[After the first of the year, we'll be delving into another book of the Bible on Tuesday nights. Join us either in person or via cyberspace!]
Genesis 39:1-6
1. Whether or not it was a deliberate story-telling ploy designed by the editors of Genesis to heighten suspense and interest in the plight of Joseph, the interruption of his saga in chapter 38 is over. Genesis 39 brings us back to the young man, now about seventeen, years old sold into slavery by his resentful older brothers.
2. If you were to look at Joseph's story through any other but the lens of faith, you might say that the kid has a capacity for landing on his feet, a penchant he'll demonstrate several times in the future. He ends up as a slave to "Potiphar, an officer of the Pharaoh, the captain of the guard..." In other words, Joseph finds himself in the household of an important official in Egypt, an apparently somewhat benign slavemaster who will eventually see Joseph's skills as an administrator and give the young slave a privileged position.
But there is no "luck" in Joseph's situation in Potiphar's house. "The Lord was with Joseph," Genesis says, "and he became a successful man..."
3. In some ways, Joseph is another example of a stereotyped figure in Israelite history. As commentator Gerhard von Rad writes:
The narrator is very expansive in unfolding this matter; several times he emphasizes the reason for this surprising preferred status [enjoyed by Joseph], namely, Yahweh [the Hebrew word for God's most prominent name, shared with Moses, meaning I AM]. This reference to Yahweh, however, has only mediate significance here. The narrator is much more concerned to draw a rather sharply defined picture of Joseph the man, the picture of a clever, pleasing, industrious, and handsome young man with whom Yahweh was. The narrator of I Sam.[uel] 16:18 also draws a similar ideal picture of such a young man of good standing and good upbringing...[H]ere is expressed the educational and cultivated ideal of definite exalted stations...Another Old Testament figure, Daniel, can be seen to be portrayed in a similar light.
In the case of all three of these figures--Joseph, Samuel, and Daniel, one sees the happy confluence of natural talents, supernatural giftedness and favor, a deep trust in God, and a commitment to personal virtue. Each understands himself to have been placed in difficult circumstances to serve God's purposes, although those circumstances may not always make them personally happy.
At a more secular level, George Bailey, the main character in It's a Wonderful Life, might be seen in a similar light. George wanted desperately to get out of Bedford Falls, a fact that the evil Mr. Potter tries at one point to use as a devastating sword thrust to bring the young man down. Unlike Joseph, George resents his situation until, in the climactic moment of the film, he realizes that he's been blessed to play a pivotal role in the lives of its people. Joseph, by contrast, derives his greatest blessing from remaining steadfastly in relationship with God and faithfully anticipates God's unseen hand to be revealed, which it ultimately is. Near the close of Genesis, Joseph will understand that God had enabled him to play a key role in saving a nation--not just Egypt, but more importantly, the embryonic Israel--through circumstances that had sometimes been extremely painful for him.
4. Joseph is such an extraordinary young man, so blessed by God, von Rad says, that "a blessing goes from him to all with whom he comes in contact." As a result, six verses into this chapter, Joseph, the slave, is overseer of Potiphar's house!
Genesis 39:7-9
5. Joseph is not only able, but good looking. This combination has created seemingly impossible temptations for many a young person over the centuries. They've used their brilliance and their attractiveness to have their ways with others, materially, financially, sexually, and in the acquisition of personal power.
But not Joseph! Though he catches the eye of Potiphar's wife, who wants to have sex with him, Joseph resists, believing that to sin against Potiphar would also be to sin against God.
C.S. Lewis talks about how Jesus did the strange thing of forgiving people's sins as though He Himself were the one against Whom they had chiefly sinned. And of course, it's true that when we sin against others, we really sin against God...and chiefly against God. God, you see, created all people and He is so invested in us and our well-beings that when any of us is hurt, God is pained by it.
Elie Wiesel helps point us to this in a story I've often retold. Wiesel was a boy when he and his family were interred in Nazi concentration camps. He was the only one of them to survive and through the years, he's written and spoken movingly of the horrors of the Holocaust, which he experienced firsthand.
One day, the entire camp population where Wiesel was imprisoned were forced to watch the hanging of several of their fellow prisoners. One of the rigs malfunctioned and the entire camp watched in deadly horror as a man spasmodically twitched between life and death for several moments. A whimper rose from among the prisoners, a plaintive voice asking, "Where is God now? Where is God now?" Quietly, a voice interrupted the questions and said, "He is at the end of that rope."
God is so with us, I believe, that when any of us is hurt, God is pained by it and I believe, even more than we are. Joseph knew this. That's why he refused to bring pain to his master and so, to God Himself.
6. Adultery was strictly forbidden among God's people and Joseph was loathe to violate God's will, even though Potiphar's wife had made herself overtly and constantly available.
Genesis 39:10-19
7. While working indoors, Joseph would have worn a single garment, likened to an undergarment. It would have been a long shirt, usually tied at the waist. When Potiphar's wife grabbed Joseph and he ran away, the garment would have easily pulled away from him and keft him naked. This would make the accusations of rape made by Potiphar's wife more credible.
One of the things I tell my Catechism students is that Joseph gives us a great example of what to do when tempted to do wrong things: Run the other way! That may not seem very heroic. But it is the best way to handle things. My life would have been much happier on many occasions if I had followed the same course as Joseph in this circumstance! A lot of other people I know would say the same thing.
Genesis 39:20-23
8. An interesting point is made by von Rad, one dealing with the curious fact that despite the fact that rape, especially committed by an upstart slave against his master's wife, was clearly punishable by death, yet Joseph was allowed to live. Von Rad says:
Ever since the Joseph story has been expounded, people have been surprised at the relatively mild punishment which the angry master of the house inflicted on Joseph...There have been those, therefore...who think that the man's anger (v.19) was not directed basically against Joseph but against his wife...Not only was Joseph's life spared, but he was put in the relatively cushy environs reserved for the king's prisoners, rather than being sent to other more dehumanizing prisons. We don't know why for certain except that, as von Rad also points out, "there too [Joseph] is protected by God's care."
9. The true tale of Joseph is written from the perspective of mature faith. Immature faith views God as a good luck charm who will make all the bad stuff go away. But what Joseph shows us is that while God goes with us and may even be able to use the rotten things that happen to us for good ends, faith in God doesn't banish the bad things from life. In an imperfect world, bad things do happen to God's people. But when we place ourselves in God's hands, He can transform even the bad things into engines or occasions for blessing, as we'll see happen in the unfolding of Joseph's story.
10. One thing that causes me to marvel at Joseph is the tenacity of his faith in spite of his lacking any outward reminders or reinforcements of faith.
Keep in mind that in this point in history, the only people who believe in the one God of all creation are Jacob, Joseph's father, and Jacob's family. And they are far away from him.
Joseph is surrounded by pagan worshipers of multiple gods, people who even regard their king, the Pharaoh, as a deity.
Joseph has no Star of David--it will be centuries before David is born.
He has no cross--it will be multiple centuries after David before Jesus is born.
He has no Scriptures--they haven't been written yet.
He has no temple, synagogue, or church.
No clergy. No worship services.
In short, Joseph has none of the resources you and I might draw on to strengthen our faith in hard times.
Although he was in the king's prison, it was a prison, as a foreign slave, in which he found himself. And yet, he still trusted in God. Unlike his father Jacob, or his father Isaac, or his father Abraham, Joseph seems never to have faltered in his faith. With nothing to rely upon but the promises from God he'd heard about at his father's knee and the strange dreams he'd had as a youngster, Joseph held on. He kept believing. He is a model for us all!
[Here are links to the previous installments in this series:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
Part 8
Part 9
Part 10
Part 11
Part 12
Part 13
Part 14
Part 15
Part 16
Part 17
Part 18
Part 19
Part 20]
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