Genesis 39 Tempted

 

Joseph’s life is becoming more like a soap opera all the time. First, he’s on top of the world, being groomed to run dad’s business and getting the family blessing; then he gets sold into slavery after his brothers first threaten to kill him. Then, while a slave, Joseph rises to the highest position in his master’s household, an official in Pharaoh’s household in charge of the prisons. However, after a seemingly tawdry sordid affair refused by Joseph, he finds himself in Pharaoh’s dungeon, as far from his dreams of ruling as he’s ever been. We’re starting to get whip lash following the ups and downs of Joseph’s life!

Through the ups and downs of Joseph’s life, we see a change happening in Joseph. From a spoiled rich boy, we’re beginning to see a mature, faithful to God young man appearing. Walking closely with God will always change us. When we enter into a life long journey with God and Jesus, we are slowly shaped by the Holy Spirit into who we are created to be; people created in the image of God to take care of and develop the potential God has built into creation, to love God and others, sharing Jesus with those God places in our lives.

After being sold to Potiphar, captain of Pharaoh’s guard, Joseph quickly rises up in the slave ranks. His training in managing his father’s household is paying off. Moses tells us that Potiphar recognizes that “the Lord is with Joseph and that the Lord is giving Joseph success in everything he does.” Joseph works hard and with integrity and Potiphar is so pleased with him that he makes Joseph is attendant, placing all control of running his household in Joseph’s hands, a role with a great deal of responsibility. Life is looking up for Joseph, even though most Egyptians looked down of the Hebrews. Moses is writing this story down 400 years later, knowing how the Egyptians think, having grown up in the halls of power in Pharaoh's household.  

Success attracts all kinds of temptations, including Potiphar’s wife. She persistently pursues Joseph in order to sleep with him, “Come to bed with me!” she invites him again and again. Joseph is successful, but he’s also well-built and handsome, a potent combination for many people. It would have been so easy for Joseph to sleep with her, and in that culture, and with the amount of success Joseph has had with managing Potiphar’s household, he could easily have gotten away with it. What a way to exercise power and forget for a while that he’s a slave.

Joseph reveals why in a conversation with her, “With me in charge,” he told her, “my master does not concern himself with anything in the house; everything he owns he has entrusted to my care. No one is greater in this house than I am. My master has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?” Joseph is a contrast to Judah, who in the story just before this one, slept with his daughter-in-law Tamar after she had to trick him. Judah was supposed to give his youngest son to her as a husband after his two oldest sons died because of their wickedness, but he was afraid. Tamar had to trick him into believing she was a prostitute in order to get him to sleep with her so she could have a child. Judah does not have integrity in his relationship with Tamar.

Evil and temptation never give up though. Even though Joseph refuses to go to bed with Potiphar’s wife, she doesn’t take no for an answer. Joseph goes out of his way to try to not even be in the house with her and never alone with her, he knows the danger and alure of temptation, especially sexual temptation. Joseph reminds me of Billy Graham and his determination to not place himself into a situation of temptation. Yet, even with all his precautions, one day Joseph drops his guard a bit and he finds himself in the house alone with Potiphar’s wife and she immediately tries to tempt him into her bed again. She grabs Joseph by his cloak, but he slips out of it and runs away, but his cloak remains behind with her. She goes on to use his cloak to accuse Joseph of trying to rape her. It’s not always easy to do the right thing, to run away from temptation, to be the only one who is living life to please God instead of ourselves.

Potiphar’s wife first turns the other slaves against Joseph and then, when her husband Potiphar comes home, she turns her husband against Joseph. “She tells him this story: “That Hebrew slave you brought us came to me to make sport of me. But as soon as I screamed for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house.” Potiphar really has no choice, even though Joseph has made him a lot of money and did such a great job for him, he has to believe his wife and he throws Joseph into Pharaoh’s prison where Potiphar is in charge.

Walking away from temptation is hard. We all know that. The temptation of lust is powerful, but so the temptation to anger, sarcasm, bullying, cheating, lying and so much more. Doing right pleases God, but it may make you look silly in the eyes of those who do not follow Jesus. An article I read this past week talked about how our society had degenerated in terms of how we treat each other, nastiness, anger, mocking and dismissing others is common, due to the prevalence of social media and the easiness of being our worst instead of our best. It’s tempting to lash out, it’s more difficult to be Christ-like.

It’s unfair that Joseph gets punished for doing such a great job and being really good looking. Why would God allow someone who is growing in their faith, working really hard to do what God wants, maturing as a man, and has integrity suffer through all the injustice that Joseph is facing? Shouldn’t God be blessing Joseph instead. Joseph could have slept with Potiphar’s wife, enjoyed himself and even have gotten away with it because Joseph was such a hard worker and made Potiphar’s life so much easier. Potiphar took the easy way out, did no thinking, did no real digging into what really happened, he just wanted to keep the peace in his household, had no real relationship with Joseph because he was only a slave. The saying goes, that “evil flourishes when good people fail to do the right thing.” Joseph’s soap opera continues.

Yet I do wonder sometimes why we are surprised as followers of Jesus when we have times where we suffer and things are unfair. Jesus never told us that following him would be easy, he specifically told us that persecution and suffering comes as part of following him, that we will suffer for doing good. Matthew 5:11–12, “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” In Matthew 16, “Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.” It’s in suffering, persecution and the unfairness we face in life that we learn a deeper trust and dependency in God, a greater appreciation for Jesus as he actually carried his cross to his death for our sin. This is why we chose to live Jesus’ way. Peter reminds us of the importance of, “keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.” (1 Peter 3:16) In 1 Corinthians 10:13, Paul reminds us, “No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.”

The shining hope in Joseph’s story, even though it’s a soap opera going the wrong way, where the highs get lower and the lows get deeper, is that no matter where Joseph is, whether it’s in the pit because of his brothers, in slavery to Potiphar, or even in a Pharaoh’s prison, the Lord is with him, showing him kindness and granting him favour in the eyes of the prison warden. The Lord gives Joseph success in whatever he did, wherever he was, though never quite in the way Joseph must have hoped for or imagined after his dreams of becoming a ruler.

Through all these ups and downs, through the suffering and unfairness, Joseph continues growing in his faith in God, and in living his faithfulness out, no matter the cost or confusion that must be in his heart and mind over why his life is working out the way it is. Joseph resists temptation, not because it might get him into trouble, but because he realized that it would be sinning against God. Resisting temptation will not always pay off for us in the world’s eyes, but we resist because it’s who we are as children of God, followers of Jesus. Our faith is not just believing the right things about God, but it’s about living in the Way of Jesus, orienting our heart to Jesus’ heart, submitting our desires and will to Jesus’ will and desires. Faith involves developing Christian character, spending our entire life asking ourselves, “Who is God calling me to be, how is he using this situation to shape my heart and soul?”

We should not expect people to praise us for this, we should actually expect non-followers of Jesus to mock us for how we live for not indulging our every desire. Our joy and happiness, our peace and strength come from pleasing Jesus, not ourselves. God has a plan for our lives, he has created opportunities for us to serve others, to grow in humility, generosity, grace and maturity. An important part of our faith is that we continue to mature in our faith. A former mentor told me life is a life long opportunity to look more like Jesus and the more difficult the times are, the greater the opportunity to be more like Jesus. So as you walk through life, whether young or old, keep asking God, “Through this, how do you want me to live, who are you calling me to be?”