From The Pit To Potiphar's House

                                              The Second Leg of the Journey

Key Verse: Genesis 39:1 (NLT)

When Joseph was taken to Egypt by the Ishmaelite traders, he was purchased by Potiphar, an Egyptian officer.  Potiphar was captain of the guard for Pharoah, the king of Egypt.

Joseph is now a slave in (Egypt) away from all that was familiar and his father who loved him dearly.   There are two things, however, that remained constant.  They were the faithfulness of God and Joseph’s solid faith in his visions from God. It was not long before even Potiphar recognized God’s hand on Joseph’s life.  Potiphar had confidence in Joseph’s integrity and management ability because he saw that his household and all that he owned (crops and livestock)  flourished under Joseph’s watchful care. 

Joseph was young, well built, and easy on the eyes.  Mrs. Potiphar seemed to have nothing with which to occupy herself or her time while her husband was away. This is where the plot thickens.  During one of those times, she decided that she wanted to sleep with Joseph, so she used all of her feminine wiles to try to seduce Joseph.  On a day when none of the other household staff was around, she grabbed him intending to  force herself on him, but when she grabbed him, she was only able to hold on to his cloak as he slipped out of it and fled.  Joseph’s character & faithfulness to God would not allow him to have anything to do with her scheme, nor would he have ever entertained betraying Potiphar’s trust.  

Perhaps there is some truth to the proverb, “Hell has no fury like a woman scorned” (playwright William Congreve, 1697).  When Potiphar returned, she lied by accusing Joseph of having raped her, using the cloak he left behind as evidence. After he returned, Potiphar was naturally enraged and had Joseph thrown in prison.

The enemy had tried to use both his brothers’ envy/hatred and Mrs. Potiphar’s lust to break him and derail him from reaching his God ordained destiny. 

There will be times in each one of our lives when we will have our faith tested on our journey.   Yet, there is hope! I Corinthians 10:13 contains a promise.   It reads, “No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make a way of escape that you may be able to bear it.” This means that the temptation & escape route both come at the same time, but we must be intentional in recognizing and using it.

For Joseph that meant fleeing and leaving his cloak behind even though in the end, it still meant going to prison. For us it might mean intentionally avoiding people or circumstances that we know would be a temptation. For example, if alcohol is a weakness and temptation, then the escape route could be to avoid going to a club/bar or hanging out with people who do drink.

We should not expect that any of us would live out our lives without temptations.  After all, Jesus was tempted, Joseph was tempted, and neither gave in to their respective temptations.  May that be our testimony when temptations knock on our doors.

Blessings!

~CWP~