But the Lord was with Joseph, and shewed him mercy, and gave him favour in the sight of the keeper of the prison.” And once again the person in charge of Joseph sees his goodness and his abilities, and so “the keeper of the prison committed to Joseph’s hand all the prisoners that were in the prison; and whatsoever they did there, he (Joseph) was the doer of it.” (v22) The writer of Genesis made sure to tell us the ‘why’s’ of Joseph’s life: “…the Lord was with him, and that which he did, the Lord made it to prosper.” (v 22)

If I had to come up with a moral from this chapter, it would be that our devotion to the Lord leads to a life that will, often eventually, lead to peace and goodness and progress as we work to grow closer to Him.  And if we do find ourselves somehow in the middle of sin, the immediate solution is to run the other way with all of our might—even if it means losing our cloak.


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